WINNING STYLE-Above, Royal's Melani Meister displays the form that made her a twotime Marmonte League diving champion. Below, Highlander Jordan Hoffman tucks and rolls. It was a return to glory for two of the area's finest divers.

Royal's Melani Meister and Westlake's Jake Isaacs won the girls' and boys' varsity divisions during Monday's Marmonte League Diving Finals at Thousand Oaks.

Meister, a sophomore, has now captured back-to-back league championships.

"The last couple of weeks I've been real stressed out about (the meet)," Meister said. "But I just tried to take it easy and not think about it. I tried to adjust."

Isaacs, a senior, won a Marmonte League title in 2004. Last season he came in second place at the finals, finishing behind teammate Shane Bowman.

Because of a knee injury, Bowman was unable to defend his championship this year. Isaacs said it would've been nice to face off against his friend one final time.

"I really wish he could have been here so I could have beaten him," Isaacs said. "But my score this year beat his score from last year by about 15 points, so I'm still pretty happy."

Each participant was judged on 11 total dives, with a one being the lowest score and a 10 being the highest. Five judges scored each dive and the highest and lowest scores were automatically thrown out.

Isaacs logged a total score of 432 on the afternoon. In 2004 he won the championship with a 375.90.

"When I lost last year I was really, really (bummed)," Isaacs said. "I was like, 'I need to win next year.' It's almost like a relief that I won because I've wanted it for so long."

Meister finished with a 418, edging out Thousand Oaks' Amanda Stines, who scored a 413.95. Westlake's Jenny Simpson's 357.80 was good enough for third place.

"I thought everyone dove really well," said Meister, who won last year's final with a 399.

Trailing Isaacs were Thousand Oaks' Calvin Shayer (365.75) and Royal's Jordan Hoffman (340.90).

In junior varsity action, where participants were judged on three dives, Westlake's Taylor Barone won the boys' division with a 75.80. Barone's teammate, Michael Wismann, barely missed out on the top spot with a total of 75.05. Thousand Oaks' Shawna Vreeke captured the girls' JV title with an 80.35.

Attending the meet as a special guest was 1964 Olympic silver medalist Frank Gorman.

Gorman has long been a proponent of dive programs in high schools and has spoken with Marmonte League principals as recent as January about the topic.

Currently, four of the league's eight schools-Westlake, Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park and Royal-field dive programs. Calabasas, Agoura, Moorpark and Simi Valley don't have dive teams.

Gorman, a Harvard graduate and Tarzana resident, said he was impressed with many of the varsity and junior varsity divers competing throughout the day.

"I was surprised at how good some of the divers are," Gorman said. "I didn't realize you had that kind of talent here. It means there are some good programs and some good coaches.

"Diving is not intuitive," he said. "You have to have somebody teaching you how to do it. It doesn't just happen naturally."

The CIF dive meet will take place Tues., May 9 at Westlake beginning at 9 a.m.