Arnold diving coach's recipe for state-bound success earns county coach of the year honors

Arnold's Dana Hagan is a former diver who has used her knowledge and expertise to guide her team to state championship meets and collegiate swimming.

For all of her efforts, Hagan was voted Bay County's high school swim/diving coach of the year as voted by her peers.

"The honor is a reflection of what the kids do in the pool all season," Hagan said. "When you work with remarkable student-athletes and fellow coaches all season it makes it a lot of fun and I am honored."

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For the last eight seasons, Hagan has been leading divers with ambitious expectations. As the latest season approached, she expressed that her team's objective was set on high goals.

"At the beginning of the season the goal for most of my athletes is the state competition," Hagan said. "We work out a planning and training regimen that aligns with those goals."

The "state-bound" schedule includes practices from 5:30-7 p.m. each day, starting in late July through the end of November. Junior Preston Tomasiewicz and Mosleys Chase Peterson took full advantage of the program, finishing fourth and ninth at state respectively.

"It is intense, however, we are out there for three and a half months and it is extremely rewarding," Hagan said.

With diving being such a niche event Hagan said there is diversity in the backgrounds of each diver.

"They are cheerleaders, gymnasts, and kids with different skill levels and what is unique about this sport is that it fed off those kinds of entities previously mentioned," Hagan said. "These are high school kids, some in their first year who are coming out to the pool deck rolling up their sleeves and wanting to try something new and you do not get that often with other sports.”

Banji Bamidele is a sports reporter for the Panama City News Herald. He can be reached at abamidele@gannett.com or through X, formerly known as Twitter, @AdebanjiBamide1.

This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Bay County swim/dive coach of the year: Dana Hagan, Arnold High School