Grant Crawford of Fair Oaks Ranch Elementary won the state middle school dive championship on April 24. Photo by Joni Simon

When Grant Crawford of Fair Oaks Ranch Elementary won the state middle school dive championship, his mother wasn’t surprised. She’d watched him, at age 6, leap off a 30-foot cliff in Mexico.

“Feet first, thankfully,” Rhonda Crawford said. “He’s pretty fearless and that’s why Stan Randall was interested in coaching him.”

Randall, director of the Alamo Area Aquatics Club and head diving coach at Trinity University, says Crawford is one of the best he’s ever trained.

“He’s off to a great start,” Randall said. “He’s one of the most talented kids I’ve seen in my entire career. He’s got all it takes — the talent, the drive and we’ve got all the coaching and equipment.”

The 12-year-old sixth-grader claimed the top spot for sixth- and seventh-grade boys in the statewide meet held April 26 at Palo Alto Natatorium. Crawford scored 176.70 points with six dives, including a front double tuck position. The win didn’t come without a price.

His father, Neal Crawford, drove more than 100 miles a day, four days a week, between his own job and lessons at the Northside Natatorium at Culebra and Loop 410 in San Antonio.

They often didn’t arrive back at their home nestled in the Hill Country until 9 p.m.

Still, Crawford remained an “A” student throughout this arduous endeavor, according to his mom, who says her son’s favorite subjects in school are math and science. “He says, for now, he wants to be a surgeon,” Rhonda Crawford said. “Grant’s interested in helping children with facial deformities and birth defects.”

Crawford started diving casually, not competitively, a couple of years ago in the summer swim league at the Dominion. His interest peaked when his older brother Luke, 15, started swimming and diving with the Boerne Hounds.

“Grant is a natural athlete,” said Sherilyn Hatch, a physical education teacher at Fair Oaks Ranch Elementary. “Grant is a competitor and performs every activity well. He is always in the middle of sporting activities, whether in organized class or in a pick-up game during recess.”

According to Randall, Crawford is just getting his feet wet by winning the state championship. The next step is a shot at the national championship which, the coach says, takes two years and a lot of hard work. Then, two years after that, he could compete in the international competition.

“That’s the usual pattern,” Randall said. “Now, he’s going to have to quadruple his training.” That means continuing to work out at least four days a week, two hours a day, something Crawford says he’s not sure he wants to do right now.”