Latest news with #Shipp
Los Angeles Times
16-05-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Chase Shipp, Corinna Ruffini medal at CIF State Diving Championships
Laguna Beach High senior Chase Shipp and Newport Harbor junior Corinna Ruffini each medaled at the CIF State Diving Championships on Thursday at Clovis Olympic Swim Complex. Shipp, bound for Harvard, finished fourth place in the boys' competition with 509.55 points. Ruffini, a University of Houston commit, was fifth in the girls' competition with 451 points. Shipp, making his third appearance at the CIF State Championship meet, earned his best finish. He was seventh last year as a junior and sixth as a sophomore. The two-time CIF Southern Section champion said in a text message that his dives felt less consistent than they had been lately, but he couldn't complain about fourth place. 'As I close out my high school dive career I especially want to thank my coach, Curt Wilson, for his steadfast support,' Shipp said. 'I'm looking forward to seeing the next group of Laguna divers on the podium at CIF. Go Beach!' Ruffini earned her first medal at the state meet, as she finished 14th last year as a sophomore. 'It was a super fun meet with some good competition!' she said in a text message. 'I've been pretty sick all week and haven't been able to practice at all, so I really surprised myself with my performance since I wasn't feeling my best. I'm hoping that next year I can come back in better health and hopefully take the title as state champ!' Newport Harbor junior Violet Carone finished 11th at state finals in the girls' competition, while Edison sophomore Allison McNichols placed 18th.
Los Angeles Times
08-05-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
4 local high school divers advance to CIF State meet
WALNUT — Laguna Beach High senior Chase Shipp saved the best for last on Tuesday afternoon at the CIF State diving qualifier. He nailed his sixth and final dive, a reverse 1 ½ somersault 2 ½ twist free. The seven judges gave him a total score of 64.50, his top mark of the day. 'I was really happy with it,' Shipp said. 'I knew that I had to hit it to hopefully get first. I would have liked another four points on it hopefully, but it's all good. I felt the board really move well under my feet, and felt the entry line up pretty well.' Shipp ended up placing a close second to Grant Schneider of Capistrano Valley Christian at the qualifier meet, held at Mt. San Antonio College. The effort was more than enough to get him to next week's CIF State Meet for the third time. Edison sophomore Allison McNichols and Newport Harbor juniors Corinna Ruffini and Violet Carone also advanced to the state meet. Diving finals for boys and girls will be held May 15 at Clovis Olympic Swim Complex. McNichols qualified third from the CIF Southern Section on the girls' side, with Ruffini in fifth. Carone took the sixth and final qualifying spot, among the 12 divers assembled for Tuesday's meet. The conditions were cool and misty Tuesday, so the hot tub was the area of choice when the divers weren't actually executing their 1-meter dives. 'It could be a lot worse,' noted Shipp, who is bound for Harvard University. 'Last weekend, up at Novato [at the USA Diving Junior Region 10 Championships], 20 miles per hour gusts were literally blowing people off of the boards.' Shipp, who won his second straight CIF Southern Section Division 2 title last week, has little left to prove but is looking for a solid meet to cap his high school diving career. He finished seventh at the state meet last year, and sixth as a sophomore. 'I'm just going in there hoping to do as well as possible,' he said. 'I don't see a big difference in it being senior year. I'm just going out every time to do the best I can.' McNichols is headed to the state meet for the first time, and said she was thrilled. She started strong on Tuesday, with her first dive, an inward 1 ½ somersault pike, netting her a score of 50.40 that tied for her best. 'That's probably my favorite dive,' she said. 'I feel like that dive, I always hit really good. I really like it. At practice it's always a good, solid, consistent dive for me.' Newport Harbor's Ruffini and Carone are headed to the state meet for the second and first time, respectively. Ruffini, who finished second at the Division 1 finals, overcame a rough start with her second dive Tuesday. Her final dive, a forward 2 ½ somersault tuck, earned a score of 50.40 that was tops among girls' divers in the sixth round. 'My first two dives weren't my best, but I definitely came back,' she said. 'My last few, I had better scores on, which I was really stoked about. At state, I'm just going to need to be a little bit more consistent. That's definitely something that I've been working on this year, consistency.' With only the top six divers in each gender moving on, other locals saw their seasons end Tuesday. Newport Harbor junior Nikka Asgarian placed eighth at the qualifying meet on the girls' side, while Edison senior Ian Dien finished 12th on the boys' side. Asgarian, who dives club for Crown Valley Divers along with Shipp and Carone, was one of the most vocal in encouraging her fellow competitors after strong dives. McNichols and Ruffini dive for Coast Divers, which is headed up by Newport Harbor coach Kaeden Cogbill. 'We're not just competitors, we're all really good friends,' Shipp said. 'It's a really tight-knit community. That's one of the things that makes diving so much fun, instead of just intense, that collaborative community.'
Los Angeles Times
02-05-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Laguna Beach's Chase Shipp repeats as CIF diving champion
Chase Shipp has been a top diving talent for all four years of his high school career at Laguna Beach. He placed second in CIF Southern Section Division 1 as a freshman and sophomore, winning the Division 2 title last year as a junior. Make that back-to-back crowns for Shipp, who repeated as Division 2 boys' diving champion on Wednesday at the Marguerite Aquatics Complex in Mission Viejo. He scored 565.80 points, edging out second-place Braeden Valenzuela of San Juan Hills (555.10). 'The meet was really well run and I had some tough but fun competition,' said Shipp, a Harvard commit who also competes for Crown Valley Divers, in an email. 'My friend and teammate Braeden set the bar really high and smoked every one of his dives. I can't wait to see him take the top spot next year.' Newport Harbor also had some female divers who were up to the task at the Division 1 finals Thursday. Junior Corinna Ruffini finished in second place, followed by teammates Violet Carone in fifth and Nikka Asgarian in eighth. Ruffini, a University of Houston commit who was fifth in Division 1 last year, scored 526.40, just behind El Segundo freshman Reilly Stebbins (528.05). She also competes for Coast Divers. Edison sophomore Allison McNichols finished seventh in Division 1 on the girls' side, while Chargers senior Ian Dieh placed third on the boys' side. Each of the aforementioned local divers has qualified for the boys and girls state qualifier Tuesday at Mt. San Antonio College at 2 p.m. The top six at that meet will qualify for the CIF State Championship meet on May 17 at Clovis West High.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Will gun safety instruction be required in Utah's K-12 classrooms?
Like many Utahns, Rep. Rex Shipp has lamented recent news accounts of gun accidents taking the lives of local children. Now Shipp is hoping his bill requiring that firearm safety instruction be taught in Utah's public schools will help prevent such tragedies from ever occurring. House Bill 104 would mandates that gun safety be regularly taught to the state's K-12 students. The proposed classroom firearm safety sessions would be brief — 5-10 minutes in length — and typically involve students watching an approved instructional video. As outlined in the bill, schools would be required to provide brief firearm safety courses three times during a student's primary school years, including kindergarten. Middle school students would then be required to participate in similar courses during their junior high years — and once during high school. Parents would be alerted to upcoming firearm safety courses and also allowed to 'opt-out' their child. In his presentation Wednesday to the Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Standing Committee, Shipp, R-Cedar City, said providing firearm safety instruction in public schools already exists in state code. 'But it's an optional thing — and nobody's teaching it,' he said. It's essential that Utah's children know the basics of firearm safety, argued Shipp. Polls show there are guns in about half of the state's households. 'And even if kids may not have firearms in their own home, they're going to go to a friend's house and (maybe) they're going to come in contact (with a gun),' he said. HB104 would educate them with the know-how to manage such situations — and stay safe if they come across a firearm or see someone else playing with a gun. The proposed school firearms safety courses, Shipp added, would be 'developmentally appropriate and, in most cases, it's just going to be a 5-minute video that basically teaches (children) that if they see a firearm, don't touch it and tell a trusted adult.' Instruction would also include 'the best practices and guidelines for the safe handling and storage of a firearm to prevent accidents and ensure personal safety.' Shipp emphasized his bill is anchored to protecting children. 'This is about safety — It's politically neutral,' he said. 'It's not anti-gun. It's not pro-gun.' If ratified, HB104 would allow schools to decide to show an instructional video or provide live instruction — and it could be incorporated into health and physical education curricula. The bill notes that if any instruction were to include an actual firearm, the instructor must be someone who is legally allowed to possess and handle firearms on school premises such as a school resource officer, under Utah law. Wednesday, Shipp's school firearms safety instruction bill ultimately received committee-approval to advance to the Senate floor, but not before some pushback. Senator Nate Blouin, D-Salt Lake, called it ironic 'that we're not able to teach comprehensive sex education and things like that in school — while we're going to mandate a curriculum like this.' Blouin added that firearm safety is 'a gun access issue' that perhaps demands parental education. A statewide rule requiring public schools to provide the proposed firearm safety instruction 'is completely inappropriate.' During public comment, Nika Alder, a board member of the Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah said the burden of firearm safety should be placed on adults that own firearms, rather than grade-school children. 'Let's pass bills that require adults to act responsibly — not ones that require children to act responsibly and permit adult gun owners to act irresponsibly,' she said. Clark Aposhian of the Utah Shooting Sports Council said his organization supports HB104. 'The only reason that we ought to do this is if we care about our kids, because education in this type of thing is always better than ignorance,' he said. 'The (school firearm safety instruction) is going to cover things like, say, a child finding a firearm at home or at a friend's home or out on the street — or even what to do if they find out that their friend has a gun in their backpack at school.' Shipp said he 'wholeheartedly agrees' that adults should shoulder the burden of firearm safety. But if brief firearms safety instruction offered a few times during a Utah child's school years saves lives, 'I think it's well worth it.'
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
School board decisions could become subject to voter referendums, bill says
A classroom at Woodrow Wilson Elementary School in South Salt Lake is pictured on Tuesday, March 12, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch) Utah school boards are the only legislative bodies in Utah that are not subject to voter referendums, but a bill from Rep. Rex Shipp, R-Cedar City, could change that. HB408 would allow voters to hold referendums — putting a question before voters to either accept or reject — on all school board decisions, including increases on taxes or new taxes, unless the action passed with a supermajority vote or is a personnel issue. The bill passed the House Tuesday in a 40-33 vote. It now heads to the Senate. 'I don't think any of us as legislators like referendums being run on our decisions up here, but I think we represent the people,' Shipp said in a committee hearing last week. 'If something rises to the concern enough that the people want to refer it, I think they need to have that opportunity, and school boards ought to be included in that.' Shipp ran a similar bill last year but it failed in the Senate. This year, he added the exception for supermajority decisions. In his committee presentation, Shipp mentioned a controversial split decision made by the Iron County School Board in 2019 that changed Cedar High School's mascot from the 'Redmen' to the 'Reds.' 'I think if we'd have had something like this at the time, that could have calmed the community a lot, because there was a lot of angst and concern and upset,' Shipp said. Rep. Andrew Stoddard, D-Sandy, said he supports referendums being run on imposed taxes but worries the rest of the bill is too broad. 'I worry that what this bill does is opens up every school board decision to becoming a political decision,' he said. 'I'm sorry, your mascot changed. I'm sorry that's hard, but sometimes we have to make hard decisions.' Rep. Doug Welton, R-Payson, and Rep. Anthony Loubet, R-Kearns, asked if school closures would be subject to referendums because it's an issue people are passionate about. 'They could force this issue onto a ballot, and that could put our school districts in a precarious position where they have now a school, but they don't have the students to fill it,' Loubet said. During the committee hearing, Shipp told Loubet he was open to talking about an amendment on the floor, but an amendment was not discussed on Tuesday. Both Welton and Loubet voted against the bill on the House floor. Granite School District Superintendent Ben Horsley told lawmakers during public comment that his district is currently in the process of implementing HB84, a school safety bill that went into effect at the beginning of this year, but to keep up with other costs, he is anticipating a tax increase. 'If that were then subject to a referendum … we could be in violation of several state statutes and requirements in order to implement the mandates from the state legislature,' he said. 'It's important to understand that the bulk of our policies are state requirements, and if we can't pass policies as required by those state statutes, because there's a potential split on the vote, and that becomes subject to referendum, you can see the challenges there.' Shipp said except for supermajority decisions, all decisions could be subject to voter referendum, and maybe school boards should be careful with issues they know will be a concern to the public. 'If the people rise to a point and they don't want to wait four years, and it's a really concerning issue, maybe there ought to be a way for them to take it to a vote of the people,' he said. Rep. Jefferson Burton, R-Salem, said the bill makes him think about who he's voting for in general elections, and though he is always concerned about any legislation that 'moves us more to a pure democracy,' he sees the value in this legislation. 'Perhaps, if this bill does go forward, it will cause school boards to think long and hard about their votes on specific subjects,' he said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
