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06/04/2015 12:01 AMDean Conte had to overcome multiple shoulder injuries prior to his senior year of high school, but the payoff was worth the wait as Dean had a great season with Branford’s swimming and diving team, as well as the Junior Olympic Gymnastics program at In-Flight Gymnastics Center in North Haven.
After winning the Class M state diving championship as a sophomore, Dean suffered a torn labrum in his right shoulder and underwent surgery to repair it in his junior season. Dean couldn’t compete at all that year and so he used that time to mentally prepare for what was to come in his senior campaign.
“It was basically torture. My junior year, I was friends with the whole senior class [at Branford] and I wanted to compete with them,” says Dean. “It was a big letdown. I still went to the meets and supported them, but it wasn’t the same.”
The good news was that Dean was back on the board this winter and posted second-place finishes in the 1-meter diving competitions at the SCC Championship (with 512.50 points) and the Class M State Championship (464.85 points), after which he took sixth place at the State Open (450.75). These were all 11-dive routines and Dean holds the Hornets’ record in that category, as well as the six-dive performances that take place during the regular season.
“I got pretty good at the twisters. I do the front one-and-a-half flips and two twists. I also do the inward dives,” says Dean, who was inspired to start diving by his older brother Billy. “I broke my brother’s high school records for six and 11 dives, so I have the record. In dual-meet season, we do six dives and, in [postseason] competition, we do 11. It’s a different type of meet, so I broke his school record.”
Dean needed a certain “it” factor in order to break those records and that’s something which Branford swimming and diving Head Coach Ray Beaulac says his athlete possesses.
“Dean is a really poised, fantastic athlete,” says Beaulac. “I think one thing that goes overlooked is how much pressure is on with all the eyes on you and the silence. He’s a master at collecting himself and getting the job done.”
As great as Dean dove at Branford this year, he turned in equally stellar showings on the gymnastics circuit. Dean qualified for the Junior Olympics National Championship in Daytona Beach, Florida and competed at that event last month. His coach at In-Flight, John Wood, was quite pleased with how Dean dedicated himself to coming back from the shoulder injuries.
“The hardest part for a gymnast is coming to the gym, putting in hours while injured, and not be able to do everything you want. You need conditioning without doing the fun skills. He did all of that, put it together, and, once he healed, he put it all together for the big show,” says Wood. “It was very impressive. He rehabbed for the shoulder, among other injuries, for what seemed like forever. He did what he could do and got himself back in shape to qualify for nationals, which was our end-all, be-all goal.”
Dean had injured his shoulder while performing on the rings and so he didn’t do too much work with them upon returning, although he still put together a quick set at regionals to qualify for national meet. Dean ultimately performed on all six events—floor, toggle horse, rings, vault, parallel bars, and high bar—to qualify and then competed in every one except the rings at nationals. Wood says Dean saved his best for last and that his top performances of the year came while competing among the elite at the national competition.
Dean says his favorite event is parallel bars, yet his top showing was delivered on the floor routine and he wound up finishing ranked 36th for his age group in the nation.
“Just the feeling of accomplishment and excitement,” says Dean, who will try out for the club gymnastics squad at Virginia Tech. “It was really just a rewarding feeling knowing all my work paid off, knowing I could work toward something.”