Dive News posted December 17, 2009

Is a serious rift developing between Ohio State and Purdue over a contested Diver?
Written by: Philip Kelly Jackman DiveMeets

At this year's Ohio State Invitational there was great diving by some of the countries top collegiate divers. At the same time there was an upsetting situation developing behind the scenes. The story involves the Ohio State University dive team coached by Vince Panzano and the Purdue University dive team coached by Adam Soldati. At issue is a diver both schools claim.

DiveMeets became aware of the dispute during the 2009 United States Senior National Diving Championships hosted by Pat Jeffries at Florida State University. Just prior to that meet we were informed there would be a late entry from Ohio State. However after some investigation it was determined the diver did not have a valid USA Diving Membership and would not be permitted to dive. An angry Vince Panzano accepted the decision but did make this statement " It is unfortunate our new diver cannot compete, he is a great diver and particularly focused on beating divers from Purdue". Panzano went on to say he thought the decision may have been influenced by Purdue coach Adam Soldati as Panzano thought he may have seen Soldati handing a large sum of cash to a meet official. Soldati dismissed the claim saying the $500.00 was to buy a Florida State Tee Shirt.

Meanwhile the Diver in question was allowed to practice during the meet. This caused feelings of ill will to bubble over resulting in minor injuries and anger as seen in this photo.

Ohio's Sean Moore left and David Coulturi of Purdue on right. Taken during 2009 USA Diving Senior Nationals Tallahassee, FL

Ohio's Wess Wieser claims the diver in question (who goes by the nick name "Sas or Sash") maybe as good as Louganis. Purdue's Kara Cook said the diver's looks and chiseled features are incredible like no one she has ever seen before. Considering these accolades, is it any wonder Sash has stirred up such strong feelings?

So what is the real problem here? There are two questions that must be answered. The first is what school (if any) does Sash attend? It seems Sash was a walk on at both universities and never officially committed to either. Clearly eligibility is an issue.. But that is not the only problem. Some people are questioning Sash's heritage insinuating there may be a species issue. Whatever the truth is; the Sash issue is showing the dark underbelly of an ongoing diver eligibility dispute between OSU and Purdue, including claims of abduction and counter abduction (See photos below).
In this truly unbelievable photo Sash is seen joining in a synchro dive while smiling at the camera and speed reading Tolstoy's War and Peace.
Hours after the photo (above) was taken a severe thunderstorm passed through the area. To the shock of everyone Sash was left to fend for himself on the dangerous pool deck. Later that day anonymous posters began showing up accusing Vince Panzano of neglecting the health and welfare of Sash.
The Nationals meet ended without further controversy over Sash. All seemed well until we arrived in Ohio on Dec. 3rd 2009 for the Ohio State Invitational (featured on this page). Vince Panzano immediately informed us that Sash had been entered in the meet as a OSU diver. Sash did seem ready to do battle. We actually witnessed Sash defacing a Purdue pendant (below)
Sash stepping on the Purdue pendant was a clear violation of official nice-ness so he was disqualified from the competition. After the incident Sash was not seen on the pool deck. It was later realized he might have been abducted. An alert was displayed on all event monitors (below)
Despite a massive hunt no trace of Sash was found during the meet. Then on December 16th. DiveMeets received an e-mail wrapped in plain brown paper. To our surprise it contained photos (below) of Sash apparently in West Lafayette Indiana frolicking and posing with the Purdue Dive Team. There is even this disturbing shot of Sash now wearing black and gold cleaning the bottom of his foot on an OSU Tee Shirt.
As we examined the photo above we noticed something in Sash's hand. We zoomed in on the 2009 Purdue holiday dive team photo above to reveal the chilling photo (below).

 

The story of Sash is clearly not over. Surely there will be appropriate investigations into the plight of this potentially great diver.

For now all we can do is wait and hope for the best. Yet even as we were putting this article together we found another startling revelation.

When Sash was younger he appeared in this bare-all photo for SkyMall magazine. Then using the name "Big Foot Garden Sculpture" Sash was shamelessly offering himself for $98.95

 

 

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