Zora Opalka was head first and on her way down — not up — when she broke Bainbridge swimming’s most enduring glass ceiling.

Opalka became the first diver in the history of girls swimming at Bainbridge High to win a state championship after she emerged with the slimmest of wins Saturday at the 2016 3A Girls State Swim &Dive Championships at the King County Aquatics Center in Federal Way.

Opalka, a senior at BHS who had to sit out a run at the title last year because of a knee injury, bested Lakeside’s Amber Chong for the championship crown.

The difference between first and second place: .4 points. Opalka finished with 422.10; Chong, 421.70.

“It was amazing,” Opalka said as she recalled standing atop the platform to receive her championship medal. “It’s just something I’ve been working toward for years.”

That treasured title, however, appeared to have slipped from her grasp during the diving finals.

During Friday’s preliminaries and then, the semifinals, Opalka was in front, but not by much. She said she had missed a couple of dives, and the competition was closing in.

“I had a lead, but it was too close for comfort,” she said.

“On Saturday, I was so nervous.”

The pressure was rising and her mind reeled with the weighty expectations that had been placed on her shoulders.

“It’s my senior year; I’ve had so many people coming up to me at school through the season, saying, ‘You’re going to win state, you’re going to win state, you’re going to win state.’

“And I kept having a voice in my head going, “‘Like what if I don’t? What if?’”

Her first two dives (inward 1 1/2 somersault, degree of difficulty, 2.4; revers dive, 1.7) were consistent, not spectacular.

She shot a look to her coaches after getting out of the pool on the second dive, but saw somber faces and arched eyebrows.

“They were pretty much what I do in practice but not on the best day,” she said of the dives.

Her last dive would be the toughest one she does: a back somersault, 2 1/2 twists; degree of difficulty, 2.7.

She took a deep breath and decided she’d just have fun. A big smile toward the crowd, and then off the board.

“I kind of went into it like this is my last dive of my high school career,” Opalka recalled.

Once in the water, she thought her shot at the title had popped like so many bubbles.

“I hit the water and I thought, I get second and that’s completely fine. I’ve had the best season.”

She watched as the judges’ numbers flashed onto the scoreboard at the other end of the aquatics center.

A pained look crossed her face, and she turned toward the consolation smiles from her coaches. Opalka had been adding the scores up in her mind, and despite what her heart wanted, her head told her she had come in second.

Her coaches, her fellow Spartans, thought the same. Opalka was mobbed in a consoling group hug by her teammates at the far end of the diving pool.

She told her teammates that second place was just fine.

But the agony of defeat soon slipped into the thrill of victory. A diving coach she knew from Seattle came over to congratulate her as she waited with the other divers for the medal ceremony.

“She came up and said, ‘Congratulations!’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll take second, the silver.’”

“She’s like, ‘What are you talking about. You got first!’

“I just kind of broke down right there. ‘What? I can’t believe it.’”

“I knew it was going to be close,” Opalka added. “I had been doing a little bit of mental math, but math has never been my strong suit, obviously,” she laughed.

Opalka, who has committed to the University of Denver, where she’ll compete in Division 1 diving, gave great thanks to the motivational support of her fellow divers Cammy Rouser, Jackie Hellmers and Alathea Pippinger.

“They are awesome. Amazing, just great people. I wouldn’t be able to get through daily practice without them,” she said.

Her coaches earned big praise, as well.

“I’m really thankful for how awesome the coaches have been this season; that I could actually produce something consistent under that much pressure and under that many nerves,” she said.

Opalka wasn’t the only Spartan to stand tall on the medal platform.

Fellow BHS diver Rouser also medaled, and placed fifth.

Also a senior, it was her fourth trip to the state meet and her third time placing in the finals.

“I was a little disappointed with my performance at state,” Rouser said, “but part of it was all the emotions of it being my last high school meet, but it was fun and I had a good time and I had a great high school experience overall.”

After graduation, she hopes to attend the U.S. Naval Academy and dive for the Navy team; her letter of acceptance is expected to arrive in January.

Her high school diving career has sped by quickly, she added.

“I feel like I’m still a freshman. That wasn’t that long ago, and to be in a place where it’s my last [meet], and not my first one anymore, was just a crazy thought,” Rouser said.

Bainbridge Head Coach Sarah Bullock was really pleased with the Spartans’ finish at state.

Overall, the young Spartan squad finished in seventh place as a team.

“They worked really hard all season; they put their nose to the grindstone,” Bullock said.

The other top finisher for Bainbridge was Erin Miller, an 11th-grader who placed third in the 100-yard butterfly. She finished in 57.94.

“I knew she was going to place well, but I didn’t think she would make the top three. That was really thrilling for all of us,” Bullock said.

Miller went into the race as the fourth-place finisher in the preliminaries but moved up to claim third.

“She just really attacked it hard,” her coach said.

“At the beginning of the season my goal was to make A Finals,” Miller recalled. “Last year, I made B Finals.”

Her strategy was simple this time.

“Basically, I just wanted to swim my heart out and see where it went,” she said.

“It was definitely really exciting. I beat the girl next to me by .04 seconds. It was crazy, especially since she was the girl I raced the night before and she beat me by like half a body length,” Miller said. “It was pretty exciting to get to race her again and pull ahead just in time for the finish.”

The foursome of Erin Miller, Hannah Lee, Carina Laukaitis and Hannah Tonsmann took third in the finals for the 200-yard freestyle relay. They finished in 1:40.04.

The relay team of Olivia Dow, Milena Broom, Moorea Eldon-Everts and Hannah Lee advanced Saturday to swim in the 200-yard medley consolation race.

Hannah Tonsmann, a 10th-grader, was 12th in the 200-yard freestyle consolation race on the final day of the state meet (1:57.63). She was also 12th in the 500-yard freestyle B Final (5:15.36).

Erin Miller also raced in the B Final of the 50-yard freestyle on Saturday, claiming 12th place (25.06).

Moorea Eldon-Everts placed 15th in the consolation race Saturday in the 100-yard backstroke (1:03.06).

The relay team of Carina Laukaitis, Erin Miller, Lauren Witty and Hannah Tonsmann also medaled, with a sixth-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:40.20).

Laukaitis was one of the few seniors on the team, which many on the squad said is close-knit and sisterly.

“My teammates are my best friends. I’m going to remember them in 50 years; just the fun we had, and joking around in practice, and cheering our cheers. It’s been a blessing having them,” Laukaitis said.