If not for a dislocated left patella, Jason Loeffert might be getting ready to play spring soccer instead of preparing for the NCAA Division III swimming and diving championships.

A Pine-Richland High School graduate, Loeffert is a senior at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa. He is also a diver on the swimming team. Loeffert qualified for the NCAA meet with a first-place finish on the 3-meter board at the North Coast Athletic Conference championships and placed second on the 1-meter board.

He will compete in both at the NCAA meet that gets under way Thursday at The College of Wooster in Ohio. The 1-meter competition is that day with the 3-meter on Friday and Saturday.

"It was tough waiting around last year to see whether I made it [to the nationals] or not, and then finding out that I didn't," said Loeffert, a seven-time All-NCAC diver. "That's why I'm excited about going this year."

His path to the Division III championships is interesting. Unlike many top divers, Loeffert didn't devote all his energies to the sport until his junior year at Pine-Richland. Before that, he played soccer in the fall and the spring and did diving in the winter.

For him, diving was something he liked to do, but it was more or less just something to keep him in shape for soccer. Then he sustained a dislocated left knee in the spring of his sophomore year at Pine-Richland.

Loeffert tried to play soccer the following fall, but the knee gave him problems. That's when he decided to concentrate on diving.

"I had older cousins who were divers and they got me going in it," he said. "I used to mess around on a trampoline and could do flips and stuff, so it came pretty easy at first."

He placed third in the Class AA 1-meter board in the WPIAL championships as a junior and a senior, plus he was seventh at the PIAA championships as a senior.

When he started looking for colleges, he checked out the diving programs because he wanted to continue with it. He also knew that he wanted to be a physician, so he was seeking a strong academic school with a program that would lead to medical school. He found Allegheny College, which has had nine divers earn 41 All-American honors over the years.

"They recruited me as a diver and the school has a history of producing good divers," said Loeffert, who majors in biology with a minor in psychology. "Plus, it has an excellent academic program"

In addition to qualifying for the Division III championships and earning NCAC Diver of the Year honors, Loeffert scored well on the MCATs he took recently and is in the process of applying to medical schools. He has been accepted at a few.

Loeffert isn't sure which area of medicine he will pursue, but he is leaning toward sports medicine.

"I've had a number of injuries over the years, not just the dislocated patella, and those have gotten me interested in the sports medicine field," he said. "But I'm still trying to sort that all out."

Loeffert said the sport teaches lessons that should serve him well down the road. Patience is one of those.

In diving, he sometimes must wait 20 to 40 minutes between trips to the board. Considering he will make 17 dives in a competition, that's a lot of down time between bursts of energy. It can be nerve wracking.

Last year, Loeffert was second on the 1-meter board at the NCAC meet and won the 3-meter competition. He met the NCAA Division III minimum diving score, but qualifiers must send a videotape to be rejudged. They qualify for the championship meet based on that score. His scored wasn't high enough to earn a trip to Houston for the finals.

This year, there were no doubts about his scores being high enough. His total of 459 on the 3-meter board at the conference meet was 50.65 points higher than the second-place finisher.

His signature dive, and one with a high degree of difficulty, is a full-out. That's a front 2¹/₂ somersault with a twist.

Those with the top 16 scores in the preliminaries will advance to the finals in each diving event and earn All-American recognition. The top six receive medals.

This will be his first time competing at Wooster.

"My family and friends will be able to get there without having to go clear across the country," he said. "I should have plenty of support."