The pressure’s on.

An Ohio billionaire is planning to take a deep sea submersible to Titanic depths to prove the industry is safer in the wake of the doomed OceanGate vessel that imploded last year.

Real estate investor Larry Connor, of Dayton, said he and Triton Submarines co-founder Patrick Lahey will plunge more than 12,400 feet to the shipwreck site in a two-person submersible.

“I want to show people worldwide that while the ocean is extremely powerful, it can be wonderful and enjoyable and really kind of life-changing if you go about it the right way,” Connor told the Wall Street Journal.

Lahey has designed a $20 million vessel dubbed the Triton 4000/2 Abyssal Explorer, which Connor said can carry out the voyage repeatedly.

“Patrick has been thinking about and designing this for over a decade. But we didn’t have the materials and technology,” Connor said. “You couldn’t have built this sub five years ago.”

The duo said they want to prove that the trek can be done without disaster — despite the implosion of the Titan submersible in June, which killed all five people on board, including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.

The Titan had been headed to the Titanic site when it suddenly had a “catastrophic implosion” on June 18.

A few days after the tragedy, Connor called Lahey and urged him to build a better sub.

“[He said], you know, what we need to do is build a sub that can dive to [Titanic-level depths] repeatedly and safely and demonstrate to the world that you guys can do that, and that Titan was a contraption,’” Lahey told the paper.

Connor didn’t say when the voyage will take place.

Lahey was among the critics in the deep sea adventure industry who accused OceanGate of questionable safety standards, calling Rush’s approach “quite predatory.”

Industry experts and a whistleblowing employee had previously come forward with fears about the safety of the vessel — in part because OceanGate opted not to certify it through credible safety groups such as the American Bureau of Shipping and Det Norske Veritas in Europe.

Rush, billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, French Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Sulaiman, died instantly when the Titan imploded under the pressure of the Atlantic Ocean.

Dispatch.com readers can now vote for their favorite high school athletes of the week on their desktop, the Dispatch.com mobile web or Dispatch app once per hour by scrolling down to ballots listed below.

Deadline is 4 p.m. Friday. 

Last week’s winner: Horizon Science Academy’s Temidayo Owoyemi named Athlete of the Week

High school sports: Here’s how to nominate The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Athletes of the Week in 2023-24

Columbus High School Sports newsletter: Sign up for our weekly newsletter on high school sports

High school Athlete of the Week

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center high school Athlete of the Week voting occurs each week during high school sports competition and recognizes athletes across all sports.

Student of the Week: Who was the central Ohio high school Student of the Week? Your votes decide

If you can’t see the ballot when you scroll to the bottom of this story, try refreshing the link or clearing the cache in your browser. Voters can cast one vote per hour per device. You do not have to be a subscriber to vote.

Please do not email your votes; they will not count. Nominations and votes are not the same things.

Please be aware: The Dispatch’s voting system recognizes only one vote per WiFi IP address, so consider taking your phone off WiFi to vote each hour if you’re sharing it with multiple people.

Athletes were nominated over the past few weeks for the vote starting Monday, May 27. 

Please do not email your votes; they will not count. Nominations and votes are not the same things.

Athletes are on this week’s ballot based on information made available to The Dispatch, and nominations made over the past week.

High school sports: 2022-23 Athletes of the week

Once athletes win during the regular season, they’re not eligible to be back on the ballot until the postseason. If athletes haven’t won in the regular season, they can be nominated more than once. 

Student of the Week: Who was the central Ohio high school stood out the most? Your vote decides

The Dispatch staff reserves the right to remove ballots or athletes from the ballot where voting irregularities have occurred.

Have any questions? Email sports editor Brian White at bwhite1@dispatch.com. 

Please do not email your votes; they will not count. Nominations and votes are not the same things.

Here are this week’s Athlete of the Week candidates:

Jacie Clifton, Logan Elm softball: Had two hits and four RBIs, including a three-run home run, in a 7-3 win over Dover on a Division II regional final.

Anna Conrad, Fairfield Union track and field: Won the 1,600 meters (5:06.84) and joined Sarah Lepi, Averey Cottrill and Abigail Pike on the first-place 1,600 relay (4:00.02) at the Division II regional meet.

Isabel Evans, Northridge track and field: Won the 100 hurdles (14.18) and 300 hurdles (43.42) at the Division II regional meet.

Dawayne Galloway, Marion-Franklin track and field: Won the 100 (10.56), joined Nazsir Jackson, Aaris Billingsley and Taliq Black on the first-place 400 relay (42.02) and ran on the second-place 800 relay (1:28.63) with Jackson, Billingsley and Terry Black (1:28.63) at the Division II regional meet.

Henry Lessard, Bexley tennis: Won the Division II singles championship to complete a 26-1 freshman season. In bringing Bexley its sixth all-time singles title and first since 1986, he went 7-0 in three-set matches.

Chayse Lipscomb, Fairfield Union track and field: Won the 110 hurdles (14.25) and 300 hurdles (37.36) ) at the Division II regional meet.

Olivia Pace, Westerville Central track and field: Won the 100 meters (12.06), 200 (24.27) and long jump (18 feet, 7 inches) and anchored the first-place 400 relay (46.67) at the Division I regional meet.

Avery Stratton , Teays Valley softball: Was 3 for 4 with two singles and the game-winning home run and pitched three innings, striking out four in an 8-7 win over Marysville to help the Vikings win their first district title since 2018.