Standing on the edge of the water, she prepares to jump, a Miley Cyrus song echoing in her head. Three, two, one, jump. Junior Ashley Compton gracefully ascends into the air, twisting and turning, before landing into the water. This is the art of diving on the Liberty Girls’ Swim and Dive team.
This season’s Liberty Girls’ Swim and Dive team is composed of five divers, which is a large group compared to its single varsity diver last season. To clarify, while ‘swim and dive’ is classified as one when it comes to athletics at Liberty, they are two different sports.
“Diving involves more precision in performing flips and such, while swimming is more of the racing aspect,” junior diver Maggie Fisher said.
Fisher, in her first year diving for Liberty, has become acclimated to the pressures that come with the sport. Diving is more than just jumping into the water: divers go through mental preparation to get over their nerves before jumping. Fisher has her own mental routine.
“Moments before a dive are nerve-wracking, so I like to take a couple deep breaths and countdown from three in my head,” Fisher said.
Unfortunately, during the season, Fisher needed to take a break from diving for a few weeks to recover from a back surgery. But when she was 100%, she returned and got right back into diving and participating in meets.
To calm their nerves during a match, some, like Compton, resort to humming a tune in their head to leave the pressures of the moment and just get the dive done.
“I just clear my mind and think about nothing,” Compton said. “Or sing a song in my head that’s repetitive and easy and not think about diving or anything.”
Fisher and Compton are joined by Maggie’s twin, junior Katie Fisher, junior Ally Morrell, and freshman Kylie Smith. These five girls make up the divers on Liberty Girls’ Swim and Dive team. Interestingly enough, all five decided to give diving a shot after coming from a background in gymnastics.
“I did seven years of club gymnastics,” Smith said. “It helps me feel my form out better as well as gives me really good awareness in the air for diving.”
Trying anything for the first time can be daunting for anybody. But with the shared experiences in gymnastics and a welcoming team of strong swimmers, the five girls mixed in and got comfortable easily.
“For diving, the divers who have been diving for multiple years are very supportive and can help give advice on how my dives can be better,” Morrell said. “As for the first timers, like me, we all learn together and are very encouraging of each other. It’s a really great team to be a part of.”
Unlike other sports at Liberty, the dive team has the opportunity to practice with Issaquah and Skyline divers.
“It’s a really fun atmosphere. We get to practice alongside Issaquah and Skyline. It’s an amazing opportunity to get to know your competitors and have friends from other schools,” Fisher said.
Practices are a cheer-filled environment where members support each others’ dives no matter the result.
“It’s fun. We’re a small team, but we get to practice with other teams in the district, and we’ve all become close,” Compton said. “It’s such a good community.”
The team’s camaraderie and hard work from practice is revealed during their meets. Most notably, in a conference match against Skyline, Liberty emerged victorious with the final points tallying up 95 to 90. Liberty Girls’ Swim and Dive coach Kris Daughters points to the dive team for their surprising win against Skyline.
“If it weren’t for the divers I don’t know if we would have beat Skyline,” Daughters said.
Fisher and Compton have qualified for the KingCo Championships, and Smith has reserved a spot at Districts. The team still has several more weeks to improve before then.
“It’d be really cool to qualify for districts, especially in my first year,” Fisher said. “And who knows? Maybe even state.”
Fisher and the rest of the divers are well on their way to moving on further, but until that time comes, our divers will be hard at work, hoping to continue their strong performance for the rest of the postseason–all while representing Liberty High School.
