Sometimes numbers don’t tell the whole story.
Clarkston’s diving team has five girls who in turn have one year of high school diving experience between them; yet the Wolves have three qualifiers for the OAA Division III meet beginning on Nov. 2 in the CHS pool.
The Clarkston diving team, comprised of junior Jessica Colombo, sophomores Lindsey Stone, Rebecca Bailey and Danielle Benway, and freshman Rachel Seng, along with new coach Mary Martin, have learned along the way this year.
At the start of the season, many members of the team could not perform even two or three dives.
‘Now all five do six dives every meet,? said Martin.
‘There’s a lot more potential this year,? said junior Jessica Colombo, the only returning diver from last year.
Colombo, along with Bailey and Benway is qualified for the OAA’s with 11 executable dives.
‘For not diving last year, I think I’ve come pretty far. To dive at OAA’s will be really cool,? said Bailey.
Only Colombo came into the season this year with any competitive diving experience ? she dove as a sophomore. While all of the team lacked practice on the diving board, they were able to draw on experience from their other athletic pursuits.
Colombo and Seng transitioned from the ice to the water as both have figure skated in the past.
‘The flexibility and gracefulness from figure skating helps and keeping your body tight at all times (like in skating) help with diving. We are also used to people silently watching us,? said Colombo.
‘Having everybody focused on you is still scary though,? said Seng.
For Stone, flexibility derived from dance training helped her grow as a diver.
‘A lot of the movements in diving are the same as in dance,? said Stone.
Benway credits her gymnastics training for her quick study in the pool.
‘Diving is basically the exact same as gymnastics except you land in water. I use my gymnastics training everyday. Diving is not as stressful and demanding as gymnastics though,? said Benway.
In terms of prior experience, Bailey’s jump into diving was the shortest; she swam on Clarkston’s team last year.
‘I learned how to dive off the block in swimming,? said a half-joking Bailey, who credits her time on the swim team with having taught her part of the mental toughness necessary to dive.
While the girl’s diverse background makes their success this year that much more compelling, another interesting chapter of the team’s story is how close they came to not existing at all.
‘They were looking for a coach. The girls were going to have to dive at another school or there wasn’t going to be a team this year,? said Martin, who by agreeing to coach the team, averted the possibility of a Lake Orion/Clarkston combined diving team.
Martin dove as a student at Troy High School and coached the sport in the Birmingham school district. A call from a swim team parent brought Martin to the CHS pool, the pieces fell into place from there.
‘I came to the pool a couple days before the season started. It was exciting to be around the sport again. I got hooked back into it,? said Martin, who, on occasion treats her charges to exhibitions of her own form off the diving board.
‘They are nice about it. They don’t laugh too hard,? said Martin.
Martin enjoys coaching the team to such a high degree because the girls have embraced one another, each pushing the next to greater heights and supporting one another when they fall.
‘We always stand on the side and watch one another dive,? Seng said.
‘If (Martin) doesn’t know what to say, we do,? Colombo added.
‘We help coach each other,? finished Benway.
‘For me, the best thing about this team is they cheer each other on. There’s competition among the team, but it’s healthy competition,? said Martin.
The diving team’s progression this season has been a major part of the swim team’s undefeated dual meet season, something not lost on Clarkston swim coach Kenwyn Chock or the divers.
‘We could really count on them when the swimming didn’t go so well,? said Chock.
Chock pointed to Clarkston’s 122-63 victory over Avondale as an example of the diving teams importance. Against the Yellowjackets, Clarkston’s A and B 200 medley relay teams were both disqualified and going into the diving segment the Wolves trailed in the meet. But after Clarkston divers finished one, two and three in the standings, grabbing 13 points in the process, the swim team was on the way to another victory.
‘We bring in a lot of points,? said Seng.
‘We really help the swimmers out. With more girls on the team this year, we can score more,? said Colombo.
While Martin enjoyed the team’s success this year, she feels they are far from peaking. With all five eligible to return next year, she thinks they have the potential to qualify a state level diver.
Clarkston hosts the OAA league III swimming and diving meet Nov. 2-4 in which Colombo, Benway and Bailey will compete. The diving preliminaries are scheduled for Nov. 3 at 6 p.m.; the finals for both swimming and diving begin at 5:30 p.m on Nov. 4