Having faced a few rough patches in recent weeks, the dive team is taking off with confidence – head first, toes pointed – into this weekend’s Air Force Diving Invitational.
The team, which struggled with inclement weather at the Bruin Diving Invitational, sees opportunities for improvement at the upcoming meet.
“There’s nowhere to go but up from (Jan. 13),” said senior Maggy Boyd. “We had a really good invitational (at UCLA) with some really tough environmental conditions and a really large amount of girls, so being indoor and having a smaller set of divers … I feel like we have a one-up from doing such a difficult meet (on Jan. 13).”
Still, the team has had to face the reality of a number of injuries, some of which have greatly affected the athletes. Boyd has struggled with shin splints for years, but they’ve only become an issue this year.
“It’s kind of like a roller coaster of them bothering me and not bothering me, and they’ve been really good all year until the end of winter training,” Boyd said.
Some team members are suffering from more severe injuries, adding to the list of struggles the team must overcome.
“We’re a little injured,” coach Tom Stebbins said. “The healthy kids have been great … (but) both of our freshmen are out right now, and I’m not sure that we’re going to get them back before the end of the year, so that will be a little bit of a cost to us when we get to the conference meet.”
Despite the difficulties, Stebbins said the dive team has a lot to be pleased about. For starters, the meet, which will be held indoors, boasts warmer conditions than the last invitational.
This weekend’s competition also takes place at the same location as the NCAA qualifying meet.
“It’ll be nice to go there at least one more time before we actually have to go to our biggest meet of the year,” junior Paulina Guzman said.
Many of the athletes have also been working on more advanced dives. For example, senior Michelle Vale may do a new dive on the 1-meter, while Guzman and sophomore Emma Ivory-Ganja are practicing new, more difficult dives on the 3-meter.
With these changes in mind, Stebbins aims to use the upcoming invitational as a gauge for the team.
“Seeing where they are and how they manage those stresses, in addition to being in a meet and having to perform … that’s what we’re going to use the weekend to do,” he said.
Email Zureiqat at szureiqat@media.ucla.edu