Aquagirl divers end season at regional

GRINNELL — Alivia Hoffman had been in a regional diving competition before, but it was three years ago as a freshman. Hoffman and fellow NCMP Aquagirl senior Abbie Barr admitted they were nervous going into the 2018 regional diving meet on Thursday.

“Nerves get you,” Hoffman said after she finished the 11-dive competition. “It went pretty well but there were dives I know I can do better.”

Hoffman finished with a score of 297.15 points to end her senior season. Barr, who was a first-year diver, ended up with a personal-best score of 277.25 at the regional. Neither Aquagirl diver qualified for the 2018 Iowa Girls’ State Diving Meet on Nov. 3 at Marshalltown.

It was a super-regional at Grinnell College’s pool on Thursday with two different regional divers competing. Allie Trowbridge of Marshalltown won the Grinnell regional diving title with a score of 436.9 points, just ahead of Dowling Catholic’s Avery Markowski at 436.75 and Cedar Falls’ Ashton Syharath at 436.6.

Lauren Wrage of Valley posted a 441.55 score to win the Ankeny regional diving championship at Grinnell on Thursday. The regional champions are automatic qualifiers for state then the next 26 highest scores from regional competition across the state advance.

Ames’ Jayna Misra had the highest score in regional diving, winning the Johnston regional with a 564.85. The lowest state qualifying score was 343.9.

NCMP went without diving for two years then was able to bring it back this season with the changes in the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union diving coaching rules.NCMP shared a diving coach this season with Grinnell High School.

That coach is Karen Robbins, who is in her second stint at Grinnell. She said she coached diving then swimming for 20 years for Grinnell then left coaching. She came back to coach four years ago because the Grinnell team’s diving coach left.

“I hated the idea there were girls who wanted to compete didn’t have a coach so I came back,” Robbins said.

Barr came out for diving for the first time this season. At her first and last regional dive meet, Barr was the final diver among the 25 competing on Thursday.

“Yes, I was nervous, but it was really, really fun,” Barr said. “I liked getting to know divers from other towns. When you have 25 divers, you have a lot of time in between to talk to each other.”

Robbins said NCMP head coach Sarah Patterson told her of Barr going to camp last year and having the basics.

“But Coach Patterson didn’t tell me how determined Abbie was, how athletic she and how coachable she is,” Robbins said. “Every step of the way, Abbie has tried everything we’ve asked her to try even when she was nervous about things. I can’t be more proud of what she’s accomplished this season.”

Robbins said many divers don’t get 11 dives in a season but Barr not only learned 11 dives this season but dove 11 dives with confidence in competition on Thursday.

Hoffman competed for NCMP diving in 2015 as a freshman, scoring 293.05 points in her only other regional meet. Then there were two years of no NCMP diving because it lost its diving coach and each team had to have it’s own coach at the time.

“I’m glad we got to compete this season,” Hoffman said. “Sure, I wanted to do better tonight but I thought overall it was a good season.”

Hoffman won the 2018 Little Hawkeye Conference diving championship and was second in the North Central Iowa Swim Conference championships.

“I remember Alivia coming over here and diving as a freshman with a different coach. I watched her and she was very timid and lacked confidence,” Robbins said. “She came out this whole season showing confidence and leadership. She’s been instrumental in Abbie succeeding this season, helping teach her dives.”

Robbins said Hoffman was up to try new things including changing her approach to accentuate the strength she has.

“Alivia is an incredibly strong diver. We added some dives which were harder dives and dives she was afraid of in the past,” Robbins said. “She just dove like a champion.”

Hoffman said she is looking into possibilities of continuing her diving career at the collegiate level. Robbins said she is encouraging Hoffman to pursue college diving opportunities.

“I think she’d be very good at the next level with her work ethic and strength as a diver,” Robbins said.

Barr said Hoffman was always helping her through the season on dives.

“It was a great experience for me. I’m so glad I tried it,” Barr said. “Dives can always improve but I thought I had a pretty solid night. I had my best score and that’s a good way to end it. I made a lot of new friendships this year.”

The NCMP swimmers are next up in the Grinnell College swimming pool. The regionals swimming meet is at noon on Saturday with state meet berths up for grabs.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com