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’Cat trio ready for state diving

MHS one of three teams with three state divers

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON Marshalltown state qualifying divers, from left, Alli Trowbridge, Hannah Taylor and Sami Trowbridge pose on the diving board at the MHS pool before practice on Wednesday.

There are three teams who will have three girls competing in the Iowa Girls’ High School State Diving Competition on Saturday morning at the Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA: Ames, Linn-Mar and Marshalltown.

At the beginning of this season, Bobcat head coach Angie Nelson said she wanted her diving program to be one that other teams looked to in reverence, and now that she has all three Alli Trowbridge, Sami Trowbridge and Hannah Taylor preparing to dive in the 32-competitor state field, she is beyond happy for her girls.

“I am super proud of those three girls and I am really, really, really excited about what they’ve been able to do and how they push each other and how they’ve been able to make great lists and complete great lists with good focus,” Nelson said. “They had a great regional meet, they’ve had a great couple of invitationals together and I am super duper excited about watching them compete together one last time this season.”

Alli has been on fire lately, winning both the CIML Iowa Conference meet and the regional meet for the first time in her career. She had season-high in both meets, and she won the regional meet at Grinnell with a 436.9, just shy of being her career best.

Alli said though this is her third-straight year qualifying for state, it never gets old.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON Marshalltown state qualifying divers, from left, Alli Trowbridge, Hannah Taylor and Sami Trowbridge pose on the diving board at the MHS pool before practice on Wednesday.

“I am really proud of it, especially since I’ve only been diving for four years,” she said. “I am pretty happy with that.”

Neither Alli nor Sami had tried diving before their freshman year, but clearly the twin seniors had a knack on the board.

“It changed our lives but for the better because I’ve had a lot of opportunities at Marshalltown and also the goal of diving in college,” Alli said.

Sami, who qualified for a third-straight year with a career-best 432.4 at the regional meet, said she’s always loved competing alongside her sister.

“Like I’ve said, I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else,” Sami said. “Past high school and into college, hopefully we can be on the same team in college too because we push each other and are competitive like that.”

That closeness has actually rubbed off on Taylor, who earned her first state qualification with a 386.5 at regionals.

“It’s super helpful that they’ve been there multiple times so they can guide me on what to do,” Taylor said.

Having two girls who know how to competed at the highest level isn’t just good for Taylor, Nelson said it’s made the entire program stronger.

“It’s a lot easier to try a dive if you’ve seen a dive,” she said. “When you have teammates doing those dives it’s a lot easier to say, ‘hey, I think I can try that too,’ where if you don’t have that you are kind of forging the road yourself. It makes it a challenge, so I think having good quality divers makes better quality diving. These girls are all competitive with each other, but they are competitive kids. They know where they can be in the field and they know they can be in the top 12, all of them.”

Alli earned her highest state finish last year, coming in 11th and improving her first-year placing by one spot.

She has some loftier goals for her final meet, however.

“I actually hopefully can get a top five finish,” Alli said with a confident grin.

Sami didn’t have as good of a time last year, as she was eliminated after the first cut and had to settle for a 22nd-place finish. She said that was difficult to accept last year, but because of that she knows she has no pressure this season.

“I feel good, I’m not that nervous, I’m expecting to get past both cuts so hopefully that happens. I feel like I have some pretty solid dives,” she said.

Sami had the best placing for either girl in their state careers in their sophomore year, when she finished on the podium in sixth. Her score that year was a 401.95, which is well below what she’s capable of now, and she said that just goes to show how much the entire state has gotten better in the last two years.

“It’s not about placing, it’s about scores. It’s really different this year, it should be interesting,” Sami said.

Both Alli and Sami have a shot at breaking the Marshalltown school record of 462.4 set by Heather Gross in 1988, with Alli specifically gunning for that mark all season, but Nelson said it will be difficult given how the judging takes place.

“You see a completely different type of judging happen from regionals to state, so while I believe it’s realistic she could attain that, you just don’t know how the scoring is going to be,” Nelson said. “The judging panel historically is tight in the first five, which means dives that would normally at a regional meet

get an 8, they might get a 7 or a 6.5. I’d certainly like to see all of the divers rewarded with the scores that they deserve, not just to keep the competition tight but to let the good girls excel to the top of the pack.

“I know our officials want to see the girls succeed too, so I absolutely mean no disrespect, but watching the scoring from a regional meet to watching the scoring from a state meet, the first five dives are totally different.”

Even with the odds possibly stacked against her, Alli said she still feels like her list is good enough to break that 462.4 barrier.

“I would like to think I do, I’ve added a 2.5 for this meet, so hopefully all of my dives go smoothly,” she said.

Taylor might not be at the level to break the school record just yet, but she has improved exponentially from mainly diving junior varsity a season ago.

“Hannah has made such specific strides from last year to this year. She’s put a lot of time and effort into it and it really shows,” Nelson said of her sophomore. “She had the talent, she’s a former tumbler so she has the body awareness and the body skill to do some really cool things. This year she is riding the board better and she’s better at feet-first and head-first entries, and she’s growing. Every time she jumps on the board something new and different is happening.”

Taylor said that growth started in the offseason last year.

“I started diving in Grinnell in January, so that has helped a lot from last year and really improved my score,” she said.

Taylor is starting on a similar path as the Trowbridge sisters by making her first state meet as a sophomore.

“I really hope I will be able to go the next three years and have as much success as they have,” she said. “I am more nervous than anything but I am super excited to represent the Bobcats!”

School records aside, Nelson believes every one of her girls have the ability to not just make it past the first cut, but stick around for the entire meet.

“All of their dives are good, none of them have anything that’s horribly down on their list,” she said. “The nice thing about going into this week is we’ve made a couple of changes to the list with orders and all, but we don’t have anything on the list that’s a worry-wart that you will be constantly worried or focused on what’s going on. I think we are just focused on having a good, clean list and seeing what happens.”

While Alli said she is seeking that top-five finish — and she enters state with the ninth-best qualifying mark — Sami said she also wants to be in the mix for a podium finish.

“I would like to be in the top 10, a little better than where I’m at right now,” Sami, who has the 12th-highest qualifying score, said. “I think that will change with everyone having the same judges, regionals is really different.”

Taylor is focused on at least continuing after the first five dives, and anything else after that is just gravy.

“I’d like to make it past the first cut, but if I don’t that’s fine,” she said. “As long as I better the scores of my dives individually.”

Before any of the dives have been scored, Alli said she already feels like a winner doing this one more time with her sister and for the first time with Taylor.

“I have said this whole year it would be really cool if we had all three of us going to state, so I am excited,” she said.

The Iowa Girls’ High School State Diving Meet will kick off at 9 a.m. on Saturday at the Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA.

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