At the conclusion of the regional diving meet at Grinnell College on Thursday, Trowbridge found herself with a new title: ‘regional champion’.

Trowbridge won the Grinnell regional diving meet with a score of 436.9, narrowly edging out Dowling Catholic’s Avery Markowski, who finished second with a 436.75, and Cedar Falls’ Ashton Syharath, who finished third with a 436.6.

After throwing a season-high score to earn the regional crown and qualify for her third-straight state meet, Trowbridge said she couldn’t ask for anything more.

“Coming into the season that was one of my goals, to be the conference champ and regional champ. I’m really excited,” Trowbridge said between taking photos with her punched state ticket.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON - Marshalltown senior Alli Trowbridge performs her penultimate dive during the regional meet at Grinnell College on Thursday. Trowbridge won the meet, her first regional title.

Trowbridge was the first of the those three within .3 points of each other to finish, and all she could do was sit and hope that neither Markowski or Syharath would pass her on the scoreboard.

“I actually tried not to watch them because I knew that it would be really close,” she said.

The fact that Syharath was even in the mix at the end was truly remarkable. During her fourth dive, Syharath hit her hands hard on the diving board, and it was a question whether the favorite to win the district would even be able to continue. She spent the entire rest of the fourth round getting treatment on her mangled fingers, which thankfully weren’t broken, and she took the board for her fifth dive sporting wraps on both hands.

“I hit my hands and was like, ‘oh no, of course it had to be at regionals,'” the Cedar Falls junior said. “I was pushing myself, telling myself I had to hit every dive. Honestly I didn’t care where I ended up, as long as I kept hitting my dives.”

There was nearly a fourth name in the log jam at 436 when it was all said and done, as Alli’s twin Sami also had a chance to take over the lead with her last dive. She came up just short though, finishing with a season-high 432.4 to finish in fourth place.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON - Marshalltown sophomore Hannah Taylor performs her final dive during the regional meet at Grinnell College on Thursday.

Marshalltown sophomore Hannah Taylor was just behind Sami in fifth place as well, finishing with a 386.5.

Once the final results from the rest of the regionals rolled in, the MHS girls learned that all three had done enough to make the field of 32 state qualifiers, which made head coach Angie Nelson extremely proud.

“Our girls were really able to keep their heads on,” Nelson said. “They did great dives, they had a lot of great height on those and they really finished off nicely. What a great night for everybody.”

It was a particularly long meet, as the girls from the Ankeny regional also joined the girls from the Grinnell regional to make it a 26-diver field. There were quite a few stoppages through the first five dives as well, which Nelson said isn’t an easy thing to handle.

“We were probably the last regional to finish because we were so slow in the first five, it was just poking around,” Nelson said. “That can throw off the flow of the meet pretty quickly, these girls held it together, they held their focus really well, they did great.”

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

Even though there were only 10 girls competing in the Grinnell regional, nine of which finished with a counting score, each of the top five are heading to the state meet.

“When we looked a the field we knew there were three to beat,” Nelson said. “We knew Ashton was going to have a great meet and you know which of them are the girls to watch for. We knew our girls were in the top six to watch for, so when you are sitting here you don’t have as much angst. You really want the girls to do well but what they had to do was come in here and dive a really solid list and they would do well. They did more than dive a solid list, they dove a great list and I think that proved in the final score.”

As for how close the final score was to give Alli the win, Nelson said she hasn’t seen much like that.

“To have that tight of a field so when they stand on the podium and they are .2 apart, that’s pretty amazing. That’s a great, exciting regional meet,” she said.

Sami actually improved her score from last year’s regional meet, up from a 408.3, but she was third last year behind Alli. She said even though she finished a place behind last year’s pace, that just shows how competitive this regional was.

“I wish it was just a little bit higher, but I’m not too mad about it,” Sami said of her score. “I’m excited, it was a lot better than last time. I feel like I dove really well, so I’m not complaining.”

Of the three Bobcats, it was a sure thing Alli was in and a relatively sure thing Sami earned her spot, but Taylor was right on the edge. She ended up making it in easily, beating the last qualifying score by nearly 42 points, and she said she’s pumped to make her first appearance at state.

“It is super awesome because last year I placed like 64th, it was really far and now it’s been a very big jump,” Taylor said.

Taylor actually had the highest-scoring final dive for the Marshalltown girls, dropping a 40.95 to solidify her spot at the state meet.

“I was just trying to not get so wrapped up in everyone else’s scores, focus on my own,” she said.

Nelson said the way Taylor finished off her list proved she belonged at the state meet.

“Hannah had a great dive with that back and a half with a half on it to finish out with a 40-pointer,” Nelson said of Taylor. “Great, good, good night for her, very solid. She did what she needed to do.”

As for the Trowbridge sisters, Nelson said it’s wonderful having Alli and Sami both qualify for their third-straight state meet together.

“I think it’s a testament to some hard work, I think it’s a testament to some good competition, inter-family competition, and I think that you look at the caliber and the improvements that they’ve made and it’s helped the rest of our team escalate to a better level of diving,” Nelson said.

Both Alli and Sami were almost more excited for the other than they were themselves, and they both said they couldn’t imagine competing at state without the other.

“I am really excited I get to do it with her for a third year,” Alli said.

“It’s so great, I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else,” Sami said.

The Iowa Girls’ High School State Swimming and Diving Meet will take place on Nov. 2 and 3 at the Linda Bloom Natatorium in the Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA, with the diving portion held on Nov. 3 at 9 a.m.

Regional Diving

At Grinnell

(* — state qualifiers)

1. Alli Trowbridge, MHS, 436.90.*

2. Avery Markowski, Dowling, 436.75.*

3. Ashton Syharath, Cedar Falls, 436.60.*

4. Sami Trowbridge, MHS, 432.40.*

5. Hannah Taylor, MHS, 386.50.*

6. Lexi Hirt, Muscatine, 336.65.

7. Allison Szalay, Dowling, 319.25.

8. Alivia Hoffman, Newton, 297.15.

9. Abbie Barr, Newton, 277.25.

10. Kylee Neighbors, Grinnell, DQ.

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