Abby Tollefson wanted to spend more time watching, encouraging and laughing with her fellow divers than worrying about the scoreboard on Friday night.

But when it was her turn to step up to the diving board, the West Marshall senior that competes for Marshalltown was locked in.

In her final high school diving meet, the Iowa State recruit climbed to the top of the podium as state diving champion, crowned at the Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA to conclude the first day of the state swimming and diving meet.

Tollefson finished her 11 dives with a 504.55, well ahead of runner-up Sasha Gisi of Dowling Catholic at 458.55 and solidly separated from the pack by the midway point of Friday’s competition.

The state championship caps an incredible season for Tollefson, which included her topping the state leaderboard from start to finish this season and walking away from the Marshalltown pool with the MHS school and pool records.

“It’s so exciting,” Tollefson said. “This has been my goal this whole season and I’m so excited to have all these accomplishments.”

She said looking at the scoreboard and tracking her progress would have only made her nervous.

Any other nerves were worked out by bonding with her fellow divers, whether in-between dives or dancing together during the breaks.

“I was just trying to stay calm, confident, and do my best,” Tollefson said. “The diving bubble is so small that it’s kind of like a big family, and it’s just so fun to be around other divers because they get it, and it ends up being this super happy, upbeat environment.”

That mentality helps her be so successful, MHS head coach Angie Nelson said.

“She wants to see everyone be successful, she’s pumping them up,” Nelson said. “And in the meantime, she uses all that energy to pump herself up. … She gets on that board, and you can see the game face goes on. She’s in the middle of that competition, she knows she’s doing well, even if she has zero idea what her actual score is in the competition.”

Kate Hauser, the other Bobcat in the competition, posted her best finish yet at state diving with a 19th-place finish, finishing with a 253.15 final score after making the first cut but coming up short of reaching the final three dives of the night.

Hauser, also a West Marshall student, missed that first cut as a sophomore last year, finishing 26th.

“That was my goal, to make it past that first cut,” Hauser said. “My five dives in the beginning were really solid, I’ve just got to remember that I need to bring my dives in closer and just really continue to work. It was a good experience, and I’m learning from it a lot.”

Tollefson added, “I know that she can only go up from here next year, and I’m super excited for her. … It’s really cool that we get to be a part of two different school’s atmospheres, and know that both of them are proud of us.”

Now, Tollefson can prepare to join the Cyclones.

“High school diving has made such a huge impact in my life,” Tollefson said. “I was a gymnast before this, and I found this huge love for diving throughout high school, and I’m super, super excited to write the next chapter.”

Earlier on Friday, Averie Wittkop finished 24th in the 50-yard freestyle preliminaries in a time of 25.16. While the senior was short of the finals cutoff of 24.92, she improved several spots on her 30th seed coming into the race, a core goal of the Bobcats in the swimming events this weekend.

Wittkop will return to compete with the 200 and 400 freestyle relays in Saturday’s swimming finals.

“She had a great race and was really solid off the turn underwater,” Nelson said. “Getting second in her heat was huge for her, too. We just want to make sure we improve where we’re at this weekend, and I think we were able to do that with Averie’s swim today.”

Bobcat swimmers drop time in state relays

Marshalltown girls swimming and diving finished the state meet weekend with two solid performances at the Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA on Saturday afternoon.

In the 200 freestyle relay, Lesli Waltermire, Rachel Case, Leia Hernandez and Averie Wittkop finished 19th in 1:42.42, improving on their 22nd seed and 1:43.64 time from regionals.

The Bobcats improved again in the 400 freestyle relay, as Wittkop, Maisie Gummert, Hernandez and Waltermire placed 24th in 3:49.62. Marshalltown had the 28th-best time out of regionals in 3:51.83.

“Lesli and Averie really led out in each race and were fast and solid,” said MHS head coach Angie Nelson. “Leia, Maisie and Rachel all dropped time and had great swims to keep their relays in the race.”

Marshalltown finished 18th out of 29 scoring teams in the meet with 20 points, all of which came from state diving champion Abby Tollefson.

It was the final meet for seniors Tollefson, Wittkop and Waltermire — Case and Gummert are sophomores and Hernandez is only a freshman.

“It’ll be hard to see our seniors graduate as they’ve been super assets for this team all four of their years,” Nelson said.

State Diving Results

(top 16 plus Marshalltown only)

1. Abby Tollefson, sr. Marshalltown 504.55

2. Sasha Gisi, sr. Dowling 458.55

3. Kamila Swanson, jr. Iowa City West 434.80

4. Katelyn Mackey, sr. CR Kennedy 426.35

5. Camryn Russell, so. Grinnell 422.30

6. Berit Kallemeier, jr. Dowling 422.05

7. Kylie Link, sr. CR Kennedy 421.65

8. Bailey Mahoney, so. Waukee 418.50

9. Holli Hetzer, so. SE Polk 409.45

10. Abby McCool, sr. Bettendorf 408.90

11. Liv Miner, sr. Johnston 382.75

12. Campbell Dopler, jr. Bettendorf 374.40

13. Janie Wyatt, sr. Valley 370.95

14. Alise Grady, sr. Johnston 369.80

15. Norah Nicol, so. Grinnell 368.80

16. Aimee Varga, sr. Iowa City West 366.35

Also

19. Kate Hauser, jr. Marshalltown 253.15