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11th heaven

Thatcher marks Marshalltown’s 11th consecutive year with a state-qualifying diver

JOHNSTON -- The two weeks leading up to the state-qualifying meet went toward board work and fine-tuning her dive list.

And stressing.

For Marshalltown senior Harlie Thatcher, all that tension melted away by the time she had completed her 11-dive routine and finished in fourth place in the Marshalltown regional on Thursday night at Summit Middle School in Johnston.

Thatcher's total score of 351.25 earned her an at-large berth into the Iowa Girls High School State Diving Championships for the second straight season, marking the 11th year in a row the Bobcats will be represented in the finale.

More than two weeks after winning the Iowa Alliance Conference championship with a whopping 395.55 point total, Thatcher completed a slightly altered 11-dive list in preparation for state.

"I had confident dives in that first five so I could just get those out of the way and then have fun the rest of the meet," Thatcher said. "I really liked my list today. It was just a long wait for regionals because you're thinking about regionals every day and it was so far away."

By the time the meet was over and the medals had been awarded, Thatcher was confident she was headed back to state.

"I felt like I really went out and did my best today and had some really good dives," she said. "I feel good about it."

The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union posted the 32-qualifier list of divers late Thursday night, and Thatcher was securely on board for state. She's seeded 12th overall a year after placing 24th in her state meet debut.

"Her diving was solid," said MHS head coach Angie Nelson. "I've said this throughout the season that if she just puts a consistent list together, she does really well. And I think that's important for her that she just continues to keep working on her board work and getting the height and putting in a clean set of dives."

Thatcher's scores reflected a consistent level of performance throughout the meet. She landed a haymaker with her fifth dive -- a back somersault with 1 1/2 twists -- and scored 46 points for it. It was one of her four dives with a degree of difficulty of at least 2.2 (2.3) and her execution of it was awarded accordingly. She received three 7s, three 6.5s and one 6, making it both her top scoring dive and her top judge's award.

"We got those two big twists up in her top five, which are confidence dives for her," Nelson said. "She does a really good job with those."

It catapulted her into contention for the regional crown, but the scores didn't stack up enough the rest of the meet to move her to the front. Pleasant Valley's Ari Steward emerged as the regional champion with a 378.05 total, followed by Waukee Northwest's Tessa Carnes (369.30) and Kendal Hanson of Bettendorf (359.80) in the 13-girl regional.

With 12 divers competing as part of the Johnston regional, the meet turned out to be a lengthy one. Emory Braunschweig-Norris of Southeast Polk captured the Johnston regional title with a 444 total, and her teammate Audra Doty was second at 372.20, as the state-qualifying event lasted about three and a half hours.

"It's hard to come out and be in a field of 25 girls and then your dives at home you might get 40 points on and you're getting 32 or 33, it starts to play with your mind a little bit," Nelson said. "But her diving was solid. I think her finishes were a lot cleaner than they have been.

"I think we struggled for some scores, but her distance from the board was closer and I think her entries were a little bit cleaner than they were at our invite and probably even at conference."

Thatcher will only have to wait one week now before the state diving competition, which will be at the University of Iowa Campus Recreation and Wellness Center in Iowa City on Thursday, Nov. 12, at 3:30 p.m.

Her Bobcat teammates look to join her in Iowa City as well. Marshalltown hosts its state-qualifying swim meet on Saturday at noon at the Marshalltown YMCA-YWCA.