{"id":182703,"date":"2010-01-15T04:47:27","date_gmt":"2010-01-15T09:47:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stanforddaily.com\/cgi-bin\/?p=1037160"},"modified":"2010-01-15T04:47:27","modified_gmt":"2010-01-15T09:47:27","slug":"divers-kick-off-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/182703","title":{"rendered":"Divers kick off season"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"The<\/p>\n

The Stanford diving team, composed of four men and four women, looks to build on its success under veteran coach Dr. Rick Schavone. Several divers look to repeat as All-Americans this year. (Stanford Daily File Photo)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Team begins play at Bruin Diving Invitational<\/h3>\n

Often overlooked because of its small size, the Stanford diving team has been one of the nation\u2019s premier programs for the past several years. The team fields eight divers — four men and four women. The team\u2019s relatively low on-campus profile is attributable to both its size and the fact that many of its events take place at large tournaments off-campus rather than in dual meets.<\/p>\n

In a sport measured chiefly by individual achievement, the Cardinal divers had some success last year. The men\u2019s team sent two divers to last year\u2019s NCAA Tournament, senior Dwight Dumais and junior Brent Eichenseer. Dumais was an All-American in both the one-meter and three-meter springboards, and Eichenseer exceeded expectations by winning All-American honors in platform diving.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the first time I was an All-American on both boards,\u201d Dumais said. \u201cI was seeded second in the one-meter finals. But diving is a sport of moments — I didn\u2019t have the best of competitions and I ended eighth. College diving is so deep right now — if you don\u2019t compete at your best, it\u2019s tough to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Head coach Dr. Rick Schavone, who is entering his 32nd season as Stanford diving\u2019s coach, said he was pleased with last year\u2019s results.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe men had a very good meet. Brent was exceptionally good,\u201d Schavone said. \u201cHe had a very good year and we hope to build on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The women\u2019s team did not have as much success, however. Junior Meg Hostage was unable to finish strong at NCAAs, placing 25th and 27th in the one-meter and three-meter, respectively. Senior Carmen Stellar had relatively more success, placing 14th in the platform consolation finals.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarmen was a walk-on, so to do that in her junior year was an amazing accomplishment,\u201d Schavone said. \u201cStellar had a great year, but the women\u2019s season was a disappointment overall.\u201d<\/p>\n

For this season, the main focus is on getting Dumais, Eichenseer, Stellar and Hostage back to the NCAA Finals and improving on last year\u2019s finishes. Given that all four have already been to the NCAAs at least once, chances are high that this goal will be accomplished.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to be in the top 16 for both men and women,\u201d Schavone said.<\/p>\n

While the team trains together to build up camaraderie, diving is essentially an individual sport and each diver has personal goals for the end of the season. The two seniors are the most ambitious.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal is an individual NCAA title on the one or three-meter springboard. I don\u2019t want to end my Stanford career without bringing home a title,\u201d Dumais said. \u201cStatistically, the one-meter springboard has been my best event — I have three All-Americans and have competed internationally. Right now, the three-meter is primarily my focus. That\u2019s an Olympic event while the one-meter is not, so that\u2019s where I\u2019d like to have my success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stellar also has big expectations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to final in all events at NCAAs,\u201d she said. \u201cI also want to get top-three finishes in all three events at the Pac-10 championships.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cardinal sophomores and freshmen don\u2019t really come into this picture, but Schavone explained that the team\u2019s approach is very long-term.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The underclassmen] are just getting better,\u201d he said. \u201cThey will keep improving and get to a level where they can replace the upperclassmen. It\u2019s a four-year process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sophomore Mary-Beth Corbett also talked about this progression.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a diver is a four-year process. The emphasis in freshman and sophomore year is looking at the upperclassmen, learning and developing new skills. That\u2019s what makes Stanford Diving different from other schools — the focus on the development program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Corbett said her main goal for this year was to do well on her dives and continue improving.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to make a statement that I am going to be one of the top Stanford divers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The diving team faces its first competition of the winter season this weekend, when both the men and the women head to Los Angeles to compete in the Bruin Diving Invitational.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have two factors working against us: the team went on a break and then they came back and trained really hard — we\u2019re a little beat up right now. This is just an introductory level for the boys,\u201d Schavone said. \u201cIt\u2019s a test for the girls against the USC girls, who are the best in the conference — we can see where we are against them. It\u2019s our first meet back — it\u2019s just about getting our feet wet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stellar agreed, saying: \u201cIt\u2019s an early meet, so I\u2019m excited to get a look at the competition and see where I\u2019m at.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI simply want to test out how much I\u2019ve been training and how much I\u2019ve improved over the break,\u201d Eichenseer added.<\/p>\n

The Bruin Diving Invitational will take place all day Saturday and Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Stanford diving team, composed of four men and four women, looks to build on its success under veteran coach Dr. Rick Schavone. Several divers look to repeat as All-Americans this year. (Stanford Daily File Photo) Team begins play at Bruin Diving Invitational Often overlooked because of its small size, the Stanford diving team has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2073,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-182703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2073"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182703\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}