If you were to ask ISU divers and their coaches, the team is gaining momentum going into the USA Diving Winter National Championships next week in Iowa City.

“I think we are on the rise,” said coach Jeff Warrick. “We still have to keep working and keep fine-tuning, but we are looking a lot better.”

Earlier this month, Sarah Nelson earned the Big 12 Diver of the Week thanks to her efforts Tennessee Diving Invitational. Last week against No. 25 Missouri, she had her personal-best dive in the 1-meter.

Also at Missouri, Iowa State had two other personal-best dives from redshirt freshman Jessica Nicholson, and senior Justine Anders, both in the 3-meter.

With those results in mind, it’s hard not to see where Warrick is coming from. Even with the positive attitude, the Cyclones are focusing on improving is consistency on every dive.

“I think this is the part of the season where we’re focusing on being more consistent,” Nelson said, “and really putting the finishing touches on our dives.”

At the meet in Columbia against Missouri, inconsistency was the theme. Personal bests were set for a few of the divers, but for the others it was a poor performance.

In practice the diving team has been working on correcting the inconsistency. They’re doing things such as focusing on making each dive count, and repeating that mindset every time they get up on the board. 

“Sarah had a great 1-meter, and Jessica had a great 3-meter,” Warrick said, “but on the opposite board it wasn’t there.”

At the Diving National Championships, the divers only need to focus on one board a day. Since the divers struggled with more than one dive per meet, this could be an advantage.

“That’s what’s nice about these meets,” Warrick said. “We can focus on one board a day, rather than two boards in the same day.”

With the team building each practice and getting better with each dive, the team feels like they can go into the meet and perform well.

“You always go in with a positive attitude and outlook,” Nelson said. “And I know there will be a lot of good divers there, so it’ll be a great experience either way.”