Conference championships have been few and far between for the ISU diving team. The last diver to bring a conference title back to Ames was Katie Grinnell, who won the 1-meter dive in 1992.

That is, until Saturday.

On the final day of competition, junior Hillary Nichols won the platfom diving title at the Big 12 championships in College Station, Texas. In the process she smashed the previous school record — one she set at 373.75 — with 408.70 points.

“I really felt like she was going to be more than likely in the top five, but I didn’t anticipate her winning,” said diving coach Jeff Warrick. “She stepped up her performance in the finals. I thought her preliminary dives were good, but we changed a dive in the finals.”

Nichols used a one-and-a-half back dive for the preliminaries, but added a new twist to the dive, extending it to a two-and-a-half back. The added degree of difficulty earned her the extra points, which pushed her to the top.

“[Warrick and I] didn’t know if we should just be safe, because I have had some back problems and I don’t do that dive often,” Nichols said. “I had warmed it up in practice, so I was pretty comfortable with it.

“It was a good thing I used it, because it was my highest scoring dive in the finals.”

The added exposure for the team, which has finished in sixth place at the conference championships every year since the Big 12 was formed in 1996, should aid in recruiting swimmers and divers to Ames, Nichols said.

“I think we’ve always been a little bit hidden in the shadows,” she said. “Last year we did really well as a team, and this year we did even better. I think it’s really good for the team and the program.”

Beyer Hall, where the swimming and diving team practices, is only equipped with a 5-meter platform. In competitions, Nichols dives off a 10-meter platform, so pulling the difficult dive out was a risk, as she doesn’t get to practice it much, she said.

Nichols said she gets excited when she gets that far off the ground — her adrenaline goes up, and she loves it. She dove for a club team in Ontario before coming to Iowa State, so already being comfortable with the height helps her keep focus, she said.

The next meet for Nichols and the diving team is the NCAA Zone 5 Diving Qualifications, where divers qualify for the NCAA meet.

“I think she has a chance to qualify for nationals,” Warrick said. “It is not a given — she’s going to have to earn it — but she has the opportunity.”

Nichols said she thinks all three divers on the team have a good chance to go, as the NCAA has changed the number of qualifying divers.

Last year, only six divers from Zone 5 went to the NCAA championship, but this year there will be 10.

“There is going to be more competition, but I feel more confident and I really think there is a good shot even that the other two girls will get in as well,” Nichols said. “It’s really open to whoever has the best day, and that could happen to anyone.”