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'M' freshmen divers 'gain some experience'

Sports ethics dictate that winning isn't everything.

Three Wolverines typified this ethic this past weekend at the U.S. Diving Zone Meet held in Rockville, Md., leaving before the final results were posted.

Freshmen Nate Shepard, Jill Unikel and Laurel Dougherty competed in the U.S. National qualifying meet, but weren't concerned with their standings.

"Honestly, I didn't stick around long enough to see how I finished," Dougherty said. "I really just went to the meet to gain some experience."

The meet began a chain of national competitions. From the regional meets across the country, divers advance to the U.S. Diving Senior National Meet in Miami, Ohio.

The top eight finishers in the platform and three-meter springboard, and the top four in one-meter competitions at Nationals qualify to compete on the national team at the Pan Am Games and other international meets.

The divers who make the national team twice become eligible to compete at the Olympic Diving Trials.

The Zone meet is not a pre-qualification meet for the diving series, which explains why the remainder of the Wolverine men's and women's diving squads did not attend.

"Some people wanted to take a break and concentrate on their studies for the rest of the term since we've been so busy training for the regular season," Shepard said.

To qualify for the Zone meet, the entrants' dives had to meet national degree-of-difficulty standards.

About 50 men and 50 women competed in the open. The open-entrant format provided a large field for a wide range of skills.

"All in all, the competition wasn't that great," Dougherty said. "Everyone was good enough to be there; we had all pre-(qualified), but it was not as competitive as I had expected."

Unikel echoed disappointment with the level of competition.

"(At the meet) there were some really good divers," Unikel said. "The people were good, but the competition itself wasn't as good as it could have been. People didn't dive as well as they could have."

Although the Wolverines weren't pleased with their final results, the meet was not a lost cause. The meet proved to be a test of character for the freshmen.

"I haven't been diving that long and haven't been in that many high-pressure situations," Dougherty said. "It was a good opportunity to dive in a competitive atmosphere and get used to the pressure."

Likewise, Shepard needed to adapt to the competitive constraints. The day before leaving for the meet, Shepard learned that his prepared dive from the three-meter springboard did not meet the degree of difficulty standards. He changed his two-and-a-half inward tuck to a pike.

"(The dive) went all right in practice but it didn't go as well as it could have in the meet," Shepard said. "I don't usually have to change my dives that quickly or close to a meet, but now I know I can do it and I'll probably add it to my list of dives."