Morris, Schank compete at NCAA Diving Championships
USD divers Sarah Schank and Isaac Morris competed in the 2018 NCAA Zone D Diving Championships on March 5-6. The event was held at the Jean K. Aquatic Center at the University of Minnesota.
Sophomore Isaac Morris placed 26th out of 34 divers in the one-meter dive with a score of 273.60. Morris also finished in 30th place with a score of 257.25 on the three-meter dive. This was his second year competing at the Zone Diving Championships.
Junior Sarah Schank placed 43rd out of 47 on the one-meter dive with a score of 200.75. Shank also finished in 44th on the three-meter dive with a score of 200.55. This year was the first time she competed at this event.
At the Zone Diving Championships, both Morris and Schank performed their same dives from the Summit League Championships. Morris qualified for the Zone Diving Championships event after earning first place in both the 1-meter and 3-meter dives at the Summit League competition. Schank qualified after placing second in the 3-meter and eighth in the 1-meter.
“I’ve been doing the same dives all year and I’ve just sort of been figuring out what order I want to do them in, so I’ll be doing the same dives I did at conference in the same order, so it’s pretty second nature at this point,” Morris said.
Assistant coach Kris Jorgensen helped the divers prepare for this event with exercises both on land and in the pool.
“We’re about 50-50 right now,” Jorgensen said. “So we have about half our training is in here in our dry land facility, doing trampoline and dry board work and then the other half is in the water.” The Berg trampolines are known to be the best because they are sturdy and made from the best material.
Jorgensen said they use cameras to help the divers prepare for these big events. Jorgensen also said that the divers have apps on their phones let them rewatch the videos of their dives.
“We’ll use their video of them diving, put it in slow-motion, put it next to someone who does the same thing better than them and look at the differences, so it’s a big part of trying to figure out what’s actually wrong,” Jorgensen said.
At the event, Morris and Schank both competed in the one-meter and three-meter events.
“Personally, I like one-meter because it’s not as high up. I don’t like heights very much. You get used to three-meter pretty fast, so it makes it easier,” Schank said.
Schank said adjusting from one-meter to three-meter dives is not too difficult.
“It’s pretty easy once you get used to it. At first, it’s pretty hard to stop the rotation a little bit earlier, but you get used to it,” Schank said.
Morris said both the one-meter and three-meter events have their own unique challenges.
“One meter is harder, but it’s closer to the water, so it’s less scary. Three-meter is a little bit easier, but it’s higher up, so it’s a little bit more scary, but they’re both their own challenge,” Morris said.
After representing USD at the Zone Diving Championships, Schank and Morris will have time to rest and recover, until the diving season starts again in October.
