Girls swimming: Munster’s Crowe looking to keep it rolling in sectional
By Josh Lichtenfeld Post-Tribune correspondent January 30, 2012 11:14PM
Munster diver Briana Crowe poses for a picture on Monday January 30, 2012. | Charles Mitchell~For Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 1, 2012 9:52AM
It was one of those pressure situations that could easily deflate a young athlete.
In her first year on the diving team, first year ever of diving, Briana Crowe came out for one of the region’s strongest squads at Munster. And those same Seahorses were going through a transition following the graduation of current NCAA Division-I divers Karly Taylor and Courtney Lagestee, who posted a pair of top-eight finishes at state last year.
It was a pressure situation that requires a certain mentality. But Crowe came from a competitive gymnastics and cheerleading background and was looking to pick up a sport that might open up more opportunities. She didn’t exactly know of the tradition, or expectations, but had a willingness to try.
“Well, this is kind of my first year diving, so I didn’t know what to expect — it was kind of a different atmosphere,” Crowe said. “I’ve been doing tumbling and gymnastics and cheerleading for a while, and my mom got the idea (to try diving).”
Going from gymnastics to diving isn’t uncommon. However, while some of the moves are similar, moving to a different sport does take adjusting.
“It’s definitely taken a lot of work, she came to us with a lot of gymnastics techniques,” Munster diving coach Cassandra Smith said. “(Crowe’s approach) took us a while to kind of break everything down as well as getting the dives that she needed, so she could be successful.”
So, while the inexperience cost Crowe points early in the dual schedule, she continued to work with Smith and Munster’s No. 1 diver, senior Cara Leeney, who made it as far as the Penn Regional in 2011 and recently won the NCC diving title. One of the biggest tweaks was the takeoff action in reverse dives. Crowe originally would stay close to board and finish on the side, but realized that she could get better results from jumping out further.
“She definitely has just a lot of natural diving ability and she’s definitely good at taking criticisms and learning from her mistakes,” Smith said.
With her work Crowe has established a solid reputation for herself in the Seahorses’ lineup. While Leeney has corralled in most of the victories, Crowe is the owner of firsts at the Griffith and Chesterton duals.
The latest victory (200.35 points) against Chesterton on Thursday helped Munster defeat the same Trojans team that has beat them for years in the regular season.
“That (success) has been pretty nice. The swimmers have told me that it’s good that you started diving because you get us a lot of points and that’s pretty good — it’s pretty good to feel wanted,” said Crowe, who has a 4.0 grade point average.
Now comes another test for Crowe. When Munster travels to the Crown Point Sectional, she’ll most likely have to win against a Griffith diver for a spot at the Mishawaka regional. After beating the Panthers, she lost out to them at the NCC conference meet. Smith remains confident in Crowe’s chances, however.
“I think she’ll shock a lot of people at sectional because she has a whole new list from conference (meet),” Smith said.
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