Indiana University Athletics
From Inside the Zones: Lindsay Weigle
3/4/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
March 4, 2007
Throughout the course of the Zone C Diving Championships from March 2-4, select Indiana divers will check in with IUHOOSIERS.com. Senior Lindsay Weigle's account of day two of the trip appears below.
Today was a looong day! We had the early warm-up this morning from 8-8:50, which meant we had to wake up at 7 and leave for the pool at 7:20 in order to have enough time for stretching. I guess it was good, though, that we had an earlier warm-up, because when you are tired, you need to wake up earlier in order to be awake by the time the competition actually starts.
After the warm-up, which I'll admit was a bit of a struggle (I couldn't stop yawning!), we went back to the hotel for a quick breakfast and to pack our bags for the long competition. We had biscuits and gravy at the hotel that actually tasted good! Usually I only think it's good when I make it myself - ha ha.
Forty-five minutes later, we were already back at the pool. I set up my stuff in my spot away from the diving well so I could be in my own little world reading my fashion magazine and listening to my favorite cd while I waited in between rounds. The cd that I ALWAYS listen to at meets is called "The Ultimate Wedding Album." It sounds funny, but it is just a good mix of classical and opera songs that are very relaxing, including my favorite song of all time, Pachelbel's "Canon in D." Whenever I put on this music I am instantly relaxed because I've listened to it so much that I know every song in order and I love them all! Plus, it is just part of the competition routine that I follow (sports psychology: we are all supposed to follow the same routine at each meet so that we become comfortable with competition and will dive well.)
Anyway ... today was one-meter, which is my worst event. The higher up I go, the better I dive (strange, right? Ha ha). But, I already qualified on three-meter yesterday, so although I wanted to dive well today, it wasn't crucial that I place top three. This definitely made me more relaxed because there was no pressure. We started the competition with 45 girls, and of course I was the first one in the order to go! I don't really like to be first, but at least I was the first one to finish! After our first list of six dives, they cut the field down to the top 18 girls, and then we did another list of six dives (both lists were the same each time). I dove pretty consistently throughout the meet. I really thought of today as more like a practice than a meet, and I tried especially hard to make the corrections that Huber was telling me to do instead of just trying to dive well. Neither list was exceptional, but my second list was going much better (probably because by this time I was more awake! I always dive much better in the afternoon than in the morning.) until I got to my reverse twister. I thought my take off was much better than it actually was, so I reached for my entry as if I was going to over rotate, but I ended up not making it all the way! Oops! But like I said, I wasn't completely upset that I missed a dive because I was already qualified, even though I do hate to miss a dive! I was a little agitated though because I ended up in sixth place instead of fifth. Oh well. It was exciting though, because Brittney Feldman qualified. So far, it is me, Christina (Loukas) (who won both three- and one-meter, she's pretty good), and Brit. Tomorrow will also be exciting, because there's a good chance Heather (Chapman) will qualify, and Amy (Korthauer) has a good chance too!
After the meet, which ended around 3, I went out to dinner with my dad, my mom and Drew at this cute little restaurant in downtown Ann Arbor. For dessert (I have a sweet tooth that I just can't ignore sometimes), I got this amazing cheesecake brownie with ice cream. I ate way too much and felt so sick, but it was worth it! Then after we ate, my mom and Drew took me to the mall so I could go shopping! (My other great love besides diving!) I ended up with a couple of shirts, so it was a successful trip. It was just after 8 when they dropped me back off at the hotel, and I packed my bags so I could get that done and just relax the rest of the night. Since then, I've been sitting on my bed watching Gladiator (one of my favorite movies), and hanging out with my funny, crazy teammates, who have been coming in and out of the room. Hopefully I'll get to bed at a decent hour (it's already 10!), so I can get up tomorrow and have a fun 10-meter platform competition!
