Loganville High School’s Swim and Dive team competed in the State Championship at Georgia Tech's McAuley Aquatic Center on February 7th-9th. Madeline Robison, our school’s only diver, competed on February 8th against thirty-eight other state qualified divers. Madeline, despite only being a sophomore and only diving for two years, placed 3rd in state. An incredible feat for a 10th grader. This year’s state diver champion went to Haley Allen, a senior from Riverwood International Charter School, and a diver from Marist High School took second place. Some of the other schools that participated in this event were The Westminster Schools and our biggest competitors: Oconee and North Oconee High School. We were able to interview both Madeline and her coach, David Smith, and ask them questions about the competition and diving in general. Madeline has been diving for almost two years now. After quitting gymnastics, she knew some friends that started diving and thought she would be interested in it, and she explained, “I loved it, so I’ve been doing it since.” Coach David Smith has really only coached Madeline for two years and is very impressed by her increasing skill and ability in diving: “Coming in 3rd in state and only having been diving for two years? She’s competing against girls that have been diving since they were like eight, so she’s doing really well. I’m really proud of her.” Madeline went to practices at UGA and in Cumming to physically prepare for her competition. In order to mentally compose herself, she told herself to be confident and “just know you’re capable of it.” There were many anxious and nerve-wracking times during her actual dive for the competition. “I was definitely nervous, I guess my stomach was kinda tight,” Madeline noted with a laugh. “But once you get up on the board, you have to let that all go.” Coach Smith also had a hard time trying to keep his composure during her dives. He said, “I’m just trying to watch the other girls and trying to keep my composure, make sure Madeline’s ready to go, not get in her way, and just let her focus on what she needs to focus on. Basically, just give her some space.” Coach Smith admits it was sometimes difficult to sit still during her dives. His expectations for Madeline were already set high because she had placed 8th in state last year as a freshman, but he wasn’t sure she would get third. Madeline does competition cheer-leading in the fall season, not leaving much transition time between the two sports. However, Madeline exceeded beyond both his and her own expectations. Madeline found herself facing hard and difficult times when planning for the competition. Because of her several coaches’ pressure to do well in order to represent Loganville competently, Madeline admitted to going through times where she just wanted to give up, saying, “There’s going to be those hard times, and you’re going to have those rocky spots where you may not want to finish.” However, she was dedicated to finishing the season strong and got back to her rhythm. Madeline also found inspiration from watching the girls that competed in the competition and the work they had done. Her success has brought much excitement and hopes for new opportunities for the next season. Coach Smith shared his thoughts on the possibility of athletes being inspired by Madeline’s success and being interested in diving next season. He also expressed his expectations for Madeline next year by saying, “She’s very composed, she’s very focused, she’s very poised for a sophomore. I expect her to do great things next year.” Madeline emphasized her positive feelings for the end of the season: “I was happy with where I ended up with.”