Westside’s dive team enters the season with one familiar benchmark: scoring 300 points in an 11-dive meet, the standard needed to qualify for the Nebraska state meet.
Head coach Katie Saafield said the program’s goals go beyond numbers, focusing both on team success and individual growth.
“Our goal is for the entire Westside Swim and Dive program to go to state and win state,” Saafield said. “Beyond that, it’s making sure each individual is able to meet their personal goals. If that includes going to state, we want to help them get there.”
Two seniors who have already secured state berths, Jay Murphy and Nolan Boarts, said their focus now is on improving their performances.
Murphy said he hopes to move past last season’s finish, when he narrowly missed advancing further.
“I just want to make it past that last cut,” Murphy said. “Last year it was right on the edge, so it was disappointing, but it was still a lot of fun.”
Boarts said his goal is to push deeper into the competition.
“I want to get to the last cuts this year and possibly place on the podium,” he said.
Westside has 10 divers on its roster, one of the largest teams in the state. Saafield said that depth is critical for the program’s future.
“It helps,” Saafield said. “We’re losing five seniors this year, so we need athletes coming up to replace them. It’s always good to have divers developing from earlier stages.”
Saafield said diving often attracts athletes from other sports, especially gymnastics, because of the skills it requires.
“Any experience with tumbling, handstands and being comfortable upside down is an advantage,” she said. “We’ve developed divers from a lot of different backgrounds.”
Murphy said improving small technical details has been a focus this season.
“Pointing my toes, adjusting my hurdle, just little things to make the dive better,” he said.
Boarts said adding new dives has helped him improve.
“I’m really liking my new dives,” he said. “The two-and-a-half pike has been getting better, and I also like my inward one-and-a-half.”
With both seniors already qualified for state, their attention now shifts from earning a spot to making the most of the opportunity as the season continues.
