L-P, Cheyenne Mountain divers build on gymnast roots

A last-minute whim for Katie Kimball and Chandler Marshall turned out to be a season-changing coup for the Lewis-Palmer swimming and diving team.

“We both were talking about it the day before tryouts and decided we should do it,” Kimball said. “We knew they were looking for divers, and we thought we would give it a shot.”

Kimball and Marshall didn’t have any formal experience with diving but leaned on 13 years of gymnastics for the basics.

Marshall noted that several of her diving peers used to be gymnasts and some continue to tumble. While athleticism is required for both, there are certainly significant differences.

“We picked up diving pretty quickly, but I’m still getting used to the going in headfirst part,” said Marshall, who will be competing alongside her teammates this weekend at the Colorado Springs Metro League meet at Cheyenne Mountain.

The Rangers duo has become an essential part of the team. Based on scores posted this season, Kimball (No. 13) and Marshall (No. 15) are among the top divers in Class 5A, according to the Colorado High School Activities Association.

“Diving definitely makes up a big part of your team score at a meet, and it’s really tough for teams that don’t have any divers,” Lewis-Palmer coach Terre Christensen said. “They’ve really been an asset and have come a long way.”

The transition from the balance beam to the diving board is sometimes a move made out of necessity.

“I had been a gymnast for 10 years, but I was having some problems with injuries,” said Kathleen Hale, a Cheyenne Mountain diver who’s ranked No. 8 in 4A. “I watched my brother’s meets, and it seemed like a low-injury sport that I might be able to pick up.”

Hale’s background in gymnastics proved helpful at first but there were some drawbacks to having that experience.

“The tumbling and all was a really good dry-land (workout) for me, but after I started working on my (diving) approaches, it started to screw me up a little,” said Hale, who began diving in seventh grade. “It was a great background to be able to do flips, but diving is about technique.”

Hale’s teammate Sara Newman also competed in gymnastics before becoming a cheerleader as a freshman. She switched to diving a year later and is ranked No. 55 in her second season.

Newman prefers the individual nature that the sport offers.

“It’s a lot more laid back,” she said. “You get to be yourself.”

Blending in on a swimming team can be difficult for divers. Some practice separately from the swim team if lane space is at a premium and often have their own coaches. In an effort to bridge that gap with teammates, Kimball and Marshall started swimming on a 200-yard freestyle relay while Hale swims the 200 individual medley and the 100 breaststroke.

“We weren’t ever really swimmers before so this is all a new experience for us,” Marshall said. “But it’s great to feel like we’re a part of the team.”