MHS junior has promising state debut
By: Justin Feil
In eighth grade, Bridget O’Brien had to make a tough call.
She stopped diving to concentrate on gymnastics.
"It was a really hard choice," said O’Brien, now a junior at Montgomery High School. "It took me a month or so to make the final decision. At that point, I was getting to the higher levels for gymnastics and the team was getting a lot more time consuming. I was so young. It was nervous about which one to choose. Then I hurt my ankle. I decided to move back to diving."
At the end of September, O’Brien returned to Lords of the Boards diving in Bridgewater with coaches Fred and Leslie Woodruff. Returning to diving wasn’t like riding a bike, but eventually it came back to her.
"It was hard the first two months," O’Brien said. "It’s kind of the same as gymnastics. Some of the habits from gymnastics are the exact opposite for diving and it’s hard to get rid of them. Gymnastics helps with the dive itself, but it hurts with the board work."
O’Brien worked out the kinks enough to be the top diver for the Cougar diving team. A steady winner in dual meets, and third-place finisher at the North Brunswick Invitational, she capped off her first year of high school diving by placing 10th at the state diving meet Tuesday.
"I was pretty happy because it was one of my first big meets for high school," O’Brien said. "I just picked it up again. I had been doing gymnastics a while. I like diving. I want to keep doing it. I’ll take it from there."
Sarah Andrekovich of Kinnelon won the state for the second straight year with a score of 411.95. O’Brien tallied 303.25 and was one of just two area divers, along with Hopewell Valley’s Danica Roskos, to make the final 16 cut. MHS teammate Laura Ng placed 21st.
"She’s a freshman and she never dove before, so that was really good," O’Brien said. "She took classes last year and started on my team a couple months ago."
West Windsor-Plainsboro South had three divers qualify for the state diving meet. Mallory Swanson placed 17th and Danielle Erickson was 20th. Both hope to return next year. The Pirates’ Kate Samardick was 26th to cap her senior season.
"I think they did great," said Pirates head coach Lee Swanson. "They had a lot of tough competition. I think they performed great while they were there considering the stress.
"Our goal going in was just to do as best they can and dive the best they can under the circumstances. I warned them there was high competition. We went in to have fun."
Swanson, who also coaches the WW-P North team that did not have a diver reach states, is hoping to send more divers next year, and would like to get some boys out for the opportunity as well. She is hoping they can send at least four divers to states next season.
"I don’t think that’s too far off," Swanson said. "I would be happy with four and for them to perform just as well as the girls did this year."
For O’Brien, this season was a new start to her diving career. She has seen progress in regaining her diving form while training with LOB, and she was plenty familiar with some of the competition she was up against Tuesday.
"I knew that I had some competition with the girls I practice with at LOB," O’Brien said. "I knew there were six other girls (from LOB) that would be there. I didn’t know what to expect since I’d never been to a state meet for high school. I knew I’d have my friends there. I didn’t know who else would be there.
"I felt pretty good," she added. "I had a few dives I could have been better on. A few, I was really happy with. Two of my dives, they were the first and second time I used them in competition. I felt good about that."
Over the past two winter seasons, O’Brien has been a cheerleader for MHS. But when the Cougars found a teacher, Brent Ferguson, who agreed to be an advisor for the diving team and with Bob McHenry’s help as a coach, O’Brien was on board, literally.
"I have been doing gymnastics since I’ve been pretty young," said O’Brien who started diving with the Community Park Bluefish team. "I started diving young too. I had to make the choice and I chose gymnastics. I went back to diving a few months ago."
Now, diving is a strong part of her future. In the immediate future, she will train for spring regionals and the diving schedule doesn’t lighten until August. By then, she’ll be thinking about her final year at MHS, and one last year of gymnastics and diving.
O’Brien will be a captain for the gymnastics team in the fall before returning to the diving board for a final scholastic season. She has plenty of time to prepare to take the next step.
"I’m excited for states next year," O’Brien said. "There’s a whole other year to practice. Hopefully I’ll have a higher (degree of difficulty) and my execution will be better."
For her first time at the state diving meet, there were plenty of positives to take out for Bridget O’Brien. Her return to diving has been a success, and Tuesday’s results show there is plenty to look forward to next year.

