With Olympian Reiling out, diving team steps up to challenge

Losing a leader can set a team back. When that leader is an Olympic-caliber athlete, it can be devastating. But the women's diving team has found a way to succeed despite losing Olympic diver Sara Reiling.\nThe ultimate test comes today with the start of the Big Ten Women's Diving Championships at the Counsilman Billingsley Aquatic Center.\n"We have returning divers," said Jeff Huber, diving coach. "And I think the girls just looked at as an opportunity to step up and they've done that."\nAfter finishing 13th on the platform in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, Reiling redshirted the 2000-2001 season because of a wrist injury and a late return to the program. She is still training and said she hopes to be ready to compete in the Senior Nationals in April.\nWithout Reiling, the divers has stepped up, Huber said. They've looked at the situation as their opportunity to move into the limelight and show what they are made of. \n"I think that having Sara gone for so long we've all stepped forward and taken control rather quickly," senior diver Erin Quinn said.\nQuinn is not a stranger to success in tough competitions. During the 1998-99 season, she was named an All-American after finishing sixth in the NCAA Championships. In her freshman, year she was named an Honorable Mention All-American. After redshirting her junior year because of a torn ligament she suffered during the 1999 NCAA Championship, Quinn hasn't had a problem becoming the team's leader. \nIn her third meet of the season, Quinn was able to win both the 1- and 3-meter diving events against Kentucky.\nBut now Quinn and Huber are putting the regular season behind them and are looking toward the Big Ten Championships which kick off today with the 1-meter competition. \n"We're preparing for the Big Tens," Huber said. "We're training in the diving order that will be used during the championships and I'm scoring everyone's dives. I'm looking for personal bests off the platform and the springboards."\nIt appears diving in meet order has been a successful training technique. For the past three weeks, the team has been preparing for the big meet, and for a while, Huber was concerned with what he was getting out of his divers. \n"The first week was no good at all, the second week was a little better, but this past week has been exceptional," Huber said. "If we dive in the meet like we have this past week we should be very successful."\nDespite success during recent practices, the divers said they are not underestimating the challenge of the championship. But they said they feel confident in diving at home.\n"It's really going to be tough competition," sophomore Jennifer Sonneborn said. "However, diving off our own boards is really going to be a great advantage"