IU divers Michael Hixon and Michal Bower will take their talents to the crossroads of Ohio this week to compete at the USA Diving Winter Nationals.
The event will feature some of the best diving competition from around the country and will give Hixon and Bower the chance to compete against top-flight competition.
Both Bower and Hixon are really looking forward to the opportunity ahead in their final competition of the first semester, head diving coach Drew Johansen said.
Hixon, a junior who transferred from Texas after his freshman year, has been one of the Hoosiers’ most consistent divers this fall and will look to earn a spot on the World Championships team this week. He was named the Big Ten Diver of the Week on Nov. 9 and won the 1-meter dive competitions in meets against Texas and Florida and Tennessee and Kentucky, some of the country’s best collegiate programs.
He will be on the 1-meter springboard this week.
“Mike is as hard a worker as there is in the world and also a team captain,” Johansen said. “You know, it’s been great to have him come in here and kind of set the tone for what we expect all Hoosiers to be for years to come.”
Bower, who also transferred to IU after beginning her career at Arizona, will represent the IU women’s dive team in Columbus. The senior captain has been solid this year, winning the 3-meter dive in competitions against Michigan State and Tennessee and Kentucky. She will compete in the 1- and 3-meter springboard.
This week will give Bower an opportunity to make the World Championships roster and also the World University Games team.
“She’s grown tremendously in her time here,” Johansen said. “She’s our women’s team captain, a great leader on the team, and also doing fantastic in school and is applying for jobs in her field. Things couldn’t be better for Michal right now. Looking forward to putting a nice exclamation point on a great career for her.”
Johansen will also join Bower and Hixon at Nationals. After serving as the head diving coach for Team USA at the Rio Olympics this past summer, he will be in Columbus solely to coach Hixon and Bower.
“That’s what I’m looking forward to the most,” Johansen said. “My only role there is the IU diving coach and to do the best I can for my athletes there. So I’m looking forward to just wearing that hat.”
After this week the Hoosier divers will be off for a bit before returning to Bloomington for a 10-day training camp prior to the spring opener against the men’s and women’s defending Big Ten Champion Michigan Wolverines.
“Those 10 days are immensely valuable,” Johansen said. “Cause once classes start back up, we’re in the full swing of the semester and we’re traveling, and then February, March comes around real quick.”
