Freshman diver Lizzie Meschisen has broken school records and placed high among her competitors in the state, gaining satisfaction from her pursuit for perfection in the sport that she grew to love.

This year, Meschisen beat the school record of 193.42 points set by Alexis Morin in 2008. She went on to beat her own record two more times, ending the season with a high score of 242.02 points. Meschisen also placed sixth at sectionals and eleventh at the Division I State Championship.

In high school diving, divers compete on the one-meter springboard. Competitors strive to maintain perfect form including a straight takeoff, straight arms, legs, and toes during the dive, and minimal splash upon entering the water. Judges also consider the difficulty of the dive and how the dive looks aesthetically.

“I love learning new dives and I’m really nervous at first to do them because I think I’ll hit the board or smack on my back,” Meschisen said. “But after I do it I realize that it’s really awesome because I get really high up in the air and I just get that adrenaline rush. When I enter the water perfectly and don’t have any splash, I feel like I achieved something awesome.”

Meschisen has just recently come back to the sport. Her first sport was gymnastics in fifth grade, but after growing tired of the long hours, she decided to try diving.

“I did [diving] for two years…it was just really slow and I didn’t like my coach very much, and so I quit and wanted to go back to gymnastics,” Meschisen said.

After two upper body injuries late last year however, Meschisen came back to diving this winter. In addition to competing and swimming with the Algonquin team at Westboro Swim and Tennis, she currently trains at Boston Area Diving three times a week for two hours.

“It is a wonderful combination to have a diver have a gymnastics background,” coach Jean Fedak said. “She’s very comfortable about the way that her body moves in the air.”

Nonetheless, Meschisen’s experience in gymnastics did not prevent her from struggling to learn new dives.

“The hardest dive I have ever learned is my reverse one-and-a-half in the tuck position,” Meschisen said. “This was extremely frustrating and hard because there is so much technicality to the reverse dive. You have to jump off the board with your hips forward and your feet back and you have to keep your head in while flipping.”

“After multiple days of screwing it up and over-thinking the dive, I walked into practice knowing I would nail it,” Meschisen said. “I just took a deep breath and went for it and nailed it three times in a row.”
Meschisen’s hard work has made a positive impression on her coach.

“She is tenacious, she is driven, she is disciplined, she is really a fun kid to coach…I have a lot of respect for her as an athlete and as a person,” Fedak said. “She is very easy to get along with and brings a very positive attitude to all that she does.”