After nine years of gliding through the lanes, sophomore Will Murphy decided to step on the diving board. Murphy has been swimming since he was seven years old. His most succesful, and his favorite strokes were always freestyle and backstroke. “I’m not much of a distance swimmer. Anything more than 100 meters (four laps) is more than what I succeed in,” said Murphy. He only started diving just this year, and he is already going above and beyond the standards.
“I started diving mostly because it looked pretty fun, and I already had a head start over every other new member because I could already do some basic skills,” said Murphy. He was not allowed to join his fresh man year, due to being a freshman swimmer, but this year his coach realized he could score some extra points for the team, so he joined two – three weeks into the season.
He only had a small number of practices to learn and perfect the six dives that were required for him to be able to compete. “When I first started practicing, I loved it. It was a bit intimidating standing in front of everyone at my first meet,” said Murphy. Murphy learned a lot of the essential dives already, but he still enjoys learning new ones and refining them. He is excited to sharpen his double flip.
The Swim & Dive WCAA meet was hosted at Derry Area Highschool on January 24. Murphy competed in diving. In diving his events were a front flip and a half, a front double, a reverse flip, a reverse dive, and a back one twist. In diving, he placed second overall in the boys category. He scored mostly sixes and six and a half’s from the judges in all of five of his events which boosted his score a ton. “I was surprised I got second, I was expecting to get 4th at best,” said Murphy. He was competing against kids who have been diving and training for years. He felt proud of himself for doing that well in only his first year of diving.
Murphy is going to continue diving throughout his high school career. He plans to practice more over the summer, and he is excited to explore and continue practicing.
