By David Willis
While many of her teammates are still preparing for practice, Andover High diver Katie O'Connell can be found climbing poles next to the Greater Lawrence Tech pool to hang the "backstroke flags" that show swimmers where they are onto hooks well out of the 5-foot-2 senior's reach.
"She's been doing it forever," said Golden Warriors coach Marilyn Fitzgerald. "The just the kind of person she is. I have no idea what I'm going to do without her, and I don't just mean diving."
Diving is, however, where O'Connell has built her legacy,
This Saturday, O'Connell will go for her third straight individual state diving title in the diving portion of the Division 1 State swimming championship. Diving takes place a day before the swimming events, when Andover will hope to clinch its 10th straight Division 1 title.
"It's crazy to think about because I would never think I could accomplish this much in the last three years," said the Penn State-bound O'Connell. "When I hear people congratulate me on winning two in a row, it still catches me off guard."
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As a youngster, O'Connell participated in gymnastics with her brother, 2007 Eagle-Tribune Gymnast of the Year Andy O'Connell. But, while watching the 2000 Olympic Games, she fell in love with a new sport — diving.
The 9-year-old joined the Charles River Diving Club, which practiced at Harvard and Boston University. She immediately took to diving, but some concerns still lingered.
"I had to deal with a lot of fear for quite a few years," she admits. "I had trouble with certain dives. Up until my sophomore year (of high school) I was afraid of hitting my head on the diving board on reverse dives. It's a typical diving fear. But I knew that, in order to accomplish my goals, I had to do all the dives. I learned to just do the dives over and over."
That practice paid off for O'Connell, who impressed right away as a freshman for the powerhouse Golden Warriors.
"All divers are a little crazy or they wouldn't get on the board," Fitzgerald said. "She was willing to go to that next level. To have a great dive, you have to have a certain degree of difficulty, and Katie is willing to get to that degree."
After standing out in the regular season, however, O'Connell struggled to a sixth-place finish at Division 1 states as a freshman.
"I didn't do very good," she said. "After that performance, I never thought I would win one state title. I was upset."
That frustration only drove the year-round diver to work harder, and she would not have a similar disappointment a year later.
In her sophomore season, O'Connell won the Division 1 state diving title with a 436.70. That was well ahead of second-place Ren Glidden (406.95) of Acton-Boxboro and Division 2 winner Rachel Peterson (393.55) of Wellesley.
She was even better last season, taking first with a then-school record 448.05 to become Andover High's first ever repeat diving champion. That again crushed No. 2 Jacqui Snell (395.90) of Framingham and repeat Division 2 champ Peterson (392.95).
Now, the senior is focused on making it three titles in a row.
"Every year it gets a little harder because everyone is improving," Fitzgerald said. "But she is so dedicated. The woman has nerves of steel. She has a lot of calmness in her, and whether she is frightened or not, she always looks calm."
O'Connell delivered an impressive warm-up last Saturday at the North Sectional meet. She took first with a 481, shattering her own school record of 448.05 in an 11-dive program.
"I have a lot of expectations for myself as a senior," O'Connell said.
"The week before big meets I go through each of my dives once a day to make sure I am ready. I want to uphold what I have done and score points for my team."
Penn State bound
After a number of recruiting trips, O'Connell remained unsure of where she wanted to dive in college. That is, until she received her acceptance letter from Penn State last Saturday.
"I wasn't sure what my first choice was until I got the letter," she said. "Then I knew what I wanted. My recruiting trip there in September was a lot of fun. I got to go to the Penn State football game (against Illinois) and it was the most exciting moment of my life."
Past Nittany Lions divers include 1992 and 1996 Olympic bronze medalist Mary Ellen Clark and Lara Spencer, host of entertainment news program "The Insider." O'Connell's brother Andy also attends Penn State.
"It is part of the Big 10," she said. "So I will have to work very hard to make an impact. But I like the pressure. It makes me accomplish more. I can't imagine my life without diving."
