The swim and dive team consists of the three Elkhorn schools; Elkhorn High, Elkhorn North, and Elkhorn South. Seniors Bridget Boster and Enzo Morello are from Elkhorn High and Freshman Owen Lake is from Elkhorn North.

“The dive team has always been small, but this year there is an extra person, so it is me and Enzo, and then there is a freshman from [Elkhorn] North, and that is it,” Boster said. 

Boster originally did gymnastics before high school, but considering that the Elkhorn schools do not have a gymnastics team, she joined diving instead.

“I started diving my freshman year,” Boster said. “Freshman year I was too scared to really do anything or try new dives.”

Having only school practices to improve, Boster found it hard to keep up. Joining club diving outside of school gave her more time to work on her diving skills.

“My confidence has improved, and I am able to do a lot more dives than I used to,” Boster said.

Boster went from just having a background in gymnastics freshman year to having 11 dives during her competition season senior year, which is a big accomplishment.

“[She has made] leaps and bounds from freshman to senior year,” Elkhorn dive coach Kevin Hansen said.

Morello also did gymnastics before high school. Because diving uses some of the same skills as gymnastics, the background experience gave him an advantage.

“[Gymnastics] gave me a good baseline in the fundamentals that led me to doing good,” Morello said.

At the beginning of the diving season, Morello broke his foot helping his teammate. This greatly impacted his senior dive season because he was forced to sit on the side and watch. He spent his time out of diving practicing in ways that did not involve his foot. 

“He has been studying the sport, weight training and doing visualization,” Hansen said.

Towards the end of the season, Morello returned to diving at competitions. 

Morello’s teammate, freshman Owen Lake, started diving at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado for about a month before coming to Elkhorn. 

“[I joined the dive team] because I had done a month and I wanted to retry it to see if I really liked it,” Lake said. “I also did not want to do swimming, but I am really glad I made the choice to dive.”

Being a freshman with only a month of experience is a tough thing to handle, but Lake has shown great dedication and talent for diving.

“[Owen is doing] very well and learning fast,” Hansen said.

Coach Hansen has helped Lake and the other divers succeed while also supporting them as athletes.

“[Coach Hansen has] been so supportive,” Lake said. “He teaches me exactly how to do the dive on land before I go and attempt it on the board, and he has hooked me up with his other coaches to help me improve.” 

Coach Hansen has really made an impact on the divers so far and it shows through the progress his athletes have made.

“He is a really great coach and you will not find someone like him anywhere else,” Lake said.