By Chris Brown
A meter above the water in Wright Natatorium, she stands balanced on a blue springboard. She edges forward, preparing for her plunge. With a quick glance for a nod of approval from U of L dive Coach Mike Zehnder, who watches his athletes from a poolside bench, she springs up, flips around and plummets below the water’s surface, all in the blink of an eye.
She makes it look like second nature. And for junior Marianne Bradford, diving really is second nature.
Bradford, a member of Louisville’s women’s dive team, got her start in the business of graceful leaps before she was 10 years old. “I was a gymnast, but my mom didn’t want me doing high school gymnastics,” she said. “She didn’t think it was safe.”
So to the water she went.
Bradford’s start on the mat, she said, has helped with her ability to rotate in the air – in dive-speak, spinning.
Bradford has a wealth of experience both as a gymnast and a diver, making it to last year’s NCAA Zone meet in 1- and 3-meter springboard competitions. However, she faces the challenge this season of recovering from knee surgery to treat an old gymnastics injury. “I haven’t really gotten to practice like I have in the past,” she said.
However, she said the pain from the knee injury and operation is subsiding, and she knows what it takes to make it to the postseason. “If I’m back to where I was,” she said, “I’ll have a pretty good chance.”
Zehnder agreed. “I suspect she’s going to be in the top three in the conference if she keeps progressing the way she is this year,” he said. “My goal is to get her qualified for the NCAA championships.”
He said that Louisville competes in one of the toughest diving zones in the country this year, and, for that reason, there are a lot of spots in championship competition from the zone. “I hope to get her in one of those.”
For now, Bradford is focused on the opponents her team will face in the coming weeks. She expects the swim and dive team to triumph over both Kenyon and West Virginia, but recognized “UK has a solid – team.” The team’s four-way meet with Indiana, Wisconsin and SIU next Friday and the home meet against the Wildcats in January may prove to be tough challenges.
Still, along the road to the conference and national finals, Bradford will often have poolside props from her family since they live so close by. Bradford’s hometown, Greenville, Ind., is about two hours north of Louisville.
“My family goes to most of my meets,” she said. “They go to every home meet, and most of the other meets within two hours’ [driving distance.]”
With several new faces on the women’s dive team this season, including freshmen Sarah Sandroni, McKenzie Long and Lauren Fetz, Bradford expects the team to show more depth in matches.
“We can fill more events now because we have enough people,” she said.
For now, Bradford has strong hopes for the team this semester and next as both the women and men head into tough meets and tournaments.
“This season is going to be exciting,” she said. “The potential for us to do well is high.”
