ST. PETERS • When you are the top-ranked diver in the state, it's not easy to live up to the sky-high expectations.
Fort Zumwalt West diver Marissa Green doesn't worry about expectations. Instead, the freshman's goal is performance.
Wednesday, Green forced swim coaches around the Gateway Athletic Conference and across the state to recalibrate their expectations. The freshman not only won the GAC dive meet at the Rec-Plex, but she did so in record-setting fashion.
Green's 11-dive total was 535.90 points, a score that shattered the conference record set in 2006 by roughly 50 points.
Zumwalt West teammate Jen Klobe finished second with a score of 392.65. Last year's conference champion, Timberland's Crystal Canedy, placed third.
"It felt really good to show that our dive team, along with the swim team, is that competitive, is just great," Green said. "I was happy that we could go in and take first and second."
"She crushed it out there today," Zumwalt West coach Jeri Labrot said of Green's performance.
Green's best-scoring dives Wednesday were a back one-and-a-half somersault with one-and-a-half twists that scored 60 points and an inward one-and-a-half somersault from a pike position that scored 61.2 points on her final dive.
The one-two finish puts Zumwalt West in the driver's seat headed into the conference swim finals Thursday at the Rec-Plex. The Jaguars are looking to win the conference title for the third year in a row.
"We're all pumped about that," Labrot said about the boost Zumwalt West received from its divers. "To have those two come in and pull first and second was phenomenal, not only for our points, but also for the team morale going into the swimming final tomorrow."
Waiting just around the corner for Green and the Jaguars is the state championships. Green waves off talk about being the favorite at the Feb. 18 championship event.
"I just want to go out there and execute all my dives cleanly and be happy with what I have done," Green said. "I really can't control that stuff (what judges perceive). Of course, I want to do well. But if I go out there and dive clean, I will feel good about it."
