Maria Alessandro

Winning state as a freshman last year was just the beginning for a particular diver at Marian, going on to compete at nationals was also on the agenda.. There’s almost nothing sophomore Megan Carter has not accomplished when it comes to diving, both as part of Marian’s team and a club team. Although only 15 , Carter has been diving for 10 years now. She practices all year round, including the summer off season, in which Carter practiced twice a day for three hours each at the Nebraska Diving Club in Lincoln.

During the school year, Carter practices three hours after school with her club diving team. When it comes to Marian’s swim and dive season, she still goes to club practice, but also dives from 6-7a.m. with the Marian team. With all the time she spends practicing, she has been able to accomplish many successes.

During the last Marian swimming and diving season, Carter broke her mom, Becki Clark Carter’s ’86, previous Marian diving record. A lot of Carter’s family members are also divers, including her older brother and sister. Her siblings both currently dive for the University of Indiana. “My goal this upcoming [school] season is to beat the state record, which my sister, Taylor Carter ‘17, currently holds.” Megan said, “My best dive is probably inward 1 ½ pike.” Megan’s dive at state also landed her ninth on The Omaha World-Herald’s all-time chart. While living in a family of successful divers may seem like there would be a lot of pressure, that is not the case for Carter. “My parents are super supportive of me by driving me almost everyday to Lincoln for practice and they try and go to all of my meets and cheer me on.” She said, “Since my mom was a diver, I can always talk to her when I’m frustrated. Also, my siblings and I are always supportive of each other and love to see each other succeed. I don’t feel pressure at all.”

Besides having more goals for the upcoming school season, Carter also attended diving nationals this past summer in Atlanta at Georgia Tech University. She was able to qualify for nationals at a meet in early July in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she placed first in all three events she competed in. At nationals, Carter also competed in three events over five days. These events were the platform event, 3 meter event, and the 1 meter event (meter numbers indicate height of diving board from the water). Carter competes in the 1 meter event for Marian.

At nationals, even though she faced some of the top divers in the nation, Carter made it to finals in all three events. Finals were only the top 12 competitors out of the original pool of approximately 40 girls ages 14-15. Carter got seventh for platform, eleventh for 3 meter, and she placed second in the nation for the 1 meter dive. If a diver does well at nationals they have the opportunity to be apart of the 3 tier USA team, which is a team that has camps and allows divers to do around the world to dive for the United States.

Both Carter and her family members have had success diving, but she dives because of other reasons as well, even if at some times it’s a bit nerve-wracking. “My favorite part of diving is the fear factor of it,” Carter said. “Trying new dives is definitely scary, and coming back to diving after taking a break after nationals can be tough.” Even though her family has a history and legacy of diving, Carter has her own motivation and ways for success when it comes to the sport.