Boston College Athletics
Lents Dives In
May 08, 2000 | Swimming
December 13, 1999
By Christine A. Matava
Junior diver Shannon Lents, one of the captains of this year's squad, recently sat down with Eagle Action to talk about her sport and her team.
From the December issue of Eagle Action:
The graceful and exacting sport of diving doesn't bring in quite as much revenue as other collegiate sports, but it's a lifestyle for the men and women on BC's small but talented team. Junior Shannon Lents, one of the captains of this year's squad, recently sat down with Eagle Action to talk about her sport and her team.
Eagle Action: Tell us how you got started in diving.
Lents: I started when I was nine. I'm from Boca Raton, Florida, and swimming and diving is huge down there. It's warm and everything is outdoor pools, really nice facilities.
I started as a swimmer and I trained at the same pool as Greg Louganis, Ken Ferguson, Michelle Mitchell, all the Olympians. I would get in trouble all the time in swim practice because I was always paying attention to them instead of what I was supposed to be doing. So I begged my mom to let me try diving. I was fearless and I loved running off the high one. I fell in love with it and my mom let me stick with it and I started competing from age 10 on.
EA: Has the BC diving team always been affiliated with the swim team?
Lents: Yes. Joe Chirico, our coach, is the assistant coach to Tom Groden. Joe has told us -- Kristin Gray, Ann Murphy and myself -- when we came in as freshmen it was the best team BC ever had with the group of us at that time. Right now Kristin and I are the captains and we are both juniors. We have one senior on the team, one junior guy, three junior girls, one sophomore girl, and a freshman. The girls and guys are a team together, we practice together every day.
EA: How separate are the swimming and diving teams? You compete together?
Lents: We do usually compete together. However, the swimmers are away this weekend and the divers didn't have to go. Usually for meets that are close, there is a lot more pressure on the divers. If we max out we can secure a lot of points, or if it's close we can boost them up [with our strong showing.]
As far as being together, last year we went on a training trip together, but they are totally two different sports. Even though the swimmers and divers are my best friends, it can be frustrating because it's two different worlds.
EA: What do you think the biggest difference is between the mentality of diving and
swimming?
Lents: It's totally different training techniques, totally different training mentality. Diving is such a mental sport, all sports are, but diving is especially. You have to stay conditioned and you have to stay toned and slim.
The sports are practiced differently and it's a different mindset. We joke about it all the time. They make fun of us and say we don't do anything, and vice versa. We joke around saying it might take us two hours to do their practice, but we could do it. Whereas to get up on a diving board and be able to do a back two-and-a-half or whatever, it's a skill that you've worked on since you were little -- doing trampoline exercises, etc.
EA: Are your practices as long as theirs?
Lents: Yes, and sometimes a little longer.
EA: What dives do you compete in, and what dives does BC compete in?
Lents: Because we don't have a platform, we don't compete in that. That actually was my
strongest event. I injured my shoulder a couple of years ago, so I'm unable to do the
10m anymore [the platform] and that's kind of why I came here.
Another reason why I came here is because I saw the plans for the $75 million dollar pool they were going to build and [the fact that that has yet to be realized is disappointing.] It was something to look forward to coming into BC.
EA: Do you think it's going to happen anytime soon?
Lents: Not before I graduate.
EA: Do you think it will eventually happen?
Lents: Hopefully. I saw the layout and it looks beautiful. A lot of us came [for the new facility], aside from the scholarship opportunity.
The facility is a downer. My best friends go to the University of Miami and they dive for that school, their facility isn't the greatest, but it's a lot better than ours. Still, they're in the number-one tier in the nation. If you produce, then you get that facility.
EA: What dives do you like the best?
Lents: I like the requireds, the voluntaries, the ones that are a little bit easier to do and
look prettier. The layouts, it's pretty form, it's easy to take pictures of: action shots
flying through the air. As far as 3m and 1m, we do have five requireds and five
optionals. The five optionals are the spinning dives and those are fun too.
EA: How has the program changed over the course of your career here?
Lents: Diving has been recognized more. Joe has only been a coach here for maybe three to five years. It is tough to get recognition, but we're not in a revenue sport and that has a lot to do with it. We don't bring in thousands of dollars every weekend when we have a meet against Harvard.
EA: What schools nationally are known for diving?
Lents: Ohio State, the coach, Vince Panzano is the Olympic Coach. University of Miami. University of Southern Cal. In USD (United States Diving) we competed at these schools in high school. We didn't have a diving team at my high school since I went to a private Catholic school, so I went to my traveling national team and that's what I did.
EA: What do you like best about the sport of diving?
Lents: I think that it's a beautiful sport. It combines strength and grace, my two favorite qualities in a sport. Greg Louganis was the best there ever was and probably ever will be, he did the most difficult things and made it look like it was a cinch. If you can grasp that, you can grasp the sport of diving.
EA: Do you think you grasp that?
Lents: A lot of times my coach says I'm very in tune with my body, I can feel a little
short, a little over. Good entry, clean entry, and I've been a dancer all my life (ballet) so I
never go off the board and think about pointing my toes. It's second nature. I think a lot
of that has made it easier for me. Other people may have to think of a hundred more
things at one time.
EA: What are your goals for this season?
Lents: We've had a couple of meets. I want to place well at Big Easts, I'd love to make it to NCAAs. I placed well at zones last year, but it's so hard, you have to win or get second. They take five girls: two on 3m, two on 1m and one on platform, and whoever wins. It makes it very difficult.
Swimmers have a couple meets where they just have to make the times to go, but we just have that one shot, that one meet. You've just got to do the best you can, so it's a lot of pressure on one day.
