Roth: Making A Splash In Synchronized Diving

DURHAM, N.C. -- It seems like an improbable arrangement, this partnership between teenager Abby Johnston and Texas graduate Mary Yarrison. Their success as a pair in the sport of synchronized diving depends entirely on how well they work together, yet they are rarely together. Their scores are based on how well the move in unison, but they almost never practice those movements in the same state, much less at the same aquatic center.

In two of the last three years, however, Johnston and Yarrison have teamed up to win the USA Diving national championship in the 3-meter women's synchronized event. During the first week of July, they hope their ability to perform identical dives side-by-side will enable them to secure a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.

Johnston is an 18-year-old incoming Duke freshman who grew up and learned to dive in Ohio before moving to Durham last year. Yarrison is a 22-year-old Virginia native who just finished her undergraduate degree at the University of Texas.

They first competed together at a zone meet in 2006 when they were matched up by Johnston's coach, Drew Johansen, after Johnston's intended partner opted not to attend the meet.

"We practiced for maybe a half hour before the meet and we won our zone, so we decided to keep going," Johnston said. "We went to nationals, trained a couple more times there and won. So we thought, ?Wow, maybe we should keep doing this.'"

The pair took third and fourth place at two national championship events in 2007, then won another crown in April at the Speedo USA Diving Spring National Championship in Minneapolis. Yarrison and Johnston went to Minneapolis directly from Moscow, where they took the bronze medal in a FINA Grand Prix competition the week before.

Yarrison moved to Durham three weeks ago so the two could workout together in preparation for USA Diving's Olympic Trials June 18-22 and a subsequent team selection camp July 2-6. But for most of their three-year partnership ? which has developed into a close friendship ? they trained together only a few days every couple of months.

"A lot of people train together and that's what makes them such great teams," Johnston said. "But Mary and I just naturally have the same style of diving, and it just works out.

"We just do it for fun. Doing synchro is more fun because you have somebody else to do it with, somebody else to stand on the board and talk to. It's less pressure than individual. I'd say the key is just having fun with it."

Johnston began diving in 2002, when she ended nine years as a gymnast due to back problems and other injuries. Johansen has been her coach since she started. When he was named the Duke diving coach last summer, he also founded a club team here called Blue Devil Diving. Johnston moved to Durham so she could continue training under his guidance during her final year of high school. Duke also recruited her and she signed a letter of intent during the fall.

Johnston completed most of her required high school course work by the end of her junior year. Her final three classes were independent studies that she took as correspondence courses so she could graduate with all of her friends at Upper Arlington HS in Ohio ? which she did three weeks ago.

In the meantime, she also spent 16-20 hours a week at diving practice with Johansen, who says she is one of America's bright young stars in the sport. Synchronized diving is not contested in the college ranks, but Johnston also ranks as a leading individual performer. Over the last three years she has posted first-, second- and third-place finishes at the Speedo Junior Nationals on the 3-meter springboard, and twice she has taken third place at the Junior Pan American Games.

Certainly she is the most high-profile diver Duke has ever recruited, with the chance to make an immediate impact not only in the ACC but in NCAA competition as well.

"I've gotten a good feel for what Duke diving is about since I know Drew so well, and I got to watch Julie (Brummond) and Lauren (Gonzalez) go through the season," she said. "I've got some big goals I want to accomplish diving-wise. I think it will be a big transition to college life and diving, but I'm excited for it."

She hopes to attend freshman orientation fresh off a trip to Beijing. The U.S. will likely take four women in 3-meter diving to the Olympics, two for individual competition and two in synchro. One individual spot will be determined by the Trials in Indianapolis this week, while the rest of the team will be decided at the selection camp in Knoxville in July.

Johnston and Yarrison will be at both events trying to earn a spot. For Yarrison, who also attended the 2004 Olympic Trials, this will be the final hurrah before she ends her competitive career and moves on. But for Johnston, it may only be the beginning.

"Two or three years ago I was a junior diver with a tuck list, nothing big and it was a dream but I never thought it would actually come true," Johnston said. "About a year and a half ago it was becoming more real, like wow, this could happen. This could be really neat, and now it's actually happening. I think just coming to the pool every day, working my hardest ? that's what made it become real."

Twichell Makes Swimming Trials In 400 Freestyle

Ashley Twichell splashed onto the Duke swimming scene last season by rewriting the record book and earning All-America honors at the NCAA Championships in her first year. Now she's headed for the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Competing at the Charlotte UltraSwim June 7-8, Twichell posted a qualifying time in the 400 freestyle and will head to Omaha for the upcoming Trials. The field of over 100 qualifiers in the 400 will be whittled down through a preliminary round to 16 semifinalists. The top two finishers in the final will make the Olympic team.

Twichell is slated to hit the pool for the 400 prelims in Omaha on June 30.

Twichell, who has continued to train under Duke coach Dan Colella since the Blue Devils' season ended, turned in a time of 4:19.29 to take eighth place in the 400 prelims at Charlotte, bettering the qualifying standard of 4:19.39. She then swam 4:20.1 in the final to finish sixth. She also took ninth place in the 800 freestyle at Charlotte.

After the event, Colella pulled her aside and said, "We need to take a second to really appreciate what you just did."

"She was a Junior National swimmer this time a year ago," Colella explained. "To come in and be an NCAA All-America as a freshman is remarkable. To then make the Olympic Trials is another really big step for her."

A Fayetteville, N.Y., native, Twichell broke the Duke record in the 1,000 freestyle in her first college meet last fall and finished the year as the school record holder in four freestyle events ? 200, 500, 1,000 and 1,650.

She became Duke's first NCAA qualifier since 2004 and swam three events at the national meet. Her best showing came in the 1,650 (or mile) where she placed 16th to earn All-America honors.

The day after the NCAA meet in Columbus, the Ohio State pool was converted to long course for a time trial meet and Twichell gave it a shot in the 400. Swimming a day after her NCAA mile race, she just missed the Olympic Trials cut with a mark of 4:20.05.

But two months later she was able to trim her time just enough to earn a trip to Omaha.

Roth: Making A Splash In Synchronized Diving

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Ashley Twichell

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Roth: Making A Splash In Synchronized Diving

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