15-year-old Michal Bower of Loveland awes at AAU diving meet
September 9th, 2009
Originally found at www.reporterherald.com
Written by Mike Brohard
There was a purpose to every detail Kevin Witt scripted for Michal Bower this summer, right down to her final competition.
How that would play out, neither one really was sure. When the AAU Diving National Championships came to a close Wednesday in Bloomington, Ind., it was better than either one of them could have dreamed as Bower returns home a double national champion — 1- and 3-meter boards — in the girls 15-year-old age group.
“I’ve always wanted to be a national champion,” said Bower, who will be a freshman this fall at Loveland High School. “This past year, I have grown so much in my diving. When I came here, I was ready, and I wanted to show people what I could do.”
That was Witt’s plan all along. With a gymnast’s background, there were natural skills Bower brought to diving but a few bad habits, as well. The goal this summer was to iron out those kinks and get Bower to be cleaner and more consistent.
She added to her degree of difficulty (it was the second highest in the field in both sets), but other aspects were more important to her success, Witt said.
“Really, at this level, you just have to do your dives,” he explained. “She has added a few dives, but what she’s gotten better at is her timing and hitting things at the right time.”
Specifically, Witt said Bower is using the board to her advantage, riding it better and getting her body motion to work in concert with its movement. Added to her natural athletic ability and strength and the result came out in waves during the competition.
She won the 3-meter title Tuesday. She sat in second place after the eight-dive preliminaries. In the finals, the competitors re-perform the final three dives, and Bower was at her absolute best, vaulting past Helen Zitkovsky of Boston.
“Those three dives she did, each one was the best she’d ever done of those dives,” Witt said, the scores all reaching into the 50s. Bower finished with a total of 350.45, a 14.45 point edge on Zitkovsky.
Bower went to nationals thinking the 1-meter was her best shot but felt a surge of confidence heading into the 3-meter finals.
“I knew I had a chance, but I was getting nervous because we had a three-to-four hour wait,” she said. “Then all the sudden in warmups, I started hitting those dives, judges were clapping and it gave me a lot of confidence heading into the finals. I wasn’t nervous at that point.”
Wednesday, the butterflies returned a bit but she was even more dominant. She came out of the preliminaries with the lead and stayed in the top spot, closing with a total of 322.50, beating Zitkovsky again, this time by 31.10 points.
“I was really nervous to come back because the competition was there, and the pressure was on me after the 3-meter,” Bower said. “What I did was what I normally do, and that’s compete to my best and leave it up to God. I didn’t know what to expect, so I focused on those first five dives, because you have to bring them back.”
The reason Witt picked the AAU championships over another meet was partially for the structure but mainly for Bower to see different competition than what she’s seen in the past. Bower was at the University of Indiana facility for five days, forced to pace herself in terms of rest and practice before competing the final two days. Obviously, the script couldn’t have gone any better.
“This is a huge step for her,” Witt said. “It was a long, five-day meet and it was tough competition. To be able to stay focused and get her rest was great.
“This is definitely what she’s capable of doing.”
More importantly, Bower is keenly aware of it after seeing the results for herself.
“I mean, the best divers never mess up the little things. What makes the dive is the mechanics within the mechanics, the entry, how you squeeze your shoulders and drop your arms,” Bower said. “I’m starting to figure it out, and getting used to it makes your diving easier.”
