Written by Melissa Wallace '11

Ewing, NJ ... Silence. An ambiance of watchful spectators and judges determined to judge your every move. Feet plastered to a cold, hard board, with nothing but the water beneath and the air above. One wrong move could mean it's over; one wrong move could cost your team the meet. For some, this kind of pressure could be too much. But for others, it is what drives them –thriving to achieve perfection in order to gain that one point that could put them above the rest.

This type of pressure has been no match for The College of New Jersey men's and women's diving teams, who have helped propel the women's program to an undefeated dual meet season and the men's program to a #11 ranking in Division III. And now, as the season comes to a close, each diver has high hopes of being invited to compete at the 2011 NCAA National Championship at the University of Tennessee in March.

A small, but mighty group of talented athletes, junior TJ Burns (Clarks Summit, PA/Abington Heights), freshman Sabrina Lucchesi (Columbus, NJ/Notre Dame), and sophomore transfer Danica Roskos (Pennington, NJ/Hopewell Valley) have broke multiple program records, garnered numerous New Jersey Athletic Conference awards, and established themselves as diving powerhouses among Division III programs in just this season alone.

For the 2010-2011 season, Burns has earned five NJAC Diver of the Week citations, broken three school records, and has qualified for the NCAA National Championship. He has led the men's diving program for the past two years, acquiring copious NJAC citations and producing an impressive 19th place finish in the 1-meter diving event at the 2009-2010 NCAA National Championship.

Burns came in to his freshman year from a very basic level of diving. His relationship with diving coach Candace Gottlieb has flourished over the years, which he says, has been directly linked to his success. He hopes to final at NCAA's this year and break the last school record before he graduates.
But what Burns wants most at the end of his diving career is to answer the question head swim coach Brian Bishop asks every person on the team.

“And that is, just how good are we?” says Burns.

Lucchesi and Roskos have had tremendous success in their first season at TCNJ. Roskos broke a pair of program records in the 1- and 3- meter events in her first meet as a Lion against C.W. Post. She was also named NJAC Diver of the Week for two consecutive weeks this season. Lucchesi has garnered five NJAC Diver of the Week awards and has also broke a school record. She has been a consistent performer for the Lions this season, racking up numerous points and titles.

Both Lucchesi and Roskos believe that Gottlieb and their teammates have contributed greatly to their success this season. Roskos argues that Gottlieb understands her learning style and has helped her to be more confident in herself.

“All of us are really good at encouraging and pushing one another to do better,” Lucchesi adds.

Gottlieb attributes the divers' success to how hard they have been training and making corrections to each dive. The diving program has also utilized a lot of video analysis this year in order to make detailed corrections to their technique. Gottlieb notes that the divers have been persistent this year in disciplining their mind to be only thinking about what a diver is to be concentrating on when they get on to the board to perform.

“Our divers are determined, dedicated, and work hard at every practice,” says Gottlieb with enthusiasm, “They also believe in their ability to achieve! As I believe!”

Burns, Lucchesi, and Roskos are set to compete at the 2011 Metropolitan Conference Championships this weekend at Rutgers University, where they hope to contribute to another conference title and qualify for the national championships.