by Catherine Goodyear, Senior Writer
Freshman Diver and Civil Engineering Major Connor Marshall, has been making waves this season leading up to his first MAAC championships.
The third generation Jasper athlete broke the 1 meter dive school record of 231.08 with a score of 237.83 setting the bar at a new high. Marshall’s uncle, father and grandfather attended Manhattan College before him, playing soccer, lacrosse, and track.
The Quadrangle: When did you start diving?
Connor Marshall: I started diving when I was about 13. We didn’t have a board at the place I was doing it, so it was really just learning the basics but junior year of high school, I learned that my high school team had both a swimming and diving team so I decided to join that and that’s where my career really started.
Q: What made you want to continue diving through college?
CM: Well initially I didn’t know that our school had diving and I didn’t really think about it at first but my college counselor was like ‘why don’t you check it out’ and I was like ‘okay… I might as well’ and I can’t say I regret that.
Q: Did you expect to beat the 1 meter record?
CM: It was one of my goals. We had talked about it, my coach and I, and he said it is a little far but as in diving, it is very variable and I was having a good day and sometimes things just happen. Some days you just score higher than another and that was just one of those days.
Q: How is the training different on a college diving team versus high school?
CM: It is definitely more intense. We have lifts and dry lands and we actually practice more. In high school we practed an hour or an hour and a half for 3 days a week and we also practice 3 days a week here but we do two hour practices and there is definitely more of a push to so. Our coach wants us to do much as we can, he wants us to do our best and emphasizes to do so.
Q: How do you feel about your first MAAC Championships?
CM: That was a little scary, I was nervous. I was interviewed there and I didn’t realize I was only one of two people being interviewed there from the men’s team so I said I wanted to beat a friend of mine from high school and lo and behold, that got posted on their twitter. Whoops. But it was good. Everyone says first one is not your best and that’s true.
Q: What type of preparation do you put in before the MAAC Championships?
CM: Other than normal practice, we step it up in the last few weeks. Actually at the MAAC Championships, I learned a brand new dive the day before which helped put me over my friend from high school. There’s definitely a new mindset of this is it you have to leave it all on the table.
Q: How do you balance your practices with your classes?
CM: So this past week we haven’t had practice so I noticed I’ve been a little lazier because practices forces you to have more time management and to do things before hand. I had been doing this also in high school, in my high school you had to play a sport so I already had a little bit of that but here it forces me to be more managed.