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11-09-2006 By ERIC AHLQVIST Editor Fisher began her day Friday with a near perfect first dive, but struggled with her next two. Again she had a near perfect fourth dive, before disaster struck on her fifth dive. While performing a high degree of difficulty, back one and a half dive in pike position, she opened up late on her entry and entered the water awkwardly. ``You’re obviously supposed to enter the water vertically on a dive, and I was closer to horizontal when I entered,’’ Fisher said. ``It was kind of depressing but at the same time the pressure was off because I thought I was out of contention for states.’’ After the fifth dive, Becky fell to eighth place with 156 points. She needed an additional 240 points to meet the state qualifying mark of 395, which was up 15 points from last season. ``My sixth through eighth dives on Friday were really good, and that qualified me to move on to Saturday,’’ Fisher said. ``I needed 120 points in the three reamining dives, so I still wasn’t thinking about making it. Fisher managed to move back up to fifth place after eight dives, and had saved her three best dives for last, as is common place for those hoping to qualify for states. Her ninth dive was good but not great and her quest for states seemed to end. But Fisher saved her best for last, first with a 2 and 1/2 flip, which she performed to near perfection and netted her over 50 points. Becky’s father, who was at the meet, set the scene for the 11th and final dive. ``States were within reach and she delighted us with a front one and a half twister and entered the pool without a ripple, ’’ he said. ``The crowd was on its feet chanting Send her, Send her’ as the scores flashed onto the board.’’ Becky earned over 50 points again, for a total of 403 points, eight more than she needed for a state berth. Fisher finished first in Class C and shattered her own school record, and was one of four divers to qualify for the state meet. ``When I came up out of the water, I couldn’t see my total, but my father and coach were jumping around so I knew something good had happened,’’ Fisher said. ``Then my coach told me I had made it, and I was just very happy. ’’ ``Her last two dives were stunning,’’ Steve Fisher said. ``The hair stands up on the back of my neck just thinking about it.’’ Becky, who hopes to dive for the owmen’s swim team at Colgate next year, has two weeks to prepare for the state meet on Nov. 17-19 at Erie Community College in downtown Buffalo. ``My first goal is to qualify for the second day,’’ Fisher said. ``I made it to states, so I’m just going to go there and try to have some fun.’’ |
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