by Ketan Dhawan
Daily Lobo
They're roommates. They're friends. They're teammates. They also just happen to be the best divers UNM has seen in more than a decade.
Becca Barras and Tracey Berghian triumphed once again last week, adding a few more trophies to an already packed case. The dynamic duo took home many awards from the Mountain West Conference Championships last weekend in Oklahoma City, including the top-two places in each diving event. The MWC Diver of the Year award ended up in Berghian's hands.
Barras and Berghian are dedicated, athletic women and the core of the UNM women's diving team.
Diving is much more than just jumping off of a board. Athletes are judged on many factors, including the height attained above the board, the proximity to the board when diving (closer is better), the splash resulting from the dive (smaller is better) and the gracefulness of the form. The dives are performed from three different boards - a 1-meter and 3-meter springboard and a 10-meter platform.
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Because of the strict judging criteria, precision is key in the diving world. The sport is grueling and takes a strong mind and body.
"It's more mentally challenging than physically," said Berghian, a senior majoring in human resource management. "You're up there all alone. It's scary."
The highest platform is 10 meters, about 33 feet, above the water.
"You have to push yourself," said Barras, a junior nursing major. "You can only blame yourself if you screw up. It's a very individual sport."
The practice schedule is fit to condition the women to be mentally and physically fit for diving, and the women practice almost religiously.
"During season we practice every day, twice a day," Barras said. "We lift weights in the morning three times a week and dive every day for two hours."
Berghian said they spend on average about 17 hours a week training, and they will start Saturday practices this weekend.
As the saying goes, practice makes perfect and the divers' rigorous training has made them as close to perfect as a diver can be. Last weekend, Barras won the 1-meter springboard and platform dives. She took second on the 3-meter springboard, bested only by Berghian. Barras was named MWC Diver of the Week twice this year.
Last year, by winning the 1-meter conference championships Barras became the first Lobo to win a conference title in 12 years. The day after, Berghian won the 3 -meter, and joined Barras in the ranks of the elite.
In fact, after the championships, she was crowned by the MWC with the granddaddy of all honors - Diver of the Year.
Above all this, one thing still fascinates the fans of Lobo divers. UNM has no platform from which the girls can practice, yet they still manage to clean out the competition consistently in the platform events.
