Young diver gearing up for nationals

With the Speedo junior national diving championships set to start July 9 in Victoria, B.C., a young diver with Fort Frances connections is readying herself for a repeat performance.
Molly Carlson, 10, splashed onto the diving scene at last year’s nationals—held at her home pool in Thunder Bay—by winning bronze in platform to go with a fifth-place finish in the three-metre springboard event and a seventh-place showing in the one-metre springboard competition.

Carlson tallied a combined score of 239.85 from the “tower” (seven-metre board) en route to bronze behind only Savannah Neddo of Calgary and Victoria’s May Wang.
Carlson’s mom, Kathleen Cuthbertson, grew up in Fort Frances and has another daughter, Megan, who swims competitively with the Thunder Bay Thunderbolts.
Cuthbertson parents, Dick and Jane Trivers, still reside in Fort Frances while Cuthbertson and her daughters moved to Thunder Bay in 1999.
“We’re going to be in Fort Frances on July 1, so we get to spend Canada Day with our grandparents,” Molly Carlson enthused.
“Then we’re driving up to Winnipeg for my sister’s competition for swimming [Man./Sask. provincials] and then we’ll fly to Victoria after that.
“They brought all kinds of stuff to cheer me on, so it should be fun,” she added.
2009 has been an even bigger coming out party for the young diver. At the 41st-annual Polar Bear Classic in Winnipeg back in January, Carlson hauled in three gold medals and also captured the female high-points trophy.
Then at the Western Canadian Diving Championships in April in Regina, Carlson added to her medal collection with one gold and two silvers.
Most recently, she attended the provincial championships in Etobicoke early last month, where she added to her trophy case by winning the “most outstanding female diver” award for her two gold and one bronze performance.
It’s safe to say she’s used to having a sore neck.
“My first two meets I qualified in all my events [for nationals] so that got me excited, and I kept working hard to get better and get all my dives into the water clean,” Carlson remarked.
“I could focus on my form [in the last few meets] instead of worrying about qualifying,” she added.
Carlson, along with fellow Thunder Bay Diving Club member Rylee Mose, will compete in the one-metre and three-metre springboard events in Victoria, as well as the platform event in the 11-and-under age category.
Carlson said it’s nice to have a friend and teammate to encourage and push her to be her best—especially considering they practise five days a week at three-and-a-half hours per session together.
“When there’s somebody else there, you work better,” she stressed. “We’re competing against each other and we’re basically neck-and-neck, so it’s good.”
“It’s really easy to work when you have someone to do things with you,” echoed Mose.
Club head coach Mike Lang said the duo has progressed quickly in just their second competitive year in the sport.
“Last year it was their very first time, so over the year they’ve gained game experience and had a great year,” he lauded. “All kinds of good results and medals, so we’re really looking forward to the girls really coming to a head at the nationals.
“This is their second nationals and they are certainly a medal threat on all boards,” Lang added.
The pair admitted it will be a bit of an adjustment this year having to go cross-country to a pool they aren’t familiar with, but Carlson feels she’ll be ready for the challenge.
“I like to go to different pools and see how they set up,” she remarked. “Sometimes I get a bit nervous at different pools, but I do good at them so it should be okay.
“We get practice times before we compete, so you are used to the pool and what to expect when the competition comes.”
Lang said working with the two self-motivated athletes makes his job that much easier.
“I love working with girls who love to work, so it tends to work out well,” he noted. “They don’t have time for much else, other than going home and going to bed, so they need to have that passion to succeed.”
Carlson has set a goal of competing in the 2016 Olympics—and Lang feels that’s certainly within the realm of possibilities if she stays on task.
“That’s the first key, you’ve got to want it,” Lang stressed. “And you’ve got to have the tools to get it, and you need the opportunity, and they’ve got all those.
“They’re 10 years old, so it takes time, but for sure Molly’s goal is to be there in 2016 [Olympics].”
“I’ve always wanted to go to the Olympics,” Carlson enthused. “I tried gymnastics first and I hadn’t gone to provincials in it yet so I didn’t think I was going very far [in that sport], so I tried diving and got to nationals my first year.
“I thought, ‘Hey, I can continue this and get better and maybe get to the Olympics.’”
If Mose medals, Lang said he’ll have to shave his head to commemorate the achievement.
“It’s not a full head of hair, but enough that it matters, that’s for sure,” he laughed.
The girls open competition next Thursday morning (July 9) in the one-metre springboard competition. The duo will take to the three-metre board on Friday and then wrap up on Saturday in the platform competition, where Carlson nabbed bronze a year ago.
Regardless of how they place, you can bet the pair will be supporting each other every dive of the way.