Girls athlete of the week
The Post-Gazette’s top female performer from the past seven days
The past week: Foley became the first North Catholic diver to win the WPIAL Class 2A girls title when she finished with a 440.45, the best score for a champion since 2016.
Check this out: Like many in the sport, Foley, a freshman, started out as a gymnast and transitioned over to diving. She and Trojans senior Kyle Maziarz became the first divers from the same school to sweep Class 2A since Chris Lapinski and Jamie Wilf of South Park in 2003.
What made you get into diving? I was a gymnast for my whole life. I did it competitively and just got hurt too much doing it, so I switched to diving so I could maybe stop my injuries from occurring.
What was your worst gymnastics injury? I think it was just, honestly, tendinitis, because it just keeps popping up and just doesn’t go away, so you have to take time off. As a gymnast, taking time off does not work well. Where is your tendinitis? My ankle.
Does it affect you at all as a diver on the board on takeoff?
Thankfully, so far, I haven’t had my ankle flare-ups, but my hip coming into the season, my hip tendinitis came about, so it’s been a struggle with it.
How is it to win the WPIAL your first time out? It’s just really crazy and incredible to think about. I had no idea I was going to be capable of doing something like this as a freshman, so it’s really great to think about.
How was it to have Kyle, a two-time state champion, to compare yourself to him? Kyle texted me the night before and he was giving me a lot of encouraging words and telling me that everything was going to be OK and I had to stop stressing. Having Kyle here for everything has been amazing and I couldn’t do it without him. What goes through your mind when you’re standing on the board? I normally think ‘Don’t mess it up,’ because I know what I have to do in my head. Sometimes I’ll think about each dive and try to remember the certain parts that I need to hit for the dive to go well. Other times, like the last dive [at WPIALs], ‘Don’t mess it up. It’s just a dive. Just like practice,’ so that’s what it was like.
Can you feel when you mess up a dive before you hit the water? Normally, if it’s a dive I have to do with a takeoff, from the second I start walking down the board, I’m like, ‘Nope, this probably won’t go well,’ and in the air I can see things as I go and I know it’s not going to work.
How did you celebrate the WPIAL win? I went home to take a nap.