Junior diver Adelyn Flessner won state this weekend. She went into the final three dives in third place, behind first by 12 points. She hit her last three dives and won the state title by six points.
What most failed to see was Flessner’s struggle on her road to victory. After the first round, she was in last place after failing to hit her pike on a dive.
She also missed her second dive. After the second round, she sat in 27th place out of 32 divers
At this point, Flessner knew her state championship dreams were severely at risk. She was seeded first in the state by 49 points before the meet. Though she still had one of the most difficult lists in the meet, she had yet to hit a dive the entire day.
Flessner was visibly shaken after the second round. Her support team, high school coach Steve Hoeferle and club coach Kevin White attempted to cheer her up after her second missed dive.
“I had never seen her emotional like that,” Hoeferle said. “I don’t remember what I said, but I’m glad it worked.”
Hoeferle has coached state champion divers before and took over the NC job this year after White left the program. Seeing a diver of Flessner’s caliber so shaken up at a big meet was certainly a surprise to him.
Flessner went into finals in third place, trailing behind Park Tudor divers Simone and Zara Hall. Flessner lost to Simone at the Marion County championship meet but had never lost to Zara.
“I was upset with how my first few dives had gone, but I knew what I was capable of,” Flessner said. “I’m very hard on myself, and I hoped to do better going into the finals.”
While Flessner was frustrated, she knew she had to focus on finals to finish her goal of winning state. The scores had been low all day so she could stay within a close margin heading into finals.
“I had a good warm-up before finals, so I was feeling pretty confident going into the last three dives,” Flessner said. “I knew it would be close if I hit my first dive.”
Flessner competed for her three best dives during finals, including her 305c dive and a reverse dive with two and a half flips, the second most challenging dive of any athlete at the meet.
She hit all three dives and won by six points.
“I was excited not just because I won but because I didn’t give up,” Flessner said. “I had to fight hard from the beginning of the meet, so I was proud of myself for finishing strong.”
Flessner danced around on the pool deck with her teammates and received her first-place medal on the podium just minutes later.
Flessner has been through a lot in her athletic career, battling a genetic heart condition that forced her to give up gymnastics, a sport she was on the national team for, and breaking her leg her sophomore season right before sectionals.
“I thought having to quit gymnastics was going to be the worst part about my athletic career, but breaking my leg right before sectionals was the hardest challenge I had to overcome,” Flessner said.
While the road was tough, Flessner’s win and season will be one of the best athletic seasons in NC history. Flessner broke both the six and 11 dive school records and won sectionals, regionals and state.
Flessner looks to replicate her performance next year after her club season this summer. In July, she will likely compete at USA Diving’s Junior National Championships in Mission Viejo, California.
