Franklin's Pearson finishes strong to earn state diving medal

Franklin - Franklin diver Mel Pearson knew with the way that she structured her slate that she would have to climb a long ladder to get onto the podium at the WIAA state Division 1 meet Saturday in Madison.

"I got off to a slow start, which is not what I was expecting," she said. "I screwed up one of my early ones, but not too badly. What helped is that I knew I had all my high degree of difficulty dives at the end of my program.

"Having all my easy dives early left me pretty low (in the preliminary rounds) so I knew I had some work to do."

But climb the ladder she did, as she closed with her best dives, a front twister, a double flip and a back twister and Pearson earned that elusive first state meet medal by taking fifth with 358.2 points.

And she had a little added incentive for earning that trip to the podium.

"It was cool looking out there into the stands (at the UW-Madison Natatorium) because I had about 25 good friends out there who had come to support me," she said.

Pearson's efforts gave the Sabers 14 points, good for a tie for 29th in the state Division 1 field as Waukesha South/Mukwonago edged Arrowhead, 293-291, for the title. Racine Park's Rachel Margis won the diving competition with 438.15 points.

Franklin coach Sara Petric was very pleased with Pearson's effort.

"I thought Mel did exceptionally well," she said. "It was a great showing. She had been 14th last year, so to move up to fifth was quite an accomplishment. … She showed a great ability to stay cool and confident. And where she was at the finish, was the highest she was in the entire competition."

Pearson credits second-year diving coach Laura Citro for helping her improve this year.

"We were really on the same page this year so I was really able to kick up (my degree of difficulty)," said Pearson. "I was pretty confident coming in."

That confidence also comes from the fact that Pearson is a returning member of the defending state champion southside co-op girls gymnastics team.

She wasted no time in getting back into the swing of things there, making the first gymnastics practice on Monday just two days after the state swimming and diving meet.

"I dove right in," she said with a laugh.

With Pearson's placement, Petric's one-season fill-in role as the head coach came to a successful conclusion. The Franklin Athletic Director will now find her own replacement in the coming months.

"It was a great experience," Petric said. "We finished with over 60 girls on the team and they were a great group of people to be around. I really hate to be done with it."

Senior co-captains for Franklin included the team's best overall swimmer Emily Nienhaus, Atalee Paremski, Christy Lengling, Kate Niestrom and Kelly Ciesinski.