Jenkins, Thurmond make history by competing at state meet

Morgan County added a new sport this school year and it already has experienced considerable success.

The Bulldogs’ new diving team features only two divers in freshman Caroline Jenkins and sophomore Sidney Thurmond; however, both qualified for the state diving championships on Jan. 31, held at Westminster Christian in Atlanta.

Jenkins and Thurmond competed against divers from several different classifications. The pair also faced off against more than 30 other divers, with Jenkins making it to the finals and placing fifth overall in Class A-AAA.

Morgan County head diving coach Heather Jenkins, Caroline’s mother, was proud of how her athletes competed throughout the first diving season at Morgan County High School.

“(The) finals included all divers from (classes) A to AAAA. (It was a) very, very high level of competition, and both girls represented their school well," Heather Jenkins said after the state meet on Tuesday. "I am super proud of them and looking forward to the future.”

The pair are apart of the Morgan County swim team, which is headed up by Patrick Kicklighter and Robert St. John, but spend the majority of their time training with their head coach. They practice at the University of Georgia Ramsey Student Center in Athens.

Jenkins pointed out the hurdles they have had to jump through to compete this year.

“Diving is definitely a very mental sport," she said. “It’s a skill sport but a large component of that is being able to have mental toughness and not being able to get easily frustrated. It’s a lot of pressure. They’ve done an exceptional job of handling it all."

Jenkins said the requirements her divers had to meet to be able to take part in this season. 

“There are two different formats for a regular season dive meet,” Jenkins said. “There is a six-dive meet in which they would complete six rounds of diving. So, they would do six different dives. We sort of go by a list that we go by that the national federation puts out with diving.” 

“A school can have divers that don’t meet the minimum requirements to even be eligible to qualify for state, but they could still have a good regular season,” she added. “They could earn points for their school in local swim meets, or, they might swim and dive in a local competition. Unfortunately, we don’t have it here in Morgan (County). We’re the only team.” 

Oconee and Clarke counties have a joint local swim meet, and Walton also has its own. The Bulldogs compete against those schools but don’t have a local championship meet.

Despite not having a district title meet, Caroline Jenkins and Thurmond were able to thrive and managed to get a lot of practice in while also working towards qualifying for state. Both Morgan County divers accomplished a lot this season and reached their goals.

“Fortunately, for our girls, they both qualified for the state in the second meet of the (regular) season,” Jenkins said. “We had a total of six meets that we attended and so, for divers, they go the whole season hoping to qualify (for state), and sometimes they don’t until the very end. We were lucky to be able to qualify at the beginning of the season.” 

Each diver used the rest of the season to learn new dives and up their difficulty. They also worked on perfecting their techniques, and it seemed to have paid off for them in the end.

The first-year Morgan County head coach was impressed with how quickly her proteges learned because each hasn’t been participating in the sport for long. 

Thurmond has a background in gymnastics and has only been diving for about nine months.

“She was a gymnast,” her head coach said. "That experience as an elite gymnast helped her make the transition to diving, and it also made it a little easier in terms of the competitive aspect.” 

Jenkins has been diving for a year-and-a-half, but before, she cheered and played softball.

“Caroline has a background in cheer and tumbling, so it has helped her make the transition,” her mom said. “She was actually a softball player, but she missed the flipping and stunting of cheerleading. So, I said to her more than a year ago, 'let’s go take some diving lessons and see if that’s something you might enjoy'. She picked it up pretty quickly.” 

She also stated that diving requires a lot of “precision and ability to perform calmly under pressure.” 

“We did a pretty good job with that this season,” she added. “There was only one meet in which we were a little off, but that’s expected. Sometimes it’s not your day, but both of them handled it with tremendous grace under pressure. It’s hard to stand up on a one-meter springboard in front of hundreds of people with it silent and all eyes on you.”

Jenkins has an extensive background in coaching swimming and diving in Gwinnett County. She was previously an assistant at Dacula and served as the head coach at Buford.

Her experience helped both of her divers excel at a such high level in the first year of diving at Morgan County. Jenkins hopes to keep that up heading into the next season.

“We would love for more kids to come out for the swim and dive team,” Jenkins said. “I would love to try and grow the program, too. It’s open to both males and females. It’s a co-ed sport.”