West Aurora's Chollet dives right into her sport

It would be easy to say that Liz Chollet is making up for lost time -- but that would be doing the West Aurora senior diver a massive disservice.

That's because Chollet hasn't lost any time in her four years in high school. Cheerleading, track, National Honor Society -- this is a busy, motivated individual -- and diving came along at a point when she was ready to thrive in the sport.

And she has done very well, and when Chollet (which is pronounced "shah-lay") moves from the 1-meter diving board at Neuqua Valley in Saturday's sectional, she will be showing just how much can be achieved when you work at things.

"I was in gymnastics a really long time, from the time I was 5 years old," Chollet said. "But I got really tall, West doesn't have a gymnastics team and my knees really hurt the last year I was in gymnastics."

Sounds like a diving coach's dream, but Chollet took a U-turn on her way to the diving board.

"As an incoming freshman, she tried out for cheerleading, and that means you're not going to participate in any fall or winter sports," West Aurora coach Sue Brennan-McGuire said. "I remember her mom introducing me to her when Liz was in middle school, and her reaction was that she wasn't interested."

After her freshman year, Chollet was ready for diving -- and things have only gone upward since.

"The idea of body awareness and knowing where you are in the air, I've always had that," Chollet said. "It helped that I took a break after gymnastics so I wasn't so used to having a hard floor to land on. It actually helps my knees going into the water head-first. I missed the whole idea of something challenging and something that you work for."

West Aurora has had two medalists at the state meet -- and both were divers. Kareen Erickson finished fifth in 1986 and Annie Carpenter was 12th in 2001. Carpenter was the school record-holder until Chollet came along.

"I came into this year wanting to set both diving records," Chollet said. "I have the 6-dive record, but I want to get the 11-dive record."

Chollet competes Saturday in a field where the majority of the best divers will be ones she saw two weeks ago at the DuPage Valley Conference meet. Chollet finished first in that meet, which helps fuel hopes that she will make a return trip to the state meet.

There is always some doubt. Only the 16 sectional champions are guaranteed a spot in the state meet. The top 32 non-champions qualify for prelims, but that is based on statewide scoring, meaning non-sectional champion divers are the only athletes who leave the sectional meet uncertain of their spot on-deck at New Trier on Nov. 17.

As a junior, Chollet went to Brennan-McGuire's house and coach and athlete sweated as they counted down the list of at-large qualifiers. Chollet was 28th of the qualifiers.

Swimmers talk all the time about making a state cut, swimming faster than the state standard in a given event. Chollet's consistency this fall at a scoring level that has historically qualified for the state meet means she has made an imaginary state cut.

"If she just dives average, she'll score around 360," Brennan-McGuire said. "And that has been a state qualifying score since -- forever. Divers with a 360 sectional score have qualified every year that I can remember. If we look at all her best scores, she could dive over 400."

Scoring so consistently should help keep Chollet calm on Saturday, said Brennan-McGuire.

"She has been solid all year," Brennan-McGuire said. "Even within the range of error she might have, she still puts together good dives. She has pushed herself to find that level of consistency. Barring some terrible, unforeseen moment, she should be fine."

Having come to diving at such an advanced age, Chollet isn't ready to give up, and it appears she won't have to. There are colleges interested in her as a diver, and she said when she makes her decision, it will be with a mind toward continuing her career.

"I'd be sad to give it up," Chollet said. "I'm really excited to go dive in college. We have a few choices and I'm really excited."

Brennan-McGuire said the school that gets Chollet will be getting more than just a diamond in the rough. This comes even though Chollet's experience is mostly in 1-meter diving where she will have to learn to work off a 3-meter board in college.

"She would make a fabulous recruit because she's still young in the sport," Brennan-McGuire said. "She doesn't have bad habits and she's not spoiled in the sport yet. She's ready to bloom -- and she's doing well already."

All teams refer to themselves as "swimming and diving" teams. Chollet said the relationship between swimmers and divers has been excellent this year in Joe Neukirch's first year as head coach.

But she wouldn't mind a minor alteration in the team name.

"We're always getting them to put the team name as 'diving and swimming,'" Chollet said. "The argument this year was that 'D' comes before 'S.'

"C" comes before both those letters, and it's quite possible that Chollet will help lead West Aurora's state-bound contingent this weekend: which will be excellent news, no matter which letters you put first.