Corning diver Brooke Terwilliger reflects on historic night and work that led up to moment
No girl in Section 4 history delivered a six-dive performance like the one Corning-Painted Post senior Brooke Terwilliger treated home fans and teammates to on Sept. 12 in a victory over Johnson City.
Terwilliger, 17, broke the section record for a six-dive competition with a point total of 341.65 on the 1-meter board, shattering the previous mark of 318.10 held by Ithaca's Kailee Payne since the spring of 2021. Terwilliger's previous high score was 312 and she entered the meet with six-dive scores this season of 270.5 and 266.80, subpar by her standards.
Diving excellence is nothing new for the 4-foot-11 Terwilliger. She placed 10th in New York state as a sophomore and eighth last year. She reached the state qualifying standard in her first varsity season as a freshman, but there was no championship meet because of the COVID pandemic.
Her coach at Corning, Alyssa Helsing, was New York state runner-up as a Horseheads senior in 2002 and had a prime view of Terwilliger's historic night.
"It was the right combination of being in your home pool, she was in the zone and she put every single dive together," Helsing said. "Every single dive she did was on point, beautiful technique.
"To put everything together all at once, under pressure, in any sport is very difficult. The fact she did that is a testament to her mental and physical capabilities that she’s developed over these past few years."
Terwilliger gives a great deal of credit to Helsing and Ithaca College coach Chris Griffin for helping her hone her skills over the years.
Terwilliger lives in Corning with her parents, Brett and Meri Terwilliger. She has a sister, 19-year-old Bryn, and a twin brother, Grant.
More: Section 4 girls swimming & diving 2023: Results, top performers
Question: What was going on the night you set the record?
Answer: I remember I was thinking about being a senior and I’ve been trying to beat that record since I was a sophomore. I was like, wow, we have two home meets left that I’m going to be competing six dives at. It’s kind of very stressful because these are my last two chances.
Instead of trying to get into my head about everything, I put music on and I have a worry crystal that helps me when I feel stressed. I jumped around, tried to focus on the goal. It was very exciting because I have never gotten that high of a score in my whole diving career. It was really awesome to see all my hard work be put into that moment. I haven’t dove that well in a meet. The pressure of trying to beat the record made me focus more and made me more determined to do better than in the past meets.
Q: Was there a dive that stood out?
A: I did my 104B, which is the front double and pike. I ended up getting a 10 on it. It was one of the most exciting moments because I’ve gotten a 10 on a back dive, an easier dive, but never on an optional dive. It was so exciting because in the past this was my most hated dive. I hated this one so much. I didn’t like practicing it, I didn’t like competing it, I almost took it off of my list of dives to compete on Tuesday because I just didn’t want to do it.
Q: What was your reaction to the record?
A: I got so excited I almost started crying. I actually did tear up a little bit because it was such a surreal moment, seeing that I finally accomplished my goal. I immediately looked over to Coach Helsing and she ran over to me and gave me a hug. Then Angie McKane came over and gave me a big hug too because she was so excited to see that I finally beat it. Everyone was so supportive, it was so exciting.
Q: How did you get started diving?
A: It was the summer from sixth grade to seventh grade. I used to do gymnastics previously and then I tried out at the summer clinic (with Helsing) and I fell in love with it, so I continued to do it.
I had no clue what diving really was since I was pretty young. All I really thought about was gymnastics and then I was trying to figure out an alternative sport to do since I unfortunately had to quit gymnastics due to an injury. Then my mom found this clinic and I was like, ‘We’ll try it for one day, see how it goes.’ It was really good. Helsing has a way of teaching that is very easy to follow. Her coaching style has really helped me from the beginning.
Q: What you have you gained from Coach Helsing?
A: It's extremely helpful having someone that has a lot of experience and knows exactly what you’re supposed to be doing for each dive. She showed me some videos and she was a phenomenal diver. She got second at states. It’s really awesome having that person like her encouraging you and believing in what you can do and putting forth all of her effort to try to help you become the best you can be at your sport. She does that for each of us.
Q: What is the dynamic like with Corning's team?
A: I know sometimes swimmers and divers can not get along very much because of how we’re separated, especially during practices and invitationals too, but we all work really well as a team. We all cheer each other on, we know when people are upset about something or if they’re nervous for their event. They’re always there to give you a hug, cheer you up and stuff like that.
Q: What's the benefit of having state champion Angie McKane on your team?
A: It’s very nice because we both are people who strive to be the best we can be. With that, we know we want to break records and we want to go to states and we want to do well. We both understand the pressure of that as well. And our goals are very similar to each other even though they’re not similar because it’s diving and swimming. In the aspect of determination and working hard to beat those records, it’s kind of the same. I know during the meet on Tuesday we were both rooting for each other and trying to hype each other up before our events where we both wanted to beat the records.
Q: What's the key to diving success?
A: I try to stay focused at every meet. I kind of get in the zone. I know a lot of people like to talk to others, they have their own things to try get into meet mode or whatever. For me it’s staying focused. I often go to the side of the board or in a corner somewhere and I practice the motion of the dives and I practice the reach and how I’m going to be entering the water in order to achieve that. I know sometimes it may not go as planned, but if you stay optimistic for the rest of them and don’t give up for the rest of the dives, they may be good. But if you kind of give up – oh, that dive wasn’t good – then your other dives might not be as good.
Q: What's it like being a twin?
A: It’s nice because at least in the college aspect we’re both going at the same time. Instead of having people leave and me being the last one, you have someone until you graduate. It’s nice to have someone like that close to you because you have a built-in best friend that’s always there for you. … And it’s nice to have my brother in the same classes as me or at least taking the same ones because we’re often doing the same amount of homework each night, too, so we can keep each other on track.
Q: Goals for your senior season?
A: I have one goal for myself and it’s to get in at least the top-five at states. I know it’s kind of a big goal, but I know if I work hard and continue what I’m doing and continue staying focused and continue going to weight training outside of practicing hopefully I can achieve that.
Follow Andrew Legare on Twitter: @SGAndrewLegare. You can also reach him at alegare@gannett.com. To get unlimited access to the latest news, please subscribe or activate your digital account today
This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Corning's Brooke Terwilliger reflects on Section 4 diving record
