From Pastime To Passion

AVON PARK - Dedication and commitment go hand-in-hand in the sporting world, and in diving, Avon Park's Heather Barnes displayed an abundance of both during her senior season.

Barnes limped into diving her sophomore year - something to keep her in shape for softball - but walks out of the sport her senior year as the 2007 Highlands Today All-Heartland Girls Diver of the Year.

"This [honor] validates all the hard work and training I put in this year," Barnes said. "People can see me now as something other than for playing softball."

The AP senior fell into the sport of diving by accident when a case of tendonitis in her knee during cross country brought her to the pool for rehab. Once there, she saw the divers and wanted to try - which she did - and she has been in the pool ever since, albeit part time.

Softball was the sport that demanded the bulk of her time for travel tournaments and practices, and diving tended to take a back seat - that is, until this year.

Barnes, who came into her senior year with a scholarship to play softball for the Stetson Hatters next fall, decided to dedicate herself to diving without any distractions.

"She promised me more of a commitment her senior year," said AP dive coach Shane Wiries. "I think she really put her all into diving this year and made a goal of getting to state.

"Her focus showed in her domination all the way until the regionals. She really matured as a diver."

That maturity was never more evident than in the Class 1A-District 5 meet, where Barnes took first place with a score of 331.65 - over 50 points ahead of Mackenzi Campbell of Winter Haven - to earn a trip to the regional meet.

Although the score looked dominating, Barnes nearly hit her head on the diving board during her inward 1 ½ dive, a moment that would haunt her at regionals, where she failed that dive and missed her chance to go to state with a seventh-place finish.

"When you get to regionals, you're in against much stiffer competition," Wiries said. "She messed up one out of 11 dives and still beat a lot of girls and barely missed going to state.

"I think it really hit her when she realized it [diving] was over."

Barnes described the feelings she went through on the board and how that one moment ended her diving career.

"I practiced that dive over and over in practice," Barnes said. "I didn't think about it at all until I got on the board. A picture flashed in my mind of myself hitting the board. I imagined knocking my teeth out.

"I was so upset [about missing state] that I cried, and I never cry about things like that."

A true teammate in every sense of the word, Barnes made the trek up to Orlando to support Avon Park's Miguel Ortiz in his bid at the state meet, knowing that she let her golden opportunity slip away.

"I wanted to be there for Miguel," Barnes said. "I know I could have made it. I worked hard and really wanted it. I was really sad, but it was good to be around it and to cheer [Miguel] on. It was my way of saying goodbye."

Now as she is about to take the softball field once again, diving is the topic she most thinks about these days.

"Diving will be with me always," Barnes said. "I never thought I'd miss it, but I do."

The Team

Nicki Owen, junior, Sebring: Starting from scratch as a freshman, Owens showed she had the dedication to put in the time to get better and more comfortable with her dives. That commitment to the sport helped the Blue Streak junior blossom in '07.

Owens finished eighth in the Class 2A-District 7 meet with 242.60 points, just shy of making regionals.

"[Nicki] really was a hard worker," said Sebring dive coach James Dion. "She's very good technical diver and the expectations are high for next year.

"With her continued work heading into next season, she'll be able to increase the level of difficulty in her dives and really make the leap to being an elite diver."