Laura Lunn Event: Diving
Class: Senior
Height: 5' 4"
Hometown: Regina, Sask.
 
photo LOCKLIN ON LUNN: "We look for Laura to again lead our women's program in her final season with the Hokies. We are expecting big things from her at the ACC Championships."

2004-05: Set the school record on platform and three-meter ... Finished third at the ACC Championships on the platform, seventh on three-meter and 10th on one-meter at the same meet ... Won three-meter at the North Carolina Meet and was third on one-meter at the Nike Cup.

A Talk With...
Since you've already qualified for NCAAs, what are your goals for the second half of the year?
"I really want to focus on conference. My goal is to final (finish in the top eight) on all three boards. Hopefully, I'll be diving platform there. It's not a scoring event, but it's still something I'd like to do. I just hope to final on one-meter and three-meter."

What has been your favorite memory as a Hokie?
"I guess my favorite thing about the team is that they're like a family; if you have something wrong, you always know there's somebody there for you. But my favorite memory was conference last year. I thought that was really neat because it was all the girls together. We kind of had themes everyday to dress up. It's a girl thing.

Why did you transfer here?
"Well, I started out at the University of Nebraska, and they got a new diving coach and I wasn't really happy there. My old coach, the one who recruited me at Nebraska knew Bert (Locklin), because he dove a Nebraska too. So I got in contact with him and I came out here and really liked it."

What's the best part about being a diver?
"It's always something different. It always keeps you alert and awake. You never really know what's going to happen. Some people don't like being scared everyday, but I love it. I can come to the pool and get something out of it, even though sometimes it doesn't work out so well. It's the best part and the worst part."

What's the best part about being Canadian?
"I have no idea. I guess knowing that I can always go back home; I'm excited to go home."

What's the weirdest thing anybody has asked you about Canada?
"I've had a million of them. I don't even know which one is the weirdest. I've been asked if we have computers there. I've been asked if we really do travel by dogsled. Some really odd ones. But the best question was what body of water separates Canada from the U.S. I didn't know how to answer that one."

Did you play any other sports growing up?
"I was a gymnast most of my life. I didn't start diving until Grade 10, so that was the majority of what I did."

What made you change to diving?
"I think it was mainly just getting burned out. I peaked when I was in gym when I was 13. So the next few years, I was just kind of struggling. It was just time to move on. I just knew I needed to do something else. So the day I quit, I was in the car, and I told my mom, take me to the pool. I still had my gym suit on, so I dove in my gym suit."

Both sports use a lot of the same skills, right?
"It's very similar. The hardest part was learning how to land on my head, because obviously I was used to landing on my feet. So I had a few good wipe outs early."

What do you do to prepare for a dive, beforehand?
"I'm kind of superstitious, so I do weird things. I'm always by myself at meets. I usually go over it once on the ground. Then when I'm on the board, I focus on two things that I want to do, because if I try to do everything, I don't do anything; it's just a big mess."

What is your strangest superstition?
"I've gotten better. I used to be crazy with superstitions to the point where it would run everything I did during the day. I'd be so nervous about what was going to happen when I got to the gym or got to the pool. But now, I only have a few. Like when I walk to the pool, I have to walk the same way. I can't go down a different sidewalk. The one at the pool while I'm diving, when I take the first step up with my right leg up, I'll do the next one with the left leg. I try to stay even, because I feel like if I take the first step with my right leg all the time, I'll have really big muscles on my right leg or something."

Do you ever disagree with the judges' scoring of your dives?
"Sometimes. There are some meets where the other coach will be ridiculous and be down-scoring you. That's really frustrating, because you can't do anything about it. More often though, I'll think I was long or short on a dive, I'll come up and it'll be better than what I thought."

What did you ask Santa to bring you for Christmas?
"I want rubber boots, because I have to walk everywhere. I kind of know what Santa got me... and they have polka dots."

HIGH SCHOOL: Attended Balfour Collegiate High School ... Qualified for the Canadian Nationals and placed in the top 12 ... Was a three-time provincial champion and Western Canadian Diving Champion in 2000.

PERSONAL: Laura J. Lunn was born June 11, 1980 in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada ... Daughter of Henry and Carol Lunn ... Majoring in sociology.