Westminster Academy's Johanna Holloway To Compete U.S. Olympic Trials

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At 15, Johanna Holloway will be one of the youngest divers in the nation competing at the June 18-26 U.S. Olympic Diving Trials.

The Westminster Academy sophomore will compete in the platform and synchronized platform events at the newly-renovated Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis.

Holloway, who trains with 2008 U.S. Olympic veteran diving coach Dave Burgering and Fort Lauderdale Diving Team, is the only high school diver from South Florida in the field.

"This is my first Trials so I am more excited than nervous," Holloway said. "I'm not planning on making it so I don't have a lot of pressure on me. I am going for the experience."

Two divers qualify in each individual event and one team qualifies for the synchronized events for the Aug. 5-21 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Holloway, a two-time Class 1A state high school runner-up and three-time state qualifier on 1-meter springboard, is one of fifteen women divers named to USA Diving's Tier II High-Performance Squad.

The Tier II group includes senior divers who have committed to training for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as well as junior divers who have begun to show success at senior-level national meets and international competition. Many of these divers, including Holloway, a junior national squad member in 2015, are expected to move up to the High-Performance Squad during the next four years.

"We are going into Trials with the attitude we have got nothing to lose," Burgering said. "This is for the experience. I am not going to sell her short. I know how well she can dive. She is primed for 2020 and needs the experience. This doesn't mean anything or it could mean a lot. She has two dives that can be incredible for 9s and 10s or of course, she can get 4s. It's just the nature of the sport especially when she is 15 years old."

"She is green, she has never been at a meet like this. It's a question of whether she will be awesome or oh my God, there are TV cameras, media and people in the stands. I am totally fine with anything because it is an experience."

The 5-foot-1 Holloway has an athletic background. She started in gymnastics and reached Level 9 status before she left the sport at age 12. During her summers, her mother encouraged her to try new sports which is when she discovered diving.

"I tried swimming but after a week the coach came up to my mom and said I wasn't cut out for swimming," Holloway said. "I had no focus for swimming, it was so boring. I saw some divers at the pool well and decided to go out and try it."

Holloway started diving on 1-meter when she was 8.

"There are so many people in gymnastics," Holloway said. "It's a lot harder to get into Olympic level status because there is so much competition. Diving was so easy for me at that point."

Burgering saw Holloway's potential from the start.

"I saw some talent there especially on the tower," Burgering said. "We started getting ready for senior competition right away with lead-ups on the lower platforms and back 2-and-1/2 tuck on 5-meter. We knew where it would lead to.'

'What got my eye was she was so fast," Burgering said. "She can spin really quick and when her entries are on that's what you need so you can get in without the water moving at all. With platform, we taught her how to spot, do the hard dives and how to relax, which was the hardest."

Last year Holloway won her first junior national title on 3-meter springboard. "That was quite unexpected," she said.

Her five-dive Trials list features a total of 15.60 in degree of difficulty including an armstand back 3 somersaults tuck and back 3-and-1/2 somersaults tuck. Her favorite is an inward 3-and-1/2, which is her third dive. "Basically, it's my specialty," she said. "I hit it pretty darn well.

"My goal for Trials is to get the experience I need," Holloway said. "My goal is to make finals in synchro. For individual platform, I want to stay consistent. I would like to get 7's or above on every dive. I realize I have a good chance but there's no pressure because this is my first one and I am 15."

Holloway will compete in platform synchro with her best friend, Mya Kraeger, 17, of Willis, Tex. and Team A&M.

Gulliver Prep alum Briadam Herrera, 20, of University of Miami will compete on the 3-meter springboard and 3-meter synchro.

Preliminary and semifinal competition is June 18-21. Final events for individual and synchro platform and springboard events are June 22-26.