Diving into a bright future
EVANS CITY — Diving just wasn't cutting it.
A longtime gymnast through the X-Cel program in Cranberry Township, Taylor Hockenberry gave up the sport in seventh grade.
“Then I missed flipping and perfecting things,” recalled Hockenberry, now a Mars High School senior. “I thought diving would be a good fit.
“I first tried it a little before my freshman year. I figured it would be easy, but it was much harder than I thought. At first, I didn't like it too much. Nothing compared to gymnastics.”
Hockenberry was a Level 7 state champion as a gymnast in grade school, after all.
But gymnastics were in her rear-view mirror. She stuck with diving.
“After a year, I developed a passion for it,” she said.
And she got good at it. Now she's great at it.
Next year, she will be attending the University of North Carolina, having verbally committed to the Tar Heels. North Carolina has developed into one of the top diving programs in the NCAA under coach and former United States Olympian Abel Sanchez.
“She's a smart girl and she made a smart choice,” Mars swimming coach Hans Bergh said. “Taylor is an elite diver and an excellent teammate. She is going to a highly reputable program.”
Hockenberry also considered Virginia Tech — where Mars graduate Maggie Gruber is a senior on the swim team — and Kentucky before deciding on North Carolina.
“It's the perfect fit for me academically and athletically,” Hockenberry said. “I like the team, the coach is great ... I feel like I can further develop my skills and flourish there.”
The daughter of David and Michele Hockenberry of Evans City, she is a two-time WPIAL and state champion in one-meter diving. Hockenberry set a WPIAL record score of 506.05 as a sophomore in 2015. She is also the 2015 and 2016 MAC diving champion and meet record holder.
Hockenberry's scores of 426.75 (2015) and 439.85 earlier this year earned her the PIAA titles.
Carrying a 4.2 grade point average, Hockenberry is considering a major in biology, kinesiology or pre-med. She wants to prepare for a physician graduate program.
“The dedication of athletes like Taylor and Maggie is impressive,” Mars athletic director Scott Heinauer said. “You have to practice all the time, almost every day, to get to where they're at talent-wise.
“They are among the top in the swimming and diving world. With that dedication comes time management skills to take care of their class work. You can't get into a school like North Carolina without excellent grades.”Hockenberry practices diving five or six days a week, year round, at Trees Pool on the University of Pittsburgh campus. She is a four-year member of the Pitt Aquatics Club competitive diving team and became an AAU All-American diver this year.“The Pitt club has been so helpful. That's where I learned to dive,” Hockenberry said.Despite her rigorous club practice schedule, Hockenberry spends plenty of time with her Mars team — even though the Planets have no pool at their high school.“She practices with us two or three times a week and that's at 5:15 in the morning at Pine-Richland,” Bergh said. “Withthe schedule she keeps, she has to be exhausted, but she never shows it. This girl is phenomenal.“Even when she's practicing at Pitt, her diving coach and I stay in steady contact all of the time.”North Carolina has an All-American female diver on its roster in Elissa Dawson. Sanchez was a three-time All-American diver at the University of Michigan and his four-member freshman recruiting class this year was rated the best in the nation.Hockenberrry said she will “work on technique a lot more” during the upcoming high school season.“You really have to earn your way there,” she said of North Carolina's diving program. “I have big goals for college as well. I want to make it to ACC's, NCAA's .. I'll develop those goals when I meet with the coach.“But I want to start working toward them now.”If that includes becoming a three-time WPIAL and state champion, all the better.“You always want to win,” Hockenberry said.Heinauer is one of her biggest fans.“It's awesome, everything she's been able to do,” he said.That includes volunteering for TRY (Together for Retarded Youth), kids summer camps and The Lighthouse Foundation Food Bank.“Diving is a big part of my life, but it's not my whole life,” Hockenberry said. “You have to balance life to be happy.“We car-pool down to Pitt for practice. I do homework in the car ... whatever it takes.”
