MOON TWP — Taylor Hockenberry is used to the grind.

Five days a week the Mars junior makes the journey to the University of Pittsburgh Trees Pool from her home in Evans City to work on her diving skills with her club team.

“It's a pretty long commute for me,” Hockenberry said. “It's sometimes hard for me to manage that with schoolwork and everything else. It's helped me with my time management, though.”

That and her diving.

Hockenberry defended her WPIAL Class AA girls 1-meter diving title with a score of 470.85, nearly 100 points better than runner-up Reilly Diggins of Quaker Valley, Friday at Moon High School.

“It feels great,” Hockenberry said of winning another crown. “It just lets me see that all that hard work is paying off.”

Hockenberry said despite winning the title, it wasn't her best day on the board.

She said she struggled with her balance and didn't score as high as she wanted.

“It'll help me become a better diver,” she said.

Hockenberry also had something else on her mind. Her diving coach at Mars, Maria Misenhelter, is dealing with the ailing health of her mother.

“We were all thinking about her,” Hockenberry said. “Hoping she feels better.”

Hockenberry still focused enough for a rousing win Friday.

She is also the defending PIAA Class AA champion and will quickly turn her sights to defending that title as well when that event is held March 17 at Bucknell University.

“I'll go into it the same way I went into the WPIAL competition,” Hockenberry said. “I just want to improve.”

Hockenberry has been improving steadily since she began diving three years ago.

She turned to the sport after giving up gymnastics and failing to find a sport that similarly moved her.

Hockenberry tried running, but that didn't quite do the trick.

“I needed more of a perfectionist sport,” Hockenberry said.

Finally, diving was suggested to her.

“I watched it on TV and thought, 'Oh, that looks so easy. I can definitely be good at diving,'” Hockenberry said, chuckling. “Then I tried it and it was a whole lot harder than it looked.”

Hockenberry stuck with it, but it wasn't until recently that she felt like a full-fledged diver.

“There's a difference between learning to dive and mastering diving,” she said. “I think I really starting feeling that I was a real diver last year in the summer,” Hockenberry said. “That's when I was able to do the back two and a half on the 3-meter board. That's a big deal, it's the definitive dive.”

Hockenberry said she enjoys 3-meter diving much more than 1-meter.

There is more creativity in 3-meter dives, she said.

“In 1-meter, you have to have good board work,” Hockenberry said. “It takes a lot of practice and patience to learn how to use the board.”

Hockenberry said she will take a day off before resuming her hectic practice schedule.

“I normally go back to practice the day after a meet,” Hockenberry said. “I want to get back and fix my errors. This time, I'll probably take a day off.”

Knoch's Ben Lowrey finished third in the Class AA boys 1-meter diving competition.