Up to the challenge
PITTSBURGH — Her sophomore year on the Duquesne University women's diving team seemed a long way off for Ashley Felitsky. The freshman believed she could make an immediate impact for the Dukes and has spent the last few months doing just that.
The Seneca Valley graduate is preparing for the 1-meter diving competition at the NCAA Division I championship meet, scheduled March 16-18 in Knoxville, Tenn.
"My degree of difficulty with my dives is going to be pretty high," said Felitsky. "When I do struggle, it's usually with my entries and I'm spending a lot of time working on them.
"In January, I started working on a particular dive, an inward double somersault. It has a degree of difficulty of 2.8 and a lot of women don't do it. But it's a big reason why I've been able to get some of my recent scores."
Felitsky qualified for the NCAA championships in late January when she scored 274.90, placing fourth at the Western Pa. Invitational. The qualifying standard for 1-meter was 265. She scored 279.80 in the 3-meter event, just missing out on qualifying (280).
"I was so close," exclaimed Felitsky, who received Atlantic 10 Women's Swimming and Diving Rookie of the Week honors for her efforts.
Duquesne diving coach Jeanine Stright sees incredible potential for Felitsky, holder of SV's girls six-dive record score of 294.2, over the next three years.
"Ashley is the real deal and is absolutely fearless," she replied in an emailed interview. "She works hard and I absolutely love her mental and physical toughness."
Felitsky came to Duquesne eager to learn as much as she could about college diving, including the 3-meter variety, which was not part of competitions in high school.
In her first college meet, the Richmond Duals in late October, Felitsky placed third in 3-meter with a score of 233.15.
"I didn't even have a full list of dives for 3-meter at the start of the year," Felitsky said. "My performance in that first meet gave me confidence as I got into the season.
"Competing in 1- and 3-meter in the same meet, you have to do dives differently because there's a lot more room on the 3-meter board."
In her most recent meet, the Atlantic 10 Conference Championships earlier this month, Felitsky placed ninth in 3-meter and 13th in 1-meter out of 42 divers.
Duquesne has seven women divers this year, including senior Sidney O'Donnell and graduate student Amy Read.
"They've both been very welcoming and I've learned a lot from them," said Felitsky. "They give me tips on my dives and that's been very beneficial."
