Sophomore divers plunge into leadership

Wednesday, February 17, 1999

Sophomore divers plunge into leadership

FEATURE: More, Baghramian make most of youthful team under
leadership of new coach

By Steve Kim

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

They would really, really like to make a splash, but no, no,
they’re not allowed.

The sport of diving is tricky that way, where less is more, and
more is definitely less. Cleaner their entry into the water, higher
the points awarded.

That’s why sophomores Annie Baghramian and Delilah More find it
a challenge to make a big splash in this sport, without making a
splash.

Considering that they’re only second-year college divers and the
oldest team members at the same time, these two divers have done
well for themselves. After the seniors graduated last year,
then-freshmen Baghramian and More, next on the seniority ladder,
were given the huge responsibility of being team leaders in a team
that was just about starting over.

In the beginning of this school year, they were introduced to a
brand new coach, no seniors or juniors, and three more freshmen.
Essentially, they found themselves in a new team. But, like true
acrobats, they adjusted quite flexibly.

Baghramian contributed multiple first place finishes in the dual
meet springboard events this season. On the three meter springboard
she scored high enough in one of the dual meets to qualify for the
NCAA Regional Zone meet coming up in March. She is also the scoring
leader of the team.

More, meanwhile, excels on the platform. She also qualified in
the NCAA Regionals by meeting the prerequisite scoring in the ten
meter platform.

Ten meters – that’s more than three stories high. But she looks
nothing like a crazed woman leaping off a building – far from it.
She does it with enough style and precision to make jumping off a
10 meter platform look fun and easy.

With dual meets finished, these two look forward to the Pac-10s
and to the Diving NCAA Regionals, where they hope to qualify for
the NCAA championships.

"I’m actually a lot more focused on Pac-10s because I know that
I have a chance to final there, whereas the competition at the
NCAAs is twice as hard," Baghramian said. "So right now, I’m
setting my goal towards Pac-10s and finishing high there."

"We hope it all comes together in the important meets," More
added. "We’re going to do our best to end the season well."

In training and competition, these two are teammates. As if
spending dozens of hours a week isn’t bonding enough, Baghramian
and More are roommates this year. Plus, they found themselves
sharing several classes. Teammates, roommates, classmates – these
two are truly inseparable.

"You would think we’re completely sick of each other by now, but
it’s not like that at all," More said. "It’s nice to have someone
around who knows exactly what you’re thinking. And we have inside
jokes we can share with no one else."

"It’s become something like a comfort zone to see each other
every day," Baghramian said.

Let the two speak for themselves. Here, Baghramian and More give
an introduction to what it’s like to be
just-about-everything-mates, and members of the UCLA diving
team.

* * *

Imagine this. You practice about 20 hours a week, sometimes
three times a day. You compete in a season that starts in October
and ends in March, and you constantly get comments like, "Oh, wow,
UCLA has a diving team? I didn’t know that!"

Well, if you didn’t know that, too, let us tell you a little bit
about it.

Our team is actually part of the combined swimming and diving
team, but there is a huge difference between the two. Diving
consists of three different events. There is one meter and three
meter springboard, which Annie prefers, and then there is platform
diving, which Delilah prefers.

The team, which consists of three sophomores and three freshmen,
is very young, and we even have a new coach, Tom Stebbins, this
year. We didn’t know what to expect from Tom at first, but we have
both been in this sport for so long that we were in need of change.
Tom has changed the program for the better, and we’re pleased with
our individual accomplishments as well as the team’s.

We practice at the Sunset Canyon Recreation Center for
springboard and the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center when we train
platform. It would be nice not to have to drive so far for
practice, but we don’t really have a choice. Team time in the van
isn’t that bad anyway, so long as we can all agree on what radio
station to listen to …

Annie wants to listen to love songs on the KOST, whereas Delilah
is strictly all about rap.

Annie: Now that we’re on the subject of Delilah, let me say
something about her.

Delilah and I are a funny duo. We are so different, yet we still
manage to spend almost every hour of every day together.

We live together, we dive together, we go out together, and
considering that neither of us really know what we want to study,
we end up taking a lot of classes together, too.

Delilah has had a huge impact on my life here at UCLA. She has
one of the best work ethics of anyone I’ve ever met, and hopefully
it has rubbed off on me.

You know what else? Delilah is a total health nut, and I’m
convinced I would be 10 pounds heavier if it weren’t for her. She
just doesn’t crave sweets like I do, and so we compromise with a
non-fat, sugar-free, half-mocha, half-vanilla ice blended from
Coffee Bean on quite a regular basis.

Delilah: OK, I’ll say something about Annie now.

It’s been really helpful having Annie on the team, not only for
me, but for the rest of the divers, too.

Whenever someone is frustrated or is lacking motivation, she is
the first one to cheer them up, and talk them through their
problem.

It’s so comforting knowing that she cares about us so much, not
only in practice, but outside the pool, too. She goes out of her
way to make people feel special, and it seems like she is always
making someone a card or something.

Being around Annie over the past two years helped me open up a
lot. She used to always tease me for having such a straight face,
and for being so serious, but I don’t think that is the case
anymore.

Both: Now it seems more and more that we have a sister-like
relationship. The whole team is like a family, and we pick on each
other all the time, good naturedly, of course. We even joke
sometimes about how we share a brain, and we can always predict
what the other is going to say or do.

One thing for sure, we predict great things to come in the
future as long as we keep working hard and playing hard.

PATIL ARMENIAN/Daily Bruin

Sophomore divers Annie Baghramian (left) and Delilah More have
been best friends and roommates throughout their athletic careers
at UCLA.

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