This past week, first-year Cooper Niles from the Keene State Men’s Swim and Dive team was named the diver and rookie of the week.
Niles, a theater technology major, said he enjoys making movies when he is not swimming.
As president for the first-year class, Niles has a lot on his plate. “You learn to manage time,” he said. “When we were at our MIT meet, sitting in the bleachers, I was doing emails and sending out texts to our group chat to try and plan different events.”
Niles has been swimming since seventh grade, however, he has only been diving since September, 2023.
The men’s swim and dive coach, Christopher Woolridge, mentioned he never coached an athlete who successfully did both swimming and diving.
“In a week or two he had a full list on the one-meter board and then he’s been working on the three-meter board all semester and over winter break,” Woolridge said.
Over the course of the season Woolridge stated that Niles has improved on his dives. Woolridge said, “He has a lot more control and now he’s really starting to not just make the dives legal but execute them really cleanly.”
Niles mentioned he was proud of being named the rookie and diver of the week. “It feels good, especially being a first-year diver and seeing the improvement from September up until now.”
Nile also expressed the challenges that come with diving.
“Diving is definitely hard because you get hurt a lot but getting back up is sort of what keeps you going and helps push the season forward,” he said.
Nile revealed his mentality going into the meets. He stated that the meets are nerve-racking but he found a way to work through it. Niles said, “At our last meet I had to sit in our locker room for like 30 minutes to breathe and figure out how to do this dive.”
Niles mentioned that the diver only has one attempt at a dive and that would be your score for the meet. However, what helps him are the coaches and teammates that support him.
The captain of the men’s swim and dive team, Benjamin Stafford said Niles gets along with the rest of the team well. Stafford stated, “He’s a great guy. He’s got a great personality … he always makes us laugh.”
Stafford expressed that Niles was a great addition to the team and helped them out in diving. “This is the first time we had a diver in like four years, so having him dive for us is really great,” Stafford said.
Stafford also mentioned how the team motivates each other before meets. He said, “We are a pretty close group of guys and we all have been through the same training … that makes us closer knowing we got through that together.”
According to Stafford, Niles has been pushing himself to do better all season. Stafford said, “He’s all in like 100% of the time…he just works hard.”
Elyse Picard can be contacted
at epicard@kscequinox.com
