The Edwardsville Tigers girls dive team gained numbers this year in hopes to make a splash this season.

Last year, the EHS girls swim team was made up of only one diver, now a sophomore, Taylor Seilheimer. Last season, Seilheimer competed in and won all of the diving events.

When she reached post season, Seilheimer qualified for the state final but wasn’t ready for the competition she had to face.

“The dive teams up north were really good I wasn’t as well prepared as they were,” she said. “I hope to win sectionals this year and do better at state.”

Along with Seilheimer, there are two newcomers to the Tiger dive team. Freshman Lydia Hemings and junior Kaley Wallace will both compete this year.

Hemings is an experienced diver and has been diving since she was just 6 years old. She had always thought of dive as another part of competing in a swim meet.

“I am not as serious about dive as I am with swim. If I wanted to learn a new dive I would just wing it,” said Hemings.

Wallace is the only diver who is solely focused on competing in the diving event and not swimming. Wallace has only been diving for two months but has been a gymnast for five years, which she feels gives her an advantage to catching up to a competition level.

“I just wanted to find something new to try and dive seemed to be a good fit for me,” said Wallace.

All the divers have been working hard in the offseason to prepare for this fall. Over the summer, both Hemings and Seilheimer competed on different dive teams. Seilheimer learned new dives and worked to improve her techniques over the summer months.

“This year I’m excited to be on a team with Taylor instead of competing against her,” said Hemings.

To help continue to improve, the Tigers are awaiting the arrival of new dive coach, Gale Lindsay. Lindsay has a knowledge of dive and has even trained with an Olympic coach in past years, said Hemings.

As of now, swim practice runs for two hours after school but when the new coach gets here there will be a separate dive practice time in the late evening.

“Right now we’re sort of coaching ourselves, but the new coach is going to be able to push us a lot harder,” said Seilheimer. “Last season I basically coached myself.”

The Tigers hope to capture their first win of the season on Sep.3 at the Chuck Fruit Aquatic Center. Wallace and the others are anxious to start the season.

“I’m excited and nervous just because I’ve never done dive competitively before, but I’m also excited because I love to compete,” said Wallace.