Any casual spectator that wandered into the 2010 ACC Swimming and Diving Championships last week might have assumed that N.C. State’s Hannah Hopkins was a senior.
After all, she won the platform diving competition and finished just shy of 2009 NCAA Champion and State’s most decorated diver Kristin Davies’ school record 314.20 with a 213.35 in the platform, while earning All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors.
Hopkins said she did not anticipate coming close to Davies’ record, and just wanted to have a solid meet.
“I tried to picture everything just like practice,” Hopkins said. “I tried to be nice, clam, relaxed. My teammates definitely helped me get through everything.”
Fellow freshman Kirstyn Shepler said Hopkins displayed the drive and the determination needed to succeed at the tournament.
“She had two really great competitions on Thursday and Friday. She just kept building up as the week went on, and she was completely in it,” Shepler said. “She knew want she was there to do, what she had to do and then come Saturday, it all paid off.”
Hopkins hails from Greensboro, NC, where she was home schooled with her three sisters,who also have their fair share of athletic ability.
Sarah, 17, is a soccer player at Greensboro College, Mariah, 16, is a golfer in high school, and Norah, 14, plays multiple sports.
Hopkins used to be a former gymnast, which has helped her transition into diving seem very easy.
“I started out in gymnastics. I was a gymnast for 12 years,” Hopkins said. “It helped me pick up everything so much faster, except going in hands first.”
The transition to the collegiate workload is usually a tough change for most freshmen. However, Hopkins has been able to easily transition into the college lifestyle of balancing school work with athletics.
“It’s just the same; waking up early, going to practice, then going to school,” she said.
Pack coach Jenny Keim Johansen was Hopkins club coach in high school, which helped to make her transition into collegiate swimming easier.
“Hannah has been working with me before hand and she’s made some amazing improvements in that short period of time and I knew it would just keep going up from there,” Johansen said. “One of the great things for her, especially is that she didn’t have to go through a coaching change coming in her freshman year. I think that would be part of her whole reason that she came her. We had a past relationship and I think it helped for the success she had at ACC as well.”
Even with Hopkins mind-blowing performance this season, Coach Johansen believes she still has a lot of untapped talent.
“Her potential is through the roof. I feel like we just started tapping into it. She has that inner drive, that passion for the sport, and that can take you as far as you want,” Johansen said.
And Hopkins hopes to take it all the way, to the NCAA Championships.
