Parkway North’s Gray ready to dive into state meet

Parkway North senior diver Natalie Gray is on a mission.

She wants to win the state competition and set a school record while doing it.

Gray gets her chance this weekend as the 37th annual Missouri Girls Swimming and Diving Championships will be held. Preliminaries begin Friday (Feb. 17) and the finals are set for Saturday at the Rec-Plex in St. Peters.

As a freshman, Gray finished 10th at the state diving competition. After a sophomore that didn’t go as planned, Gray rebounded with a solid junior campaign that saw her nearly win at state. Gray finished second at state last year.

“I got beat by the state champion,” said Gray, who lost to Parkway West’s Mary-Kate Hardy.

She got ready for state by winning the Suburban South Conference diving championship. It was her third conference title.

“It meant a lot that I won conference this year, especially seeing that I came in second last year to Mary-Kate Hardy who went on to win state as well,” Gray said.

Gray had to earn the title. Francesca Ginganti, of Parkway West, dove well but Gray prevailed.

“It was a really good meet for me,” Gray said. “Luckily I was pretty consistent with how I dove and Francesca Ginganti was really bringing her game so I definitely had to step it up a notch in order to beat her.”

Moreover, Gray’s points from winning helped the Vikings win the conference meet.  It was the first in the school’s history.

“Now I’m proud to say I won conference three out of four years and I was also glad I could contribute those points to the team to help us win the entire meet.

“It felt incredible knowing that we were the first ones in North’s history to win conference. It made me realize just how thankful I am to have such an amazing team and how much I’m going to miss being a part of it next year.  It definitely gives us bragging rights. I’m just glad all our hard work paid off and we can call ourselves conference champions and go into state feeling good and ready to bring our game.”

Gray and her teammates certainly enjoyed winning the conference meet at Summit.

“We were all so ecstatic about winning that we actually didn’t really know what to do with ourselves after we all yelled and clapped when they announced it,” Gray said. “(Assistant coach Bart) Prosser talked to us and told us how proud he was. We did a team cheer, and then the swimmers had to get back in the pool for their cool down.”

The diving point total of 272.2 is the Parkway North record. It’s a 21-year-old record.

“I want to beat it really bad. So, we’ll see,” Gray said. “I’ve been diving well so far. I feel good. I will try to hit each dive as well as I can.”

John Toczek, a diving coach for the Parkway School District, said he would like to see get the record.

“That record is one that we’ve been reaching toward for the past couple of years,” Toczek said. “I believe that she has the potential to break the record at the state meet this weekend. We’ve been training very hard for that feat. Her breaking it would be the epitome of her season.”

If the record does not fall, Gray still wants to leave high school as a state champion.

“My goal this year is to win state. I want to be a state champion,” Gray said. “It’s really important to me. It’s been my goal since I was a freshman. I want to win state and get the school record.”

Now, the state meet is almost here. For Gray, that’s great.

“I’ve been looking forward to it all season,” Gray said. “It’s been my goal and I’m looking forward to it. We’ve worked toward what I want to do at state in every single practice.”

Gray is ready for lies ahead this weekend. She is motivated and ready to dive.

“With practices this week, I think I’m ready as I’ll ever be for state,” Gray said. “I’m mainly trying to focus on controlling my nerves because I’m confident about my dives and how consistent they are so now I just need to concentrate mentally.”

She knows the other girls at the meet want to win, too.

“I obviously expect to see some good competition since it’s state and there are some really good divers,” Gray said. “There are even a few freshmen to worry about. But I also know that I’ll be going into the meet feeling good, confident, and ready to bring my best game.

“There are a couple girls who I know will do really well at state. Marissa Green, who is a freshman, will definitely score well. Meg Lenger, who is also my teammate at Clayton Diving Alliance, will place high as well. Then there are some other girls like Francesca Giganti, Nealey Wallis, Kellen Hope, Kat Friese, and Rebekah Laupp who will also be top divers.”

To get ready for state, Gray said she would be doing “minimal, yet efficient” diving.

“I’ll probably go through my list doing one dive of each, trying to hit one for one, instead of doing a million of each dive,” Gray said. “Our coach also prepares us mentally by getting us to do some visualization and working on controlling our nerves and excitement.”

Toczek said Gray is ready to dive.

“She has been training harder than I’ve ever seen her, and I think her chances are better than ever,” Toczek said. “One of the great things about Natalie is that I can give her multiple corrections for one dive, and she is able to accomplish a majority of them. This season has been fantastic, just like the last. Natalie is a great athlete.

“I can always count on her to compete exceptionally, and the icing on the cake is her ability to lead her other teammates.”

After she graduates, Gray will dive in college at Ohio University. She is looking forward to what is next for her athletically and academically.

“I feel in love with the campus at Ohio. It’s a great school. I loved the coaches and the girls there,” Gray said. “I knew that’s where I wanted to go.”

Gray chose Ohio over Tulane, Clemson, Southern California and Illinois State.

“I’m really excited about college but I’ve got state first,” Gray said. “That’s what I’m focusing on.”

Toczek said he will miss Gray when she graduates.

“Natalie is wonderful student, and one of the most dedicated people I know,” Toczek said. “You couldn’t find a better athlete as an ambassador for North. I’m very proud of Natalie this season. Her degree of difficulty and her quality of dives has helped raise the bar for Missouri diving. The state meet will be very exciting.”