The Jag
By Aizak Miller
Sports Editor
Since meeting in kindergarten, Blue Springs South seniors Alyssa Mainard and Gianna Graham, the two best divers in Missouri, have allowed their friendship to help them get first and second every meet this season.
Graham and Mainard go all the way back to elementary school, and both have done and still do acro and tumbling in gymnastics. Their friendship really took off once they got to high school and started to dive together.
“Our friendship has grown a lot throughout the last four years and just growing with her in diving has made our friendship really meaningful,” Graham said.
Mainard had more to add about their friendship.
“We really became good friends freshman year and ever since then it’s been a really great friendship in my life,” Mainard said.
Mainard and Graham finished first and second at the state meet and Mainard was a repeat state champion. Both of these things have never happened for head coach Errich Oberlander before.
“In 17 years of head coaching I have never had a repeat state champion, or have I ever had two girls finish first and second at state,” he said.
The closest that Coach Oberlander has been to two girls getting first and second at state in the same season was last year with Mainard and Graham getting first and fourth.
Mainard wanted to win every single meet this season.
“This year my goal was to get first in every meet which didn’t happen but even better me and Gianna went one and two every meet, so if it wasn’t me winning it was her,” said Mainard.
Senior Gianna Graham focused on improving from last year.
“For state I wanted top 3 because last year I got fourth place, and so I just wanted to move up. I ended up getting second this year, so it worked out better than I thought,” she said.
Graham was in first place at state for the first half of the dives until one dive dropped her to 3rd place she started to get nervous.
“I am a numbers person, so right after I looked at the results and I started doing the math to figure out what I needed to do on the last couple of dives,” Graham said.
Mainard’s favorite memory from this year was the state meet.
“Even though there was a lot of pressure being the state champion last year and being back this year, I still managed to go repeat. Me and Gianna have been talking about going one-two (first and second place) at state all year long. So, for that to happen and knowing it was my last meet, it was special,” she said.
Coach Oberlander’s favorite thing about the girls is how encouraging they are of each other.
“Watching them support each other and be there for each other while having all the individual success they do,” Oberlander said.
Graham had some of the same things to say about her coach.
“Coach Oberlander is so supportive of us, and he always makes sure we have a big support system behind us by making sure the swimmers are there for us,” she said.
The two divers plan to go to college for acro and tumbling. If it was not for Graham doing cartwheels on the playground in elementary school, Mainard might not have been going to college for acro and tumbling or started doing it in the first place.
“She is the reason I started doing gymnastics because I would see her do cartwheels on the playground and I thought she was so cool, and so I went home and begged my mom to sign me up for gymnastics,” Mainard said.
Mainard plans to attend Missouri State University for acro and tumbling and Graham plans to attend Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut also for acro and tumbling.
“It is going to be sad being away from each other but I’m still excited that we will have the opportunities to compete against each other in college,” Mainard said.
