{"id":3305,"date":"2017-03-28T15:18:38","date_gmt":"2017-03-28T15:18:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/?p=3305"},"modified":"2017-03-29T17:32:24","modified_gmt":"2017-03-29T17:32:24","slug":"fight-and-flight-merciers-record-shattering-diving-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/2017\/03\/28\/fight-and-flight-merciers-record-shattering-diving-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Fight and Flight: Mercier\u2019s Record-Shattering Diving Success"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Matt Liebowitz<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Gabby<\/a>
Gabriella Mercier ’17 and teammate Natalie Aquadro ’17<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gabby\u00a0Mercier made an indelible mark on Williston\u2019s diving program this year. She broke the school record for the six-dive and the 11-dive events; she broke the pool record for the 11-dive event; she broke her own NEPSAC Division II 11-dive record; and she set the 11-dive New England Open record, landing the highest score of all time in NEPSAC history.<\/p>\n

If the stats seem overwhelming, how about a more succinct encapsulation of Gabby\u2019s four years of outstanding accomplishments from Williston\u2019s Athletic Director, Mark Conroy: \u201cShe\u2019s arguably the greatest diver in the school\u2019s history.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sentiment is shared by head swimming and diving coach David Koritkoski. \u201cGabriella should be credited with helping to revitalize our diving program,” he said. “She is one of the primary reasons our program is so healthy, and her impact will be felt by Williston swimmers and divers for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Come fall, Gabby will join the diving team at Williams College, where she\u2019ll hit the board under the direction of Coach Kit Koch. Her mother, Lynn, who also serves as Gabby\u2019s diving coach at Williston, will be relatively nearby, in Granby, Mass., where Gabby, for a few more months at least, still lives. She\u2019ll also be close to her club team, Springfield Area Diving, and coach Pete Avdoulos, as well as Thompsons Gymnastic Center in South Hadley, where she\u2019s coached the past two summers.<\/p>\n

Everything is lining up as it should for the accomplished and responsible 18-year-old senior. It wasn\u2019t so long ago, though, that things took a nasty turn, one that threatened to derail all the current success she\u2019s found.<\/p>\n

Two years ago, a fluke, \u201cone-in-a-million accident\u201d as she called it, stalled Gabby\u2019s diving career. Instead of taking on new challenges or perfecting her existing roster of dives, she instead fought through surgery and months of physical therapy. It was a grueling period; the inactivity went against everything Gabby knew as a competitive athlete.<\/p>\n

The injury came on Valentine\u2019s Day, 2015. A sophomore at the time, Gabby was competing at home against Suffield Academy when, in the middle of the reverse one-and-a-half, she mistook the sun coming through the glass for the ceiling. Because so much of diving is noticing and counting rotations in relation to the ceiling or the pool, the illusion threw off her spatial awareness; she came out of the dive too early and shattered her left middle finger on the board.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was bone mush,\u201d Gabby said, pointing to a protrusion in her knuckle where the bone, or what\u2019s left of it, is held together by a pin and rod.<\/p>\n

Gabby had done the dive multiple times. She\u2019d practiced it, perfected it. The devastating injury was as much mental as physical.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a strange betrayal,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019d done everything the same way I\u2019d always done it. You trust your spot, you trust your body, and then, \u2018bam.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the injury, she admitted, was \u201cincredibly tough to overcome,\u201d Gabby looks back on the traumatic event with the confidence of one who\u2019s confronted an obstacle, stared it in the face, and risen above it.<\/p>\n

\u201cKnowing that it could happen again and end my career is tough to think about,\u201d she said. \u201cBut when I think of it now, I know I\u2019m going to be okay because I\u2019ve worked past it. Back then it was, \u2018What if, what if, what if?\u2019 Overcoming the \u2018what if\u2019 proves that I can do [the dive] anytime I want.\u201d<\/p>\n

A deeper look at Gabby\u2019s life outside the pool shows that Gabby is, in fact, a born fighter.<\/p>\n

Until recently, Gabby\u2019s severe peanut allergy was an ever-present fear. Sitting near someone eating peanuts, or touching a doorknob used by \u201csomeone who may have just had a peanut butter and jelly in the dining hall\u201d could induce an intense, life-threatening allergic reaction, she said.<\/p>\n

For the past three years, Gabby has been on an immunotherapy program at the New England Food Allergy Treatment Center in West Hartford, Conn. The treatments, and the experience of living with such a severe allergy, have infused Gabby\u2019s life with a purpose beyond the pool. In fact, she plans to enter a pre-med program at Williams with the goal of working to address the issue she\u2019s suffered from her whole life.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs someone who\u2019s experienced [a life-threatening allergy], I know the fear,\u201d she said. \u201cI know how safe you have to be. If I can help other people because of my experience, I want to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The allergy, Gabby said, \u201cMade me who I am. I\u2019m committed to finding a goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond the records, the trophies, and the recognition, all of which she more than deserves, Gabby\u2019s true championship spirit lies in her tenacious and optimistic confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s something I want,\u201d Gabby said, \u201cI can overcome anything to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

And she already has: the reverse one-and-a-half dive is back in her routine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Matt Liebowitz Gabby\u00a0Mercier made an indelible mark on Williston\u2019s diving program this year. She broke the school record for the six-dive and the 11-dive events; she broke the pool record for the 11-dive event; she broke her own NEPSAC Division II 11-dive record; and she set the 11-dive New England Open record, landing the … Continue reading Fight and Flight: Mercier\u2019s Record-Shattering Diving Success<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-athletics-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3305"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3305"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3312,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3305\/revisions\/3312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}