Every year, high school divers compete to get to one place, the state meet at Bucknell University. One diver in particular who will be attending that meet for the second year, will be Big Spring sophomore Shannon McCabe.

McCabe has been diving since she was about 4 years old. “When I was around 4 years old, I went to swimming lessons, and after practice I would always jump off the diving boards.” This got her interested in pursuing diving. Then when she decided she wanted to dive, the diving coach asked her to show him her best dive. “ I threw a front dive which got me put on the team, and I’ve been diving ever since.”

McCabe joined gymnastics at relatively the same time as she began to dive, but McCabe said, “It really didn’t help much with diving since it’s completely different form.” McCabe reacted to going to states again by saying it is “Great because I wants to improve from my freshman year at states and wants to better my scores from last year.” Last year, she was ranked 21st in the state. Ranking 21st in the state isn’t bad, but she knows this year she can rank higher.

When McCabe was at states she didn’t just dive, but insists the food is the best part. She said she enjoyed you food so much, “You can make your own waffles for breakfast.” So we know before her big meet at Bucknell this year, Shannon will be eating her waffles at the food court. After she has had her breakfast she goes out to the pool to get herself ready to dive. Stretching physically is not the only preparation she does.  “I mentally go through the dive on the floor.” 

During her last diving meet of the season this year she broke the diving record which was a big accomplishment for her. She said, “It was really relieving because it has been a goal of mine to finally get my name on the board.” McCabe was very excited when it was announced that she broke the record for diving because she has always been dedicated to diving.

When it comes to college McCabe knows exactly what she wants for herself. With a career in anesthesiology planned, she would put it on hold for a D1 college scholarship for diving, even if it meant putting her medical schooling on hold.  She said “I would take medical classes as I finish diving season at college.” She is hoping to attend either a D1 school like Florida University which offers both a great medical program as well as an exceptional diving team. She is also looking at Clarion College which is a D2 school for the same reasons. Big Spring can expect great things from young athlete Shannon McCabe in the future.