Hampton grad White takes steps forward for Duquesne diving

Her freshman year, it didn’t take Adrienne White long to get acclimated to college diving. Now, the two-time Atlantic 10 rookie of the week is not only focused on her own improvement, but on helping her teammates as well.

White finished 10th in the conference championships in the 1-meter diving event and followed up with a ninth-place finish in the 3-meter event two days later.

Both events featured more than 30 competitors, and the sophomore was able to earn points for the team, helping the Dukes to a third-place overall finish for the weekend.

“I think, overall, being able to come back from prelims that might not have gone so well and hit each dive, I was just better with that this year,” said White, who was a four-time state qualifier at Hampton. “Staying healthy throughout the season helped a lot.”

White credits personal training, eating healthy and doing everything correctly with technique and core strengthening for helping push her career forward in her second season.

The diving team is in its third year back after an extended period of inactivity. Adding to the challenge of transitioning to a new atmosphere, the group needed to reacclimate itself with the rest of the team. But that hasn’t been an issue, according to White.

“We have come together as a family,” she said. “Starting off my first year it was the big focus. To make it one team, one family. The program has done a good job with that.”

She also credited her diving coach, Charlie Hauser, whom she had a relationship with before she was recruited to Duquesne.

“I knew his coaching strategy and I knew we’d mesh well together,” she said.

White has been meshing well with her fellow divers as well, and as one of the older divers on the team, tries to serve as a mentor. Freshman Sidney O’Donnell has become a star, medaling at the A-10 championships and setting school records in the Western Pennsylvania Invitational at Pitt.

“I think it’s exciting to see Sidney come in and set the record,” said White, a nursing major. “It makes all of us want to do our best, and we’re cheering her every step of the way.”

The sophomores and freshmen live together in the same towers, giving divers like White a chance to provide mentorship to the freshmen, even if she isn’t technically an upperclassman yet.

“The seniors take team leadership, but with the sophomores and freshmen, we try to help guide them and teach them how the program works,” White said. “I’ve developed a bond with Sidney. We’re the same major, so I help her in and out of the pool the best I can.”