Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 11 No. 3 | January 2019

She immediately fell in love with it, mostly because it just came so naturally to her. “They [her instructors] put me in a belt and said, ‘Can you do a double?’” Peters said. “And I said, ‘Sure.’ So I did a double, and then they asked, ‘Can you do a triple?’ I was like, ‘Sure.’ A lot of things they asked me to do, I could do it pretty quickly. I had to figure out the timing of the board. That was probably the hardest part, but I was able to flip and twist and have the body awareness of where I was in the air, which is hard to learn for diving.” Peters became quite good at diving, mainly because of her ability to contort her body into unthinkable positions for a normal human being. She also loved diving because the sport challenged her. After all, it takes some gumption to walk up the steps to the top of the platform, stand 33 feet above the water, jump and perform an array of flips and twists before landing perfectly straight, head first, into the water. Once, she nicked her feet on the board, and it nearly freaked her out. Divers occasionally hit the board. Greg Louganis, arguably the greatest diver of all time, gave himself a concussion when he hit his head during a warmup dive at the 1988 Seoul Olympics—and 30 minutes later, with five stitches in his head, came back to win a gold medal. Peters, of course, came back, thus exhibiting the unique relationship between a diver and the sport—terrified, but loving it. It’s paradoxical in a sense. “People will say, ‘Oh, the tower, when you go off, it’s so terrifying,’” Peters said. “I’m like, ‘Yeah, it scares me every single time.’” But she still does it. “Yeah, I guess I’m a little bit of a thrill seeker,” she said. That, in short, makes her a great diver and made her one of the nation’s top recruits four years ago. Sick of Houston’s humidity, mosquitoes and flat topography, she sought to attend a college well away from home. So she visited schools all over the country, putting together a recruiting itinerary that would test the skills of even the most veteran of travel agents. She went to Stanford, Notre Dame, Auburn, and of course, came to Blacksburg. Typical of Blacksburg weather, it rained during her visit, but what she saw mesmerized her. “I came on an off weekend [for the football team], but I literally walked on campus, and you could see the mountains,” she said. “To me, that was incredible because I had probably seen mountains twice in my life. I also came Oct. 10, so the leaves had just started to change, and that was my first time seeing leaves change color. I was just amazed.” Other factors swayed her as well. Tech’s swimmers and divers support each other unequivocally despite the individualized nature of the sport, and she liked Piemonte, one of the nation’s best coaches, and the way he connects with his divers. He has perfected the mix for providing the appropriate amount of coaching, while also giving just the right amount of space. That philosophy certainly has worked with Peters, who today ranks as one of the ACC’s top divers. A year ago at the ACC Championships, she not only made the finals in all three events, but also finished in the top five, coming in third on the platform and fifth on both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events. She wants to get into the finals of each event again when the league holds its annual meet in mid-February. But she hates looking ahead. In fact, she never even looks at the scoreboard during an event. “I do the best when I take it dive by dive,” she explained. “If I go about it with the mindset of doing each dive well because I’ve done it well so many times in practice and I know that’s what I can do … that’s how I want to compete rather than, ‘I want to beat this person and this person and this person.’” GETTING TO KNOW … ASHLYNN PETERS Q: What is your dream vacation? AP: Definitely backpacking around Europe. Hopefully, I’ll get to do that. There are places everywhere. I want to go see Paris and Amsterdam and London and Switzerland, and I really want to go see Croatia because I’ve seen pictures of it, and it’s absolutely beautiful. I’d also love to see the castles and all of that, too. Q: Where is your favorite place to eat? AP: I love Our Daily Bread [in Blacksburg]. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, and I think they have the best breakfast. And best coffee. I drink way too much coffee. Q: Who is your celebrity crush? AP: Chris Evans [American actor]. I think he’s the most beautiful man. I follow him on Twitter, and he’s the actor who responds to anyone. I just think he’s an amazing person as well. He’s definitely my celebrity crush. Q: What is your favorite social media platform? AP: I would say Twitter. I think it’s really entertaining and funny. You’ll have videos that come across your timeline that are pretty hilarious. Q: What has been your favorite thing about being a Virginia Tech student-athlete? AP: I would say probably the interactions I get to have with the people who work here and are our support system. Everyone loves Virginia Tech so much, and the people who love Virginia Tech generally have those great personalities. I think being surrounded by people who want to make you better is a really cool environment to be around every day. It’s really inspiring. I’ve developed my character as a person and grown a lot from my freshman year to now. inside.hokiesports.com 37 swimming & diving spotlight ashlynn peters Continued on page 38