All-American Stramandi seeks spot on U.S. national diving team

Danielle Stramandi just smiles — and with the slightest embarrassment — explains some of the awards she has earned so far this year.

There are a lot. A 10-meter platform diver in the Ivy League is a rare thing. But her accomplishments have most certainly not come solely because she is the only diver to compete in that competition at Princeton — quite the contrary, in fact.

The sophomore has overcome all odds to prove her merit at the national level. Even though athletic scholarships for diving were thrown at her by five colleges during her senior year of high school, Stramandi opted to attend Princeton and go for an Ivy League education.

And she's proven that she can juggle the heavy workload while still training and competing against anyone. At NCAAs in Indianapolis on March 18, she placed 13th — the only non-scholarship diver to finish in the top 16.

"I wanted a school where I'd be challenged," Stramandi says. "[The challenge] makes every victory just that much sweeter."

She is in Minnesota this week, preparing to compete in the next big countrywide competition, the Senior Nationals. After winning a senior zone competition in Long Island, N.Y., Stramandi qualified to be one of 150 divers chosen to compete in the event. Winners in each competition will qualify for the Olympic Trials and make the national team, something Stramandi has set her sights on for a long time.

"It has been my dream to make the national team and to make the Trials," she says. "I would just love to be wearing the USA jacket."

Out of the 30 people in the 10-meter platform event, the top 12 will make the Olympic Trials and the top eight will make the national team. Last summer, Stramandi just missed the national team by one spot. While some divers in the competition had been practicing their platform list — the set of nine dives unique to each competitor — for over five years, Stramandi has only had her platform list set for a year and a half.

"I can't believe how far I've come from last year," she says. "I never thought I'd be at the level I'm at right now."

Stramandi sets aside time to practice every morning and afternoon, usually devoting four to five hours a day to training. She also somehow manages to find time for other extracurricular activities. Straman-di has sung the national anthem at basketball games and has performed with dance groups DiSiac and Expressions.

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She would even have had time to do a commercial shoot for Mountain Dew, if such a thing didn't violate NCAA regulations.

"[Mountain Dew] had called Princeton and had wanted me to do a dive off the platform for them for their commercial," Stramandi says. "They were really interested in having me do this, and I was so excited, but I guess it's a big problem with eligibility, even if you don't take money for it."

When not being pursued by soft drink companies, Stramandi also helps coach gymnastics.

"I coach a group of little girls," she says. "I make up their optional floor routine and choreograph them, so it's still a big part of my life."

Gymnastics was what Stramandi first got involved in at the young age of two. After winning seven state titles — being ranked third at nationals — she heard one of her coaches suggest that she might also try diving. A native of Lawrenceville, she began training in Princeton when she was 11, and it started from there. Nearly 10 years later, the Olympics are now a possibility.

"I'm just so excited to keep training," Stramandi says, "and wherever that puts me — the Olympics would be wonderful. I couldn't explain what it would be like.

"I've been competing really well. I've been very consistent. I've been really happy with my performances and my diving right now, so whatever happens, I'm going out there, and I'm going to be relaxed and be into it and show everybody what I can do."