Freshman Jason Collazo has already made a big splash.
Collazo is nearing the end of his first year of competition here in Uris Pool but has already made a name for himself as Columbia’s frontrunner in the diving events.
This weekend at the NCAA Diving Zones, in which competitors will be vying for entrance to the NCAA National Championships two weeks later, Collazo will be the Light Blue’s sole representative on the boards.
Back in November, Collazo qualified for Diving Zones when he won the 1-meter diving competition against Harvard with 301.73 points. Since then he has continued to top the charts and lead the diving squad in dual and tournament competition.
This weekend Collazo will be the lone Lion atop the tower and 1- and 3-meter boards as he tries to make it to his first NCAA Championship in as many years on the collegiate circuit.
Though he has already taken the top spot amongst Columbia divers, Collazo is wonderfully modest about his success and potential.
“It’s really exciting because I didn’t think I was going to qualify for this meet at all,” Collazo said. “I don’t know if I’m going to qualify next year, so I’m going to take advantage of it now.”
Diving head coach Gordon Spencer however is more vocal about his student’s talent.
“Jason is a really seasoned diver,” Spencer said. “As far as the whole savvy and the ability to compete, Jason is accomplished at that and he’s going to get even better at it as his confidence grows.”
In terms of dives this weekend, Collazo will take off from the 1-meter, 3-meter, and tower platforms. With the exception of one dive, Collazo’s line-up at Diving Zones should be familiar to all fans who have watched him on the 1- and 3-meter boards this season.
“In the finals of the 3-meter event for the past meet [Ivy League Championships] I changed one of my dives and made it a little bit harder and I’m going to do that in this next meet,” Collazo explained.
The oddball this weekend will be the platform dive, as the event was not on the docket for competition in the regular season. For this reason, and the fact that Uris Pool does not have a tower platform of its own, Collazo has had limited practice since coming to Columbia.
“It’s going to be tough, but hopefully I can do it well.” Collazo said of the event.
Collazo and Spencer have traveled to practice platform about once a month, but Collazo had the opportunity to practice more often in the fall in addition to the great deal of experience he brought with him from high school.
Collazo also got to practice in a well-equipped facility over winter break with the team and has taken plenty of trials off the boards that Uris Pool does have.
“You’re kind of practicing platform diving by doing springboard diving,” coach Spencer explained. “Your takeoff in diving is a big percentage of your dive and so you can practice five of your takeoffs—back, reversed, inward, twister and armspan—out of six takeoffs.”
Collazo will travel to New Brunswick, N.J. this weekend from March 12-14 to face off against fellow divers in hopes of earning a spot at the NCAA National Championships two weeks later. With years of experience under his belt and his eyes wide-open with excitement, Collazo is mentally and physically prepared for his first go at the competition.
As far as coach Spencer is concerned, Collazo is ready to give it his all.
“He’s a pretty mature diver and competitor and I’m just gonna set him loose and see how he does,” Spencer said.
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