The divers of the Albert Lea girls’ swimming and diving team may not get the same amount attention as the swimmers, but the group is certainly making an impact this season for the Tigers.

The group which consists of freshmen Molly Tuohy and Karli Kriewall, and senior Katie Walechka have seen a drastic improvement in their scores this season. That improvement has much to do with volunteer diving coach Jill Johnson returning to the team after a two-year layoff.

“I think we’ve needed Jill for a long time,” said Albert Lea head coach Jon Schmitz. “Jill’s got great experience with us and she can bring them to the top. She can do those finer points that really make a big difference in score.”

Johnson, an Albert Lea grad, used to hold the school record and went to the state meet twice in her high school career. After being away from the divers for two years as she battled cancer, Johnson got the itch to coach again toward the end of last season.

Having Kriewall on the team helped Johnson find her way back to coaching as well. Kriewall’s parents and Johnson are close friends. Johnson used to babysit Kriewall and Kriewall was the flower girl in Johnson’s wedding.

Together the two have worked well and Kriewall is having her best season. Kriewall, a gymnast for 13 years, has found the transition from gymnastics to diving smooth. She opened this season by winning the diving competition in the first four conference meets and has been near breaking a school record for much of the season. Kriewall ranks fifth all-time in diving already and has hovered near the 200-point mark for much of the season.

“We worked a little bit together this summer and … it was fun to see the improvement from last year,” Johnson said. “I knew that this year could be a good year for her.”

Kriewall is not the only benefiting on the team. Tuohy and Walechka have seen their scores jump significantly this season as well.

“They’ve all achieved new personal bests this season,” Johnson said. “Katie’s jumped 20 points, Molly’s jumped 20 points and Karli has jumped 30 points this year.”

Walechka has certainly enjoyed having Johnson back this season. In the past Walechka has had to be like her own coach and was the only diver on the team as an eighth-grader.

“It’s really nice having her back because there’s a lot more things that I can learn,” Walechka said.

The Tigers host the Big Nine Conference meet next Saturday and it will be an opportunity for the divers to show the rest of the conference how far they’ve come this season.