So what do you do when you qualify for 2026 NCAA Division II nationals so early, that you have more than four months before they happen?
"It definitely takes a lot of the pressure off," admitted Ashland University junior diver
Riley Hunt, who will compete at what's termed "Black Tuesday" on March 10 in Evansville, Ind. – to potentially qualify for the nationals rounds thereafter the rest of the week. "But it's not going to stop me from my training. I want to get better, but now I can focus on improving each dive. Just getting reps in on all of my dives."
Hunt is used to the nationals stage, having gone both as a freshman and a sophomore, and, in 2025, earning second-team All-American honors by finishing in a tie for 14
th place in women's 3-meter diving.
"It was awesome. I was super-proud of myself," Hunt admitted about 2025 nationals.
"Even though she's gotten her two scores (to qualify), it's always good to continue to try to get the score," said
Morgan Brutcher, AU diving coach. "Because of how the Black Tuesday meet works, you get one shot, and that's it. And you get six turns, and it's game over after that.
"So being able to consistently get a six-dive score really helps make you feel a little bit more confident and comfortable going in to do those six dives."
Hunt also is a two-time Great Midwest Athletic Conference Diver of the Year and Diver of the Meet.
"She's always pushing herself to learn the new dives," Brutcher said. "She's really trying to take in all the corrections that I can give her. It's been fun to push her when we go to those big schools."
There are times when Ashland competes that it is the only team with divers, which creates an interesting dynamic.
"Obviously, I'd rather have competition. It just makes you better," Hunt said. "When I go into a meet, I'm competing against myself, honestly. I want to beat my PRs, I want to get my cuts."
First-year head coach
Sydney Laughlin has a nationals qualifier less than a month into the 2025-26 campaign.
"It's all coach Morgan's doing," Laughlin said. "I'm just really thankful to have her coach the dive team. I think it's really cool to see how excited the team got. It's really cool for the team to all be behind Riley."
During home meets, when swimming takes a break, diving takes center stage – meaning all eyes are on Hunt when she competes.
"It's awesome. That's one thing that I love about this team, is we're all supportive of each other," Hunt said. "When all the swimmers come over, I know they're tired, so to have their support, it means a lot."
In addition to her success on the diving board, Hunt was a 2024-25 College Sports Communicators (CSC) third-team Academic All-America.
"She's definitely been a pretty solid leader on the team," Brutcher said. "Whenever she's had any conflicts with school, she lets me know ahead of time and we work through it, because, at the end of the day, that comes first.
"She's always making sure that she's doing her school work, doing all the practices, she doing all the things that she needs to do, and I can't ask for anything more."
Said Laughlin, "Her leadership is just a natural thing that comes out of her. That is something that spoke volumes to me. And we have her as a captain this year. She enjoys her time on deck, which is something that I want all of our athletes to have."
For the next four-plus months, Hunt will work to get ready for nationals – and possibly another move up the national ladder.
"I want my name on one of those purple signs over there," she said, referring to the list of first-team All-Americans on the wall in Messerly Natatorium.
