Back to the Future

North Central diver Ellis Walters had never heard of the sport of diving when she decided to watch the Indianapolis Starz diving club work out almost a decade ago. Walters, an 8-year-old gymnast at the time, was at the Indiana University Natatorium at IUPUI with a friend when she saw her friend's sister twist and spin through the air. Walters' immediate reaction? "Oh my gosh, I want to try that!" The friend's sister was Sara Gonso, a decorated former North Central diver who would go on to win the state title as a senior in 2001. Walters had found her new sport. "It was really intriguing watching Gonso dive," Walters said. "I looked up to her and it made me want to be a better diver than her." Walters got her career off to a strong start, becoming the first person to earn a perfect score on the Rising Starz skills test. Soon, Walters and Gonso were teammates with the Starz, bonding despite an eight-year age difference. "She was always really positive; I'd be crying because I couldn't do something, and she'd be supportive," Walters, now 17, said of her early years in the sport. "She really helped me get through the hard times." The diving buddies enjoyed three years together with the Starz before Gonso, 25, left to dive with Miami (Ohio) University. The duo would find success apart, both placing high at national diving meets. Gonso finished second on the 3-meter and fourth on the 1-meter at the 2001 USA Diving Spring East Championhips, while Walters earned second place as a synchronized diver at the 2005 U.S. National Senior Diving Championships. Although they fell out of touch, the old friends would be reunited soon after Gonso's graduation. Imagine Walters' surprise when she learned her high school coach would be her former Starz mentor. "Well, our bond had kind of drifted when she went off to college, so at first it was, 'Oh, she'll be just be another coach'," Walters said. "But then she kept bringing back memories - 'Remember when we did that?' - so our bond came back." "It is a little strange (being her coach)," said Gonso. "We have pictures of her and me (as teammates) from diving meets across the country, so it's a little funny coaching her." Still, Gonso knew how to deal with her star diver - as a friend. So she kept it that way. "Ellis is a very talented high school diver, so the kind of role I take with her is by being a friend and getting her through the meets," Gonso said. "She probably knows just as much as me about diving, if not more." The duo keeps to a routine at each competition: Walters will warm up and focus on her next dive before walking over to her coach about 10 divers before her turn to compete. And if she's anxious about her next dive, Gonso will be ready with her reading material. "When I get nervous, she brings People magazine and the gossip magazines to keep my mind off diving," Walters said. "She'll tell me, 'This is what you have to do' and then tell a joke if she sees I'm nervous." Their method seems to be working. Like Gonso, Walters took second at state as a freshman two years ago and is a two-time All-Marion County, All-Conference and All-American selection. Last year, despite fracturing her foot, she finished eighth at the state meet and this month she'll be gunning for the top spot back at the natatorium where she was first introduced to the sport. North Central's third-year coach says Walters reminds her of her younger days. "It's kind of eerie, actually," Gonso said. "We have the same dives, are very similar divers and we have a lot of the same personality." But Gonso wouldn't mind if her star pupil didn't follow in one of her footsteps. The former NC star holds the school's dual and meet pool records and is doing her best, in a good-natured way, to keep her old pal from breaking them. "I'm trying to hold out for her (to break the records) her senior year," said Gonso, who was a senior when she set the marks. "But I would be happy for her - at least it would be me coaching the person who broke my records." "If I'm having a good meet, she'll tell me, 'I'm going to score you low so you won't break my record'," Walters said with a laugh. "It's a very high goal - I've been close. This year, I don't know (if I'll get the records), but hopefully next year." Walters likes her chances at the state meet as well, and beyond that. She's received interest from the likes of Indiana, Arizona, Arizona State, UCLA and Cal, and still keeps an eye on the Olympics. "My boyfriend, David Boudia, trains at the (USA Diving's) National Training Center, and he and his diving partner, Thomas Finchum, definitely encourage me so much," she said. "That would be amazing (to make an Olympic team), but it's not that much of a goal right now. I want to see where college takes me and go from there."