Maegan Jensen’s  (12) 11-year old gymnast career was unexpectedly torn apart by a foot surgery her freshman year. After suffering several injuries, including tendonitis in both knees, she knew she finally had no choice but to say goodbye to the sport she loved the most. 

“I knew I had made the right choice but it was tough,” Jensen said. “I was losing a part of myself, and I was doing that willingly, so I felt conflicted and anxious a lot during the months before my last practice.” 

But that didn’t stop Jensen from throwing away her athletic career altogether. Instead, she decided to dive because of how similar it was to gymnastics. 

Fortunately for Jensen, she was able to easily adjust to the new sport. Jensen knew the moment she won her first high school meet as a freshman that she wanted to continue diving. 

“[Winning the meet] gave me the confidence that I could make this new sport into what gymnastics had been to me for so long,” Jensen said. “What I loved the most was the challenge of starting over with a new sport and working hard to excel at it by getting a lot of new skills.” 

 From that point on, Jensen was able to quickly improve her skills, leading her to break seven school records and place three times at CIFs. 

Her diving career was going well until she suffered three ear infections in a row during the middle of her junior year, the most pivotal season for a high-school athlete who wants to continue competing in college. 

According to Jensen, the first ear infection went away after a week. But as time went on, the ear infections only got worse, forcing her to skip practice and even miss school. 

“I wasn’t allowed to practice for a week straight, which was the week before CIFs,” Jensen said. “Trying to dive [with ear infections] was painful and every time I hit the water there was a lot of pressure.” 

Jensen had only gone to one practice before CIFs last year. What she viewed as what could’ve been possibly the worst meet of her career turned out to be the exact opposite. 

Jensen ended up beating her personal best, broke another school record, and placed third at CIFs. But most importantly, Jensen felt as if her hard work had finally paid off. 

“It was an emotional win for me because it gave me the confidence to truly be able to see myself as a collegiate athlete,” Jensen said. 

That same week Jensen committed to Northern Arizona University, where she will be competing as a Division 1 diver for the next four years. 

“I will have other experienced teammates to look up to and help me out,” Jensen said. “I’m sure that collegiate diving will have many new and different challenges for me to face.”