In February in front of her home crowd, senior Taryn Ignacio became just the second diver in SEC history to three-peat in the platform event on her way to being named the SEC Diver of the Year for the third consecutive season. In addition to her win on platform, she captured first on the one-meter board for the second time in three years. With five SEC titles, Ignacio became the school?s all-time leader in SEC crowns. At the 2006 NCAA Championships she became the school?s first ever national champion.
Five-time SEC Champion: Taryn Ignacio
Taryn Ignacio is simply the best.
The senior from Richmond, Ky., returned to her roots as a sophomore after spending a year at Florida State. When she reunited with diving coach Mike Lyden the duo became the standard of excellence in the Southeastern Conference. In February, after Ignacio captured her third title on the tower the two were named SEC Coach and Diver of the Year for the third consecutive season.
?I knew I would become a better diver, because Mike started me diving,? recalled Ignacio of her return to Kentucky. ?He knows how to push my buttons and get me going if I am in a slump. I knew Mike could take me as far as I could go.?
Lyden began coaching Ignacio when she was just a 12-year-old on the local age group level. Under his tutelage Ignacio became a good enough diver to be recruited by top-tier programs, but she never won an event at any big-time meets.
That all changed in 2005. As a sophomore, Ignacio captured her first ever gold medals when she won both the one-meter and platform events.
?I never expected to win,? said Ignacio. ?I didn?t expect anything; I just knew I would become a better diver (with Lyden as her coach).?
As a sophomore, Ignacio became the first Wildcat diver to win multiple conference titles in a single meet and was the first member of the Kentucky swimming and diving program to win more than one conference title at an SEC meet since former All-American and U.S. Olympian Rachel Komisarz captured the 500 and 1650-freestyle events at the 1999 SEC Championships. In just her first year at Kentucky, Ignacio became the first UK women?s diver to own two conference titles.
After capturing her first-ever titles Ignacio was poised for new heights as a junior. Training in the fall began just like any other year, but in November Lyden was diagnosed with cancer.
Despite their coach not being able to attend every practice, the Kentucky women divers proceeded to make history again at the 2006 SEC Championships.
Ignacio became UK?s only lady diver to successfully defend her diving title at the SEC Championships. To win the 2006 platform title, Ignacio had to fend off her own teammates in senior Jessica Thompson and junior Joey Brown who finished second and third respectively.
She continued to make UK history when she became the school?s first-ever National Champion in the platform diving event. Ignacio came in fourth after the preliminary round with a score of 291.30 and came back in the finals to score 335.20, an NCAA and school record, to finish first at the NCAA Championships.
After having already achieved more than she ever thought imaginable, Ignacio returned to the boards as a senior with the Bluegrass state watching and waiting to see what she could achieve next.
?I guess you would say that your goals change a little bit,? she explained. ?You would obviously want to dive a little bit better than the year before. The main goal for me is just staying focused on one dive at a time and to try to beat your own scores. I?ve always believed that if you are in a competition it?s not about beating this person or that person, or getting higher scores than this person or that person.
You may try to hard or you may be too relaxed. You?re not focused on what you?re doing; you are focused on everybody else. As long as you try to beat yourself or your own scores in your previous meet then you can never be disappointed.?
With expectations mounting, Ignacio did not disappoint. In front of her home crowd at the Lancaster Aquatic Center on the first night of the SEC Championships she finally medaled on the three-meter board.
?Nobody expects me to do well on three-meter because it?s my weakest board,? she said. ?So, that gave me a lot of confidence.?
The next night she reclaimed her crown on the one-meter board and then three-peated a night later on platform.
?Winning all of them was special,? she said of her five SEC crowns. ?Sophomore year it was special because I had just come back to Mike, and they were my first two wins at a big championship. Last year was special on tower, because of Mike?s illness and what the whole team had to go through and then of course this year because Mike is still going strong, and because it was my senior year at home.?
On Thursday night, Ignacio will return to the NCAA Championships. She placed eighth on the one-meter springboard at last year?s event and that will be the first diving event at this year?s Championships at the University of Minnesota. Three-meter will follow on Friday night, and the quest to win a back-to-back national championship on the platform will take place on the final night of competition.
?At the NCAAs I want to final on all three boards,? said a hopeful Ignacio. ?I just want to relax and dive and not get too stressed or nervous. I want to do better than finish eighth on one-meter, and of course final and win tower again.?
With Lyden and Ignacio combining one last time it is sure to be an emotional yet, memorable three days.
?If I had to thank Mike I would thank him for taking me back, because he didn?t have to,? Ignacio said. ?He?s a great coach, I mean he?s taken me this far. My goals up until now were obviously to win nationals, and he took me that far. I don?t think any other coach could have done that.?
GETTING TO KNOW IGNACIO…
Your favorite place to shop?
It?s probably Victoria?s Secret or any place with shoes. I have an obsession with shoes? tennis shoes, high heels anything.
Your favorite movie?
The Departed, I just watched it and it?s really good.
TV show you can not miss?
The Price is Right or Cops ? I know it?s so random! I watch Cops everyday, but the Price is Right I don?t get to finish because I have class.
The person you most look up to?
My mom
The best thing about being a Kentucky Wildcat?
Having a great team and the coaches to support you, and for me just being at home so I have my family with me too.
If you had one word to describe Coach Mike Lyden it would be?
Intense
What you want to do when your diving career is over?
I?m going to finish school. Right now I?m going to look at doing pharmaceutical sales and see how that goes.
