Get to know Cristee Cordes, a senior diver for the Michigan State swim & dive team and your Athlete of the Week.

Cordes’ best in the one-meter is 302 and her three-meter best is 362, which she scored at this year’s Big Tens.

Impact Sports reporter Julie Angell sat down on the pool deck with Cordes and learned more about this week’s student-athlete.

What is your favorite in-season memory?

[su_quote]“It was probably this year at Big Tens. I was second place in prelims and I got to move into finals…not very many of Michigan State divers have made it to finals, so it was a big deal. They really pump it up at Big Tens, it’s a little ridiculous, but it’s so fun.”[/su_quote]

What are you usually thinking about right before you step on the board?

[su_quote]“It’s so mental, it’s such a mental sport. Right before, I run through a dive in my head, visualize it, and then I’ll get on the board when they call my name. I kinda hear everyone cheer for me, like, my mom is always like, “Go Cristee!” so loud, and then I just take a deep breath and just go like I’m on autopilot.[/su_quote]

What do you do in your off time?

[su_quote]“Hang out with my friends, relax, I coach too. I coach for the Spartan Diving Club team. I want to coach a little bit when I get older, but other than that I’m planning on going to PA school.”[/su_quote]

How do you celebrate after a really good dive?

[su_quote]“We usually go out to dinner and just hang out, but otherwise I’m always so tired half the time I just try to get some sleep.”[/su_quote]

Favorite dinner spots?

[su_quote]“Pizza House or Spartan Hall of Fame Cafe”[/su_quote]

What is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you?

[su_quote]“Well it was kind of funny – my last dive here that I ever got to practice I literally smacked straight on my stomach. It hurt so bad. When you see someone smack, it’s actually really funny and you just wanna laugh, but you feel bad.”[/su_quote]

If your life was a movie, who would play you?

[su_quote]“Who is the girl that plays Katniss Everdeen? Someone told me she reminds me of them. She’s kind of just an intense person. And in real life she’s so crazy and funny and stupid things happen to her. I feel like I just have those random klutzy moments.”[/su_quote]

If you could do any other sport at MSU, what would it be?

[su_quote]“I would say gymnastics, but I would be too terrible at it. I grew up doing trampoline my whole life, so I know some background of it and I did it in high school, but [laughs] it would kind of be funny.”[/su_quote]

What’s your dream job after graduation?

[su_quote]“I’d be a crazy brain surgeon or something.”[/su_quote]

Photo: msuspartans.com