Liberty’s diving team will be led by new head coach Emily Kocis, replacing Jeff Zettlemoyer who recently retired from the Hurricanes.

Kocis is a 2002 Liberty graduate and dove all four years in high school.

“The [coach vacancy] was sent to me, and the more I thought about it, the more I thought it would be fun to do,” Kocis said. “I taught swimming lessons at the Y, and I loved to see when it would click. And with diving being an integral part of my high school career, I thought it would be rewarding to give back.”

Returning for the girls’ diving team are Cara Kuykens, Morgan Edwards, Maya Stoeckley, and Teegan Kunkle.

“Cara is very strong in somersaulting, and twisting, and both combined. Morgan is good with fronts and inward categories. I haven’t seen Maya’s except for her front dives, and she has nice-looking fronts. And Teegan is good with her fronts and inward too,” said Kocis.

Diving for the Hurricane boys will be Patrick Adams, Michael Vargas, CJ Van-Spanje, and possibly two Liberty wrestlers.

“Patrick is good at flipping, and he has a strong tuck,” Kocis said.

Kocis’s strength was inward diving while a student at Liberty, and she competed in the district diving meets at the time.

“I’m looking forward to working with the kids, helping them improve their basic skills to get into bigger dives, and strengthening them to get them jumping higher,” she said.