Justin Sodokoff: How His Best Season to Date Suddenly Came to an End

This season was undoubtedly the most memorable of my career. I entered the championship stretch with peak confidence after breaking all four Dartmouth diving records and performing with a consistency that I have never experienced in my 15 years with the sport. I felt unstoppable.

Since the end of last year, I had one goal in mind: to finish what I started. At the 2019 Ivy League Championship, I placed third on the 3-meter board. Although I was happy to place in the top three, I was not at all satisfied, and neither was my coach. I remember my coach, Chris Hamilton, coming up to me afterwards and telling me, "We've only got one option now: next year, let's take what's ours and win." Ever since that moment, it became my mission to win the 2020 Ivy League Championship.

Entering this year's Ivies, I was ranked first on both boards, and completing the goal that I worked for tirelessly was right on the horizon. All I had to do was go out there and do what I had done all year long, which was perform with consistency. Unfortunately, that's not how the cookie crumbled. In the preliminary rounds, I under-performed on both boards, barely squeezing into finals. And in finals, I failed to take advantage of the opportunity on either board. After finishing up fourth on 1-meter and seventh on 3-meter, I was distraught. I felt like all of my hard work and determination had resulted in nothing. I was hurting; not only did I know that I let myself down, but the most painful part was feeling that I let my coaches and the rest of my team down as well. (Kudos to my long-time friend, Christian Devol, Yale '21, for doing what I couldn't - winning both boards).

Coming back to campus, I felt defeated. Combining the bitter taste that Ivies left in my mouth with a daunting finals period looming left me with absolutely no drive to get back in the pool and keep training. Knowing that I was not in a good headspace, Coach Hamilton gave me nearly the entire week off leading up to my first NCAA qualifier. On the outside looking in, this might not have seemed like the best idea; however, this space gave me an opportunity to take a step back, get ahead of some school work, and regroup mentally.

Going to NCAA Zones for the first time, I did not know what to expect. However, I knew that I had trained all year for this meet, and I was determined to leave disappointment behind me and make my season-long efforts count. I was going to give this everything I had. But the first day was another agonizing letdown: I finished sixth on 3-meter, missing the championship cut by just five points. Sick of the heart-breaking finishes and knowing how close I came to sending my coach and me to our first NCAA Championship, I shifted into another gear. I entered the 1-meter event with the mentality to attack every dive like it was the last of my career. It worked. I ended up finishing second after putting 12 dives together, and in doing so, punched my ticket to the national championship. I could not have been happier, and quite frankly, I was in shock. I immediately hugged my coach and told him, "We really did it, Chris." It was surreal to realize that this moment was the culmination of not only three years of diligent work at Dartmouth, but the countless hours spent in the pool over the last 15 years. Qualifying for the national championship was, undoubtedly, the pinnacle of my diving career thus far. While I was happy for my own sake, more than anything, I could not have been more honored to send Chris, a man who has given everything to this program and truly bleeds Green, to the first NCAA Championship of his career. To put a cherry on top of this unforgettable season, I was named CSCAA All-American, an honor for which I am very grateful.

At least, I thought I was sending us to our first NCAA Championship. Within a week of returning home, the NCAA released a statement canceling all future events due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Chris and I could not believe it. After all we went through this season, it felt like everything was taken away from us in the blink of an eye. As the pandemic has progressed, we have seen even further how rapidly anything can change in just a moment, but this hindsight couldn't have eased the rollercoaster of emotions that ensued just days after reaching the peak of my career. I went from soaring to plummeting. However, the final taste that was left in my mouth was just like any other situation where I have something left to prove: determined.

I will be back, and better than ever. Mark my words.

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