By Maddy Vitale
For some, being tall has its advantages. But there was a time when Isabella Wamsher, an Ocean City High School senior and diver on the school team, didn’t think so.
She began her athletic career as a gymnast at age 5. Her love of tumbling grew, but so did she.
After about eight years, she came to a conclusion.
“I realized the gymnast thing may not be for me. Not many gymnasts are 5 feet, 9 inches tall,” Isabella, 17, of Absecon, said with a laugh Monday afternoon.
But she didn’t give up, she just changed her sport. Her friends brought her into the world of tumbling. She joined All Star One Cheerleading in Egg Harbor Township and excelled in competitions.
When Isabella entered high school, a friend of hers who dove told her she should give it a try.
And the rest — along with breaking records — truly is history.
This season, Isabella was ninth in the state in diving. She was Cape-Atlantic League (CAL) First Team All-Star and finished in first place in the CAL championships.
She and her fellow OCHS athletes were recognized during the winter athletes ceremony at an Ocean City school board meeting March 20.
It was at the meeting that one of her mentors, diving coach Kate Musick, described Isabella as one of the best athletes she had seen in her coaching career.
“She has the ‘it’ factor. She could propel herself into the air and enter the water at just the right angle so that she doesn’t create a splash,” Musick said. “She has broken school records. She is super smart, hard-working and has a great character. She has proven herself.”
Musick also noted that Isabella’s parents, Rachel and Frank Wamsher, and Isabella’s younger brother, Frankie, have been a great support system, enabling her to attain her goals.
Isabella said diving isn’t as easy as it may look, when she catapults herself into the air, rolls, twists and dives.
Diving, she pointed out, takes courage.
“You have to be fearless to dive. I literally had to take everything out of my brain when I started diving for a second to walk onto the board,” she said.
Her specialty, she said, are reverse dives and twists.
She credited her fellow divers for helping her along the way.
Isabella is not just a top diver at her high school, but also an exceptional student with a G.P.A. of a 4.48. At the March 20 school board meeting, she received the Scholar-Athlete Award, along with Jack Bell, a swimmer.
She plans on attending the University of Hawaii in August to major in meteorology after she graduates from OCHS.
The Division 1 school has diving. Isabella said diving may be an option in college. Meteorology, like diving, is a passion of hers.
“In my freshman year we were looking up colleges that had diving and meteorology. I found the University of Hawaii. Ever since I was little, I would watch storm chasers with my mom,” Isabella said. “My aunt’s house was wrecked by Sandy. I thought if I could help other people with meteorology, that is what I want to do. I took an online class and fell in love with it.”
Rachel Wamsher said she and her husband raise their children with one mantra. “We always told them if they found a passion, something they really enjoyed, we would never hinder that,” she said.
That means support financially and emotionally. The family goes to every one of Isabella’s meets.
“She works hard at her grades, too. She has always been self-driven. If she has a goal, she will do everything she can to get there,” Rachel Wamsher said.
Isabella said she is grateful to her family for their never-ending support, which included sometimes leaving their Absecon house at 6:15 a.m. and driving her to Ocean City for practice and meets.
Isabella’s rise to being one of the best divers in OCHS history came by way of a torn ACL, not once but twice, in her right knee.
She joined the diving team in her freshman year in 2015 but continued to do competitive cheerleading. Two tumbling injuries to her knee, one in 2016 and the other in 2017, forced a difficult decision.
In addition to seven months of physical therapy, Isabella made a decision to stop cheerleading.
And with that, her complete focus turned to diving.
“Throughout this journey, freshman and sophomore year, I didn’t think I could get back. I kept pushing and pushing,” Isabella said of the intense physical therapy. “Suddenly, I am breaking records diving. I knew what I had to do — keep diving.”
