Sidelined two meets by injury sustained warming up for meet at Munster on Tuesday, CHS junior diver Luke Hawkins plans to compete Saturday in 11-dive competition at Hobart

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Reigning DAC diving champion Luke Hawkins, a junior at Chesterton, plans to return to competition Saturday after missing the last two events with an injury sustained Tuesday at Munster High.
“I warmed up like usual, but then I went to back dive and I kind of pushed my hips forward, which made me stay in the same spot,” Hawkins said during Thursday night’s swim and dive meet vs. visiting LaPorte. “So when I came down my heel, or my Achiles tendon, hit the board and it cut open a little bit, but it’s getting a little bit better than it was.”
Hawkins has a small horizontal cut outside the Achilles tendon.
“I feel it a little bit right now,” he said. “When I move my ankle up and down it hurts a little bit.”
LaPorte didn’t have any divers competing, so it was a good meet for Hawkins to miss. Athletes take six dives during meets in the regular season, 11 in the postseason. The 11-dive competition Saturday at Hobart “gives you the feel of what DAC or sectionals is going to be like. A lot of the divers who are going to be there are going to be in those two competitions.”
Hawkins is ahead of where he was at this time last year before his breakthrough day at the DAC meet. He said his best six-dive score last season was 203 and 241 this season.
He said he did not plan on testing the injury with any dives Friday.
“I’ll probably just save everything for Saturday,” he said.
Hawkins placed fourth at the diving regional last season to advance to the state meet, where he finished 21st.
“It kind of gives you the feel of what DAC or sectionals is going to be like. A lot of the diversdivers who are there are going to be in those two competitions.