Palmer High state champion diver earns chance to compete at Division II Colorado Mesa

Ally Hrncir capped her prep career as the top girls diver in the state. Now the Palmer senior diving standout has the opportunity to compete at the next level.

Hrncir, a 2022 Alaska state champion, has signed her National Letter of Intent to dive for Division II Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, Colorado.

“I am very excited,” Hrncir said after she inked her intent surrounded by friends and family during a ceremony in the Palmer High School library.

Hrncir amassed 425.55 total points during the ASAA/First National Banks State Swimming and Diving Championships in early November to earn her first state crown.

“It was my best meet of the year, but I was definitely stressed,” Hrncir said.

Hrncir said she knew there was potential to do it.

“Last year I thought I was going to win too, so I just wanted to push myself to actually win,” she said.

Hrncir was the state runner-up in 2021.

Hrncir also shattered a 22-year-old school record at the state meet.

“Even if I didn’t win state, I wanted to beat that record,” Hrncir said.

Hrncir said she looked for opportunities based on where she could see herself for the next scratch of her life.

“I was choosing colleges based on location first,” she said. “I narrowed it down to Colorado.”

Ultimately Grand Junction and Mesa would be her final choice.

“I liked the coach, the team, the area,” she said.

Hrncir has been diving for the past five years. That followed 12 years of gymnastics.

“I moved on to diving and it worked out well,” she said.

She is also a member of the Palmer High wrestling team

Hrncir was part of a Valley sweep in the diving events at the state meet. Wasilla’s Deshawn Campbell won the boys class. The pair follows an impressive group of Mat-Su state diving champs in recent memory that also includes Wasilla’s Kade Reynolds (2021), Carrie Meyer (2019), Andrew Layman (2019), Jayde Chan (2018), and Brayden Schachle (2014-2016), and Palmer’s Chloe Hartman (2017).

Contact Frontiersman managing editor Jeremiah Bartz at editor@frontiersman.com.