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Burns makes a splash at TCNJ

Gerard Hetman Abington Journal Correspondent

As T.J. Burns progressed through his senior season of diving at Abington Heights High School, he began seeking a college that would allow him to combine his aquatic career with a strong academic curriculum. It would be a trip to a clinic at a small school in New Jersey that would set Burns for instant success.

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Above, T.J. Burns, last season, while a swimmer at Abington Heights High School.

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In his first season of collegiate diving at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ), Burns stepped into the limelight as a key performer for the Division 3 Lions of the New Jersey Athletic Conference. The former Comets standout is undefeated to date in all of his conference matches in both the one-meter and three-meter diving events, and played a huge role in the Lions assembling an undefeated record against Division 3 competition.

“Last year I went down to the campus at TCNJ with Kevin Smith, our diving coach at Abington, and really liked the whole atmosphere,” Burns said recently. “It’s a big adjustment from high school to college, but I really like it.”

While diving into a swimming pool may seem an easy exercise to the untrained observer, just a slight difference in height and distance can make for an entirely different playing field. Such is the case for Burns, who excelled at one-meter diving in his high school career, but found the three-meter event to be a bit of a challenge while trying it for the first time in collegiate competition.

“It was a challenge to get used to the three-meter diving because it seemed so much higher up at first,” Burns said of his adjustment to the collegiate level of competition. “Our team also does more in terms of conditioning and other exercises out of the water than I did in high school.”According to Smith, Burns had proven to be a quick study during his high school years at Abington, and the fifth-year diving coach is not surprised with the progress Burns has made after advancing to a new level of competition.

“T.J. improved dramatically during his senior year: he placed 12th at the state championships that year after a great season,” Smith said. “I knew he would need to overcome the fear factor that most divers get when they try the three-meter diving in college, but he has mastered it already from the look of it.”

As his freshman season develops, Burns continues to post impressive results. He was recently named the NJAC Diver of the Week for the week ending December 7, and his Lions team has only lost in meets involving Division 1 competition. In the classroom, Burns has also taken positive steps. At a school noted for excellence in the engineering and science fields, he recently declared as an engineering major after entering as an undeclared student. All in all, he looks forward to more highlights ahead for his team.

“I really like it at TCNJ, and our team is doing great,” Burns said. “We’re ranked 8th in the nation in Division 3, and we hope to continue to improve and move up in the polls as the season goes on.”