Kelci Bryant, left, and Abby Johnson (US Presswire)
MINNEAPOLIS --The London Olympics has turned out to be everything Kelci Bryant worked for. Everything she dreamed of. Everything she earned Sunday night.
After five dives with her partner Abby Johnston, the duo won silver medals in synchronized diving.
"It's a dream come true and it's amazing. I'm still kind of in shock," said Bryant, a former diver at the University of Minnesota.
The shock rippled across the pond to the U of M campus. Her former swimming and diving teammates looked up results for the event before it aired on TV but still watched nervously, feeling every dive, every emotion.
"She started tearing up. I started tearing up watching her tear up," said Haley Spencer, a Gophers junior and a 2011 NCAA breaststroke champion.
Though Bryant left the U's program last season to pursue her Olympic dreams, she is still a great influence on her teammates. Many of them hope to compete in the Rio Olympics in 2016. Bryant's win is fueling their dreams.
"Seeing her being able to do that coming through this program it gave me a lot of encouragement just knowing that I'm in the right place and getting really excited for the next four years," Ashley Steenvoorden, a recent U grad and five-time Big Ten swimming champ said.
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