Diving is in Jeff Cragg's blood.
"I've been doing flips off the diving board before I could swim," the freshman said, laughing. "My dad would throw me off."
Cragg has been competing since he was five, but his diving roots trace back to before his birth. His father and personal coach, Robert, participated in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, and at the ripe age of 42 years and 299 days, was the United States' oldest diver. He finished fifth in the springboard event.
But it was his father's connections outside of the pool that ultimately led Cragg to swim for the Red and Blue.
Robert Cragg received his degree from Penn in 1975, and his friendship with swimming coach Mike Schnur allowed the program to keep an eye on his son throughout high school.
A Philadelphia-area resident, Cragg was recruited from Germantown Academy, a swimming powerhouse known for manufacturing junior Olympians.
And Cragg has done his alma mater proud.
"He has a no-holds-barred attitude towards meets and practice," Penn diving coach Robert Derr said. "Its a little bit harder on the freshmen because they're new and nobody knows them or what they are capable of.I think he feels that he needs to prove himself, and he is."
Against Columbia, Cragg won both the one-meter and three-meter events, and at Princeton, he finished first in the one-meter and second in the three-meter.
"Maybe just based on experience, I have a leg up on a lot of people in the league," Cragg said. "I just work hard at it."
Despite his ample success, collegiate diving has been an adjustment for Cragg, thanks in no small part to his relationship with the officials.
"In high school I knew all the judges - basically I was friends with all of them," Cragg said. "So they were much more generous about the scoring and I would get a lot higher scores more easily."
The tough officiating isn't stopping him from taking risks on the board, though. Cragg's usual dives are 3.5 flips on the three meter and 2.5 on the one meter.
"Lots of twists and stuff too," he added with a smile.
After all these years, Cragg's preparation for each dive is exactly the same.
"Stretch. Mentally I just try to calm myself down," he said. "If I over-think the dive it usually turns out badly."
It's worked since before Cragg was in kindergarten. And if his lineage is any indicator, it could work for a couple more decades, too.
