Ronald's Battle Through Adversity

Redshirt senior Sydney Ronald has had a fantastic career as a member of the Cyclone swimming and diving team. To start, she is a two-time All-Big 12 honoree, also earning Academic All-Big 12 distinction in her junior season. Ronald has also put up Zone-qualifying marks in each of her full seasons, but she competed in just four meets over a two-year span in her time at Iowa State due to injury. After battling through the adversity of two surgeries, Ronald has returned to form with each of her top scores coming in the last two years.

In her freshman campaign, she moved up to seventh in Iowa State history on the three-meter board with a 303.83, the second-highest mark ever scored by a Cyclone freshman. At the 2015 Big 12 Championships, she scored in each diving event, including a high of 12^th-place on the one-meter. After her stellar first year, she worked hard in the offseason to continue to grow as a diver. However, once she returned to Ames, there appeared to be something wrong with her knee.

"I came back and was having some knee problems," Ronald said. "I got an MRI and ended up having a patellar tendon tear. It was devastating."

The injury would require surgery, holding her out of competition and limiting her practice time during her true sophomore season. After going through physical therapy and working with Iowa State's athletic training staff, Ronald regained the muscle lost during the surgery, but something still felt off after the year-long recovery period ended.

"I got most of my dives back, but I was still in a lot of pain," Ronald said. "After waiting another year, I got another MRI. It showed I had the tear still, so they put in a whole new patellar tendon. Going into my second surgery, I was in so much pain I just wanted to get it fixed. After that, I started diving and lifting again. My knee felt great."

Diving coach Jeff Warrick said he was cautious with Ronald after that second surgery. He focused on training, but also made sure that she felt okay throughout every practice.

"Last year, the goal at the beginning of the season was to get her to the end," Warrick said. "I think she not only made it to end, but did even better. And this year this has been even better than that. We're still cautious and I still ask her daily how things are going."

Throughout every bit of adversity Ronald faced, she said that she was never alone in the process. The support from everyone in the program was a key factor in getting Ronald back to competition level.

"The coaches and my team were super supportive," Ronald said. "They motivated me to get back. I couldn't have asked for a better group of people. All of my teammates would visit me and take me to class. Anything I needed, they were there for me. My parents also came up to Ames all the time, even though they were a 10-hour drive away. I don't know if I could've done it without all these people."

Ronald's performance in the diving well has been incredible over her last two seasons. In her first full season back, Ronald qualified for Zones on the one-meter in just the third meet of the year. After a finals appearance on the three-meter in the Mizzou Invite, the then-junior qualified on the three-meter in her first meet following the annual training trip. To cap off her season, she eclipsed her personal-best three-meter score with a 305.70 at the 2018 Big 12 Championships, an effort that earned her second-team All-Big 12 recognition.

"I worked so hard to get to that point," Ronald said joyfully. "Having my best meet at Big 12s was awesome. It all came together and that hard work and perseverance was worth it."

With everything that Ronald has been through, coach Warrick has a high regard for his fifth-year senior.

"I think to set a PR at Big 12s is huge. Breaking that 300 barrier is a good goal and accomplishment. A lot of divers over the years, had they gone through her situation, would have finished and understandably so," Warrick said. "That's the big thing for her: the resiliency, not giving up and persisting through everything."

The story is not yet finished for the redshirt senior. In the final dual meet of her career, she again topped her personal-best three-meter score with a 306.38 against Kansas. Her perseverance and resiliency has brought her back to a high level of diving after the pair of surgeries, and she will look to put everything she has out on the boards in her final dives competing for Iowa State.

Players Mentioned

Sydney Ronald

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics