It's hard to imagine the Woodbury and East Ridge football teams practicing together on the same field, at the same time, with the same coaches.
Mixing and matching up
The East Ridge and Woodbury diving teams practice together in a unique situation.
By AARON PAITICH

But that's exactly what the schools' diving programs do.
After East Ridge opened two years ago, the coaching staffs had a decision to make. Since the district has only one pool they can legally dive at, it was either split up and dive in shifts -- or continue working together. So the two Suburban East Conference rivals, which now include the top two divers in the state, are sharing the same board.
"All these girls came up through the Woodbury system," Woodbury coach Rick Light said. "We chose to keep the top girls diving together and the new girls diving together. It works out better, and then there are two coaches on deck at the same time."
It has formed a bond unique to most high school sports. The defending Class 2A, 1-meter diving champion, Jenna Karrow from East Ridge, competes with runner-up Emily Bonfig from Woodbury on a daily basis.
"I think that the rivalry Emily and I have is healthy because we support each other, and it motivates us to be better," said Karrow, a junior.
Both dived together as junior high students, but when East Ridge formed, Karrow didn't have a choice, she had to attend the new school because of where she lived. Students can now choose where they want to go, but Karrow said she feels fortunate she ended up at East Ridge. The feeling is mutual, as the Raptors didn't have much of an identity out of the gate. Karrow has given them a state champion, and that success, along with Bonfig's, has helped breed a diving hotbed in the eastern suburb.
"Every day is pressure going against the best in the state, so Jenna and Emily are constantly going against each other daily," Light said. "So when they go against other teams in competition, it's nothing. When we get to other meets, there's nowhere near the competition that there is in a daily practice."
That external competition comes in part from Forest Lake senior Jessica Ramberg, last year's third-place state finalist. In the summer, she dives with Karrow and Bonfig for six hours each day as members of the Minnesota Diving Academy, which is run by Wenbo Chen -- the former assistant coach of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team and current Gophers coach.
"I like competing with them because they're some of my closest friends. I love them as people," said Bonfig, who is making recruiting trips this fall to several Division I schools, including Harvard.
This past summer, Bonfig won the 2011 AAU Diving National Championship for the girls' platform event in Riverside, Calif. Karrow finished third.
"That was definitely the highlight of my diving career right there," said Bonfig, who finished sixth at state as a sophomore and fifth as a freshman.
Karrow bested Bonfig a couple weeks ago in a dual meet at Lake Junior High, and they will both be competing against Ramberg soon. Barring major injuries, they'll all be competing at the state meet at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center in November.
Whoever wins that is anybody's guess -- and a tremendous honor.
"Getting beat by them is not as big of a deal because I know how hard they work and that they deserve it just as much as I do," Bonfig said. "It's definitely an accomplishment to win between the three of us."
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AARON PAITICH
Six players plus head coach Garrett Raboin and assistant coach Ben Gordon are from Minnesota. The tournament’s games will be televised starting Monday.