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Tristan Peterson became Freeport’s only state swimming and diving medalist of the last 20 years in February.

Then his real diving work began.

“It was insanely busy,” Peterson said of driving to Madison to dive for his club team five days a week this winter, spring and summer, beginning the week after the high school season ended. “I’d leave here at 11:45, get there at practice at 1:15, get out of practice at 4 or 5 and get home at 6:30 or 7.

“But I absolutely love it. I love what I do and I enjoy it every single day. I am excited to learn more. I love the sport so much.”

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Peterson, seventh in the state as a sophomore last year, has learned that high-school diving is actually his least favorite form of diving. College diving features 1-meter, 3-meter and tower competitions, while high school has only the 1-meter board. Peterson excels at all three — becoming an All-American by finishing in the top 12 in all three events at the AAU Diving National Championships this summer. He was 12th in the 1-meter and 11th in the 3-meter and tower competitions in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

“I didn’t have as much experience in the other two as I do in the 1-meter, but I have quite a bit of experience now,” Peterson said. “I really like the 1-meter and tower. I am not the biggest 1-meter fan. I like being higher up.”

Peterson got a crash course in outdoor diving at Nationals. The hardest part, he said, was knowing exactly where you were in your dive so you could time your twists and turns and enter the pool with perfect form.

“I was outside. It was really hot out. I had to wear a lot of sunscreen,” he said. “It’s a lot different.

“I count my flips in the air, how many times I see the ceiling, how many times I see the water. I look for something to kick out at. We use spotting cues, but everything is blue. The sky is blue. The water is blue. Sometimes you get a little confused exactly where you are. And you have the sun, which makes it hard to see sometimes. It’s a lot different that way.

“That’s really important to know where you are. If you miss a spot or you don’t know where you are, you can get lost and potentially injure yourself. You might flop. It’s important to know where you are.”

Peterson knows he is already one of the greatest in Freeport swimming and diving history. Emily Pisula, who became an NCAA All-American at Wisconsin, is one of the greatest girls swimmers in NIC-10 history and Deidre DeWall also won a state title for Freeport, but no Pretzel has ever won a state title in boys swimming. Matt Smith’s third-place finish in diving in 2002 is Freeport’s top boys swimming and diving medal.

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With two years left, Peterson could be Freeport’s first boys state champ. But he’s not thinking about that yet, or even diving in college. He is just thrilled that he has advanced so much this summer.

“My focus hasn’t been the 1-meter for high school, it’s been on the higher stuff, too, but I have improved quite a bit,” Peterson said. “Doing the bigger stuff on 3-meter, you can take that down to 1-meter. Eventually, it will pay off there, too. It’s all a process. The higher you go, you can take it down at some point, so what I am doing now will help me for high school and 1 meter.

“It will carry over a lot. And seeing all these good divers and dealing with the pressure and the amount of people watching me will help. Watching divers better than me motivates me to do bigger dives going into high school.

“I have been practicing a lot,” said Peterson, who has just started a six-week break before heading back to the pool again. “My form has gotten a lot better, my technique and my basics.”

And that’s all he is worried about. How well he is diving now. And what he can improve on today and tomorrow. Any tomorrows after that, well, he will see when it comes.

“I am just diving and enjoying the process of getting to where I want to be,” he said. “My focus isn’t the end goal. I just want to think about what’s going on in the moment. I don’t want to pressure myself into a big goal or dream.”