WALLA WALLA -- In tight swimming meets, it can be diving that makes the difference.

But when one team has diving and the other doesn't, it can make for quite the conundrum.

In their CBBN 4A-3A regular-season finale today, Hanford (7-0) and Richland (6-1) will head to Walla Walla (6-0), but diving will be crossed off the event lineup because Walla Walla's home pool at Whitman College lacks a board. As a result, the Blue Devils don't have any divers on their squad.

Though Hanford and Richland haven't had any home meets this season and their practice pool at Columbia Basin Racquet Club doesn't have a board during the winter, both teams still compete in diving.

Senior BJ Deatherage is the Falcons' only diver, while Richland has four divers.

"We've done that versus not having a program because diving has proved crucial in a lot of meets," Hanford/Richland coach Kathy Piper said.

However, neither team will get to dive in the most crucial meet of the season, which frustrates Piper.

"You don't get to have your full strength of lineup," she said.

Walla Walla coach Katharine Curles would love it if her swimmers could dive, too, but Whitman College competes in the Northwest Conference, which does not offer diving.

"As a former diver and swimmer, I'm like, 'I could easily coach this if we had it,' " Curles said.

Plus, it's not easy for the Blue Devils to see other teams gain points while they sit by and watch.

On Jan. 7 in East Wenatchee, Wenatchee picked up 10 points in diving to pull even with the Blue Devils after five events.

"After diving, almost every time, we've had a long chat -- diving is an obstacle, and we just have to overcome it," said Curles, whose team went on to beat Wenatchee 97-83. "But we have a good group of self-motivated guys who can get the spirit going."

Richland and Hanford's divers must be just as motivated to stay ready for competition. They usually travel to Yakima or Moses Lake once a week for board time.

With that limited practice time, premeet warmups can be particularly critical.

"That's when you get a lot of board time because you get an hour before the meet (to practice)," said Deatherage, who qualified for state at an 11-dive meet earlier this month in Moses Lake.

Today, Deatherage and the Richland divers won't collect points on the board, but they will have value to their teams as swimmers.

At practice, when they aren't refining their diving form on a plank or visualizing their midair twists, they're getting in laps.

"If we hadn't had our divers swimming against Eastmont (in a 96-88 victory Jan. 7), Richland would have lost," Piper said. "The divers scored 11 points swimming.

"It's just a balance. All the athletes we've got and BJ are talented athletes, and we're trying to find a different home for them."