MIDDLETOWN — When classes begin at Shenandoah High School this year and someone asks Kate Hillman the traditional first-day-of-school question “How did you spend your summer?” people should get comfortable while she details how her time off from school went.

Hillman, who is entering her junior year at Shenandoah, has spent the majority of her time in Indianapolis with diving coach Kevin Rockhill training and practicing two to four hours daily except Sunday.

With competitions, it doesn’t add up to much free time.

Hillman placed seventh last year at the IHSAA’s state swimming and diving meet in Indianapolis. The following day, she was on her way to a qualifying meet for the Junior State meet in Bloomington.

“She’s been pretty much diving non-stop all summer,” Rockhill said. “She qualified for Junior State right after the (IHSAA) state meet.”

“I’ve been really busy (with diving),” Hillman said. “It’s been all go and a few days off here and there, but it’s been fun. I’ve been having fun with it.”

Hillman has qualified for the Junior Olympic Age Group Nationals, to be held Aug. 13-17 in Washington, D.C. She made her way to Washington by winning the Region IV 16-18 girls 10-meter championship in Bloomington the weekend of June 13, bettering her closest opposition by 45 points.

At the Senior Zone B Championships the weekend of July 4, she placed 21st in the 3-meter springboard competition and narrowly missed qualifying for the 3-meter synchronized diving with her partner Sarah Clay of Hamilton Southeastern by a mere three points.

Hillman qualified for the Nationals in the Junior Zone B championships in the 10-meter platform with a seventh-place showing in a field that was a little deeper than normal.

“That meet was right after the Olympic Trials,” Rockhill said. “So instead of 15 to 20 girls in a meet, there were 35 to 40.”

“I didn’t expect to get out, and I surprised myself,” Hillman said. “I just went in with an open mind and wanting to do my best.”

Hillman has also earned a nomination as a 2008 National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association Diving All-American. She was judged on her performances during the 2007-2008 school year and was selected by a nationwide panel of coaches and judges.

“I just want to do my best and have fun,” Hillman said.

Hillman will leave for Washington, D.C., on Aug. 13 and will be in competition the next day.