KELLER, Texas — Twice a day 18-year-old Hailey Hernandez walks into the Keller Aquatic Center. She’s been making the trip for the last few years to practice her dives for upcoming competitions. 

“Currently, I’m training twice a day, pretty much, every day throughout the week,” said Hernandez, getting ready to take some jumps on a training trampoline before actually getting in the pool again.

Hernandez is a four-time state diving champion. She's won 12 national championships and has always taken her training seriously. Her next challenge is a whole new level of competition.

Just weeks after graduating from Southlake-Carroll High School, Hernandez decided to try her luck at the U.S. diving Olympic qualifiers. She made it all the way to the finals, and her last dive was the last one of the competition.

“Going in on my last dive, I just hit the water and I knew I had done it,” said Hernandez. “It’s just absolutely unreal. The best feeling in the world.”

She said she looked up at the screen and saw the score flash up, confirming that she’d just made Team USA.

Hernandez said the victory really set in when she arrived back home in North Texas to see the swimmers and divers she trains with regularly, cheering outside her home.

“When I got home they were all there at my house waiting to greet me and I got to sign my first autographs,” said Hernandez with a smile.

Hernandez is just a few weeks away from boarding a flight to Tokyo, Japan, to join athletes from around the world at the summer Olympics.

She’s ready to go all-in on the opportunity, but said she doesn’t expect to go into the games as the leader on the odds sheets.

“I know going in that I’m one of the younger competitors with not as hard of dives as other people,” she said.

That’s why she’s practicing twice a day and trying to make her form flawless to wow the judges on the Olympic stage.

She dreams of taking that top podium spot and wearing Olympic gold in just a few short weeks. Hernandez plans to give it her all to make that dream come true, but she said her ultimate goal is to represent herself, her country and just do the best she can.

With family and teammates cheering her on from home, it’s clear the young diver will do just that 

“It definitely does not feel real. It still is hitting me every single day thinking, like, wow, I just made the olympics, I’m an olympian,” she said.

Hernandez said she’s been diving for about ten years now and got into the sport after being inspired by her older brother, who recently graduated as a very decorated diver at Duke University.

No matter how the Olympics go, Hernandez will continue the family’s collegiate records next year at the University of Texas.