Since her freshman season, Natalie Thomas has been stealing breath from the pool decks of New Jersey.

Now, in her final season of high school competition, the Cherokee High School senior says she's ready to top herself.

"I'm ready," she said. "I'm doing the same dives as last year, but I've been working hard to get them stronger, and my scores have been pretty high."

As a member of the Chiefs' girls' swimming team, Thomas is good for more than a guaranteed win in the diving event of every dual meet.

"She's a real leader," Cherokee coach Cheryl May said. "The girls definitely turn to her as a leader.

"She's confident and she's a perfectionist at what she does. She's beautiful to watch, and she makes it look very, very easy."

Thomas is coming off a truly breakthrough junior campaign.

She swept through the major competitions of 2003-04, first winning the Jim Roach 11-dive meet in a meet-record 494.50.

The victory ended two years of frustration at the meet. She'd finished third as a freshman and second as a sophomore.

"Winning that meet was really huge," Thomas said. "I didn't really go out to try to break the record, but everything seemed to go right."

Then she broke the South Jersey Coaches' Invitational and South Jersey Swim League Championship records with a 6-dive score of 252.00.

All of it would have meant little without the state title, however. Thomas and fellow junior Liza Marianni of Cherry Hill West had pitched a memorable duel the year before, with Marianni prevailing by less than one point.

But this time, Thomas left little to doubt.

The Cherokee diver took the state title with a masterful performance at The College of New Jersey, winning by more than 50 points.

"I had a lot of confidence from the Jim Roach meet that carried through," Thomas said. "I wasn't really worried about the loss the year before, but it definitely made me more determined."

Thomas is also a member of Cherokee's varsity cheerleading squad, which won the national championship in Atlantic City this past December.

Though she enjoys cheering, she said she'll give it up in college to concentrate on her diving career. As for college, Thomas plans to go to either South Carolina or Georgia, and major in fashion merchandising.

Diving's championship season begins anew Thursday, with another edition of the Jim Roach 11-dive meet, this time at RiverWinds in West Deptford.

Thomas and Marianni are expected to go dive-for-dive again in what should be a preview of the state championship meets in March.

, mirrored by another duel in the boys' competition between senior state champion Dan Cuilla of Cherry Hill West and junior Kyle Mitrione of Haddonfield.