Technically, the White Building doesn't open its doors to the public until 6:30 a.m.

But at 6:15 a.m. on Wednesdays, the Penn State women's diving team can be found hard at work in the gymnastics room.

With his team preparing for its meet against Virginia this weekend, head diving coach Craig Brown has his Nittany Lions sticking to something they've been doing all season: working with the gymnastics program to improve their dives.

"It's something new we did this year," he said. "We've picked up some neat tricks from the gymnastics coach."

Women's gymnastics head coach Steve Shephard has offered his advice, as well as the gym to the divers.

The two sports are really very similar, he said. Both sports involve very technical flipping and twisting. In fact, there seems to be only one difference between the two.

"We land on our feet," Shephard said, "they land on their heads."

Because the two sports demand such similar athletic abilities, many gymnasts eventually make the jump from the floor to the pool.

"We have each switched over from gymnastics to diving at one point in our lives," freshman Chelsea Adlam said.

None of the divers were as much invested in gymnastics as junior Megan Marco.

Marco started as a gymnast at age 2, and continued with the sport for 12 years.

"My teammates always make fun of me because I am still so in love with gymnastics," she said. "I am always doing handstands wherever I am."

However, the transition for the junior took plenty of practice and repetition.

For example, Marco struggled with back flips. Instead of landing on her feet in a back double, she now has to rotate it to her head for a back 2 1/2.

Despite these difficulties in timing and rotating, Marco feels that working in the gym again is paying off.

"I really think its great we are doing this because it's something different," she said. "We get to do something outside of the water for once."

The Lions have been working with such equipment as the floor, the foam pit and the trampoline in order to improve their flips, turns, and techniques.

They've also been practicing on the bars to improve arm strength.

"It's very important to stimulate the body more than just off the board," Brown said. "It adds a different level of quickness."

Brown tries to emphasize to his team the importance of what he calls "quick contact fitness."

The process of jumping off of the diving board can be strenuous on the legs, he said. He wants his divers to be able to handle the force released from the board on every jump.

The variety of different exercises the Lions have been working on in the gym are preparing them for this "quick contact fitness" in a way that simply working out in the weight room couldn't provide.

"Most of our strength work is usually done in the weight room," junior Ilana Zeises said. "It's nice to have a new environment where we can do different kinds of strength exercises as a team."