During the Olympic trials in June 1976, she finished second in the 10-meter platform dive to then world champion Janet Ely, having won the National Amateur Athletic Union platform dive earlier in the year.

[2] During a diving meet in Moscow in 1979, Briley broke her right leg when slipping on ice as she was boarding a train.

Upon getting her diagnoses, she was unable to compete for several months, instead focusing on weight lifting.

She believed it was only because of her accident that she was able to focus on training her diving entry, which needed the most work.

Despite finishing third in the 1979 Pan American Games diving trials and thus missing out on a berth, she did win the women's 10-meter platform competition in the Swimming Hall of Fame pool in May 1980.