Most of the Arkansas diving group either graduated or transferred out last season after their head coach Dale Schultz left to join the new staff at the University of South Carolina. That left the team with just 4 divers on their roster this season amid a very small roster of swimmers or divers: two freshmen, a sophomore, and a star, 2018 NCAA Champion Brooke Schultz.
On Wednesday, that substantial other shoe dropped when South Carolina announced that Brooke Schultz would be joining her dad, the diving coach Dale, at South Carolina for the spring semester.
Brooke Schultz didn’t compete at any fall semester meets for Arkansas, though she did remain on the roster. She stayed at the school to complete her academic work, and took her last final on Wednesday. She will graduate later this week.
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Now, the redshirt senior will begin her graduate work, and continue competition, for the Gamecocks.
She was Arkansas’ 4th-best scorer at last year’s SEC Championships, picking up 52 points via a 3rd place finish on 1-meter and a 5th-place finish on 3-meter.
Those diving points single-handedly outpaced the 18 that South Carolina scored at last year’s SEC Championships.
In fact, the Gamecocks only scored 88 individual points in swimming and diving, with Janie Smith leading them at 29 points.
After finishing 11th out of 12 teams at those SEC Championships, Brooke Schultz immediately improves South Carolina’s outlook in the conference in Jeff Poppell’s first season leading the program. Last year, they were 118.5 points behind LSU and 238 behind Auburn at the SEC Championships. Both of those programs hired new head coaches in the offseason as well.
Bio, Courtesy: South Carolina Athletics
While with the Razorbacks, Schultz was a two-time SEC Diver of the year (2018, 2019) and was the 2018 NCAA Champion in the three meter dive. She also made trips to the NCAA championships in 2019 where she placed second in the three meter dive and in 2021 where she placed third in the one meter dive.
In SEC competition, Schultz medaled in the conference championships every year that they were held. In 2018, she swept the springboard events, claiming both the one and three meter titles. She repeated her impressive feat again at the 2019 Championships. After the event was canceled in 2020, Schultz came back in 2021 to take third in the three meter diving event.
Schultz has a long list of accomplishments in international competition as well. Prior to attending Arkansas, she earned gold at the 2017 Junior Pan American Championships in both the one meter and three meter dives and silver in the three meter dive at the 2017 World University Games. In 2018 she was named a member of the World Cup team and earned a bronze medal at the Bolanzo FINA Grand Prix. Schultz also participated in the 2020 Olympic Team trials where she placed sixth in the three meter springboard with a final score of 836.50.
Schultz is currently competing unattached at the USA Diving Winter Nationals in Bloomington, Ind., She partnered with current South Carolina diver Sophie Verzyl Tuesday in the synchronized three meter springboard where the duo earned fifth place with a score of 457.50.
The Gamecock divers will see their first action of the new year at the Tennessee Diving Invitational Jan. 3-5.
Congratulations to Brooke on Graduation and to Dale! It’s a special father/daughter relationship when you can coach a child to be an NCAA champ and she comes back for more! Go Gamecocks!