Where Are The Top High School Divers Committed to College?

Let’s check in with the top high school divers across the country based on last month’s Winter Nationals to see which programs are getting big boosts in the near future.

Girls

Class of 2024

Avery Worobel – Purdue

A 5-foot-3 Boston native, Worobel placed 10th on the 1-meter springboard at Winter Nationals last month with 465 points. She has extensive experience on the international stage, having competed at the 2022 World Junior Championships — where she placed 5th on the 3-meter sprinboard and 6th on the 10-meter platform — and Junior Pan Ams in 2017, 2019, and 2021.

Worobel is a multi-event threat, taking Junior Pan Am gold medals on the 1-meter and 3-meter in 2019 as well as 3-meter springboard and platform in 2017. She has captured 10 junior national crowns — five on the 3-meter, three on platform, and two on 1-meter. She currently trains with the Indiana International School of Diving under coach Sean McCarthy.

Purdue women’s divers scored all 32 of the Boilermakers’ points at the 2023 NCAA Championships, seventh-most among diving programs nationally.

Anna Lemkin – Stanford

The 5-foot-3 Lemkin began her athletic career doing both diving and gymnastics before settling on the former. She placed 7th on the 10-meter platform at Winter Nationals last month with 546 points. She also won junior national titles on the 3-meter springboard and platform in 2022, the same year she hauled home a gold medal (3-meter) and bronze (platform) at the World Junior Championships in Montreal.

Lemkin currently trains with Mission Viejo Nadadores Dive under coach John Appleman. She’s slated to join a Stanford squad next fall that didn’t score any diving points at the 2023 NCAA Championships.

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Taylor Fox – Texas

Fox placed 11th on the 10-meter platform with 490.95 points, not far behind fellow Mission Viejo Nadadores product Anna Lemkin. Fox’s best results over the past year have come in the platform and 3-meter events. This upcoming fall, she’ll join a Texas team that tallied 49 diving points at NCAAs last year.

Class of 2025

Gianna Lawrence – Rutgers

The 16-year-old New Jersey native placed 12th on the 3-meter springboard at Winter Nationals last month with 436.45 points. Lawrence is committed to Rutgers for 2025, representing a huge get for a Scarlet Knight diving program that didn’t make any A-finals at last year’s Big Ten Championships.

She trains with Knight Diving Academy under coach Kristopher Hoffman. Lawrence’s teammate, Katerina Hoffman, is also committed to Rutgers for 2024. Hoffman placed 6th on the 1-meter springboard (460.75) at last year’s Summer Nationals. Bailee Sturgill, a Junior Nationals medalist, is also headed to Rutgers in the class of 2024.

Two-time Olympian Natasha Chikina is on a recruiting roll right now as the Scarlet Knights’ diving coach and building a new diving powerhouse in the Big Ten.

Boys

Class of 2024

Luke Sitz – SMU

Sitz placed 8th on the 3-meter springboard at Winter Nationals with 709.80 points. He trains with Dallas Metroplex Diving under coach Daniel Pitts. He won’t have to travel far from home for college this fall when he joins SMU’s diving program led by seventh-year coach Darian Schmidt, a former Big Ten Diver of the Year at Indiana. Sitz’s arrival should be a massive boost for the Mustangs, who didn’t score any points at NCAAs last year.

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Zach Welsh – Purdue

Welsh placed 10th on the 3-meter springboard with 640.95 points at Winter Nationals last month. He hails from Atherton, California, and — like Lemkin and Fox above — trains with Mission Viejo Nadadores Dive under Appleman. Welsh is signed to Purdue’s program for next season, where he’ll link up with diving coach Adam Soldati. The Boilermakers didn’t score any points at NCAAs last year.

Joshua Sollenberger – Indiana

The rich get richer with this one. Sollenberger, who placed 11th on the 3-meter springboard with 628.45 points at Winter Nationals last month, is joining an Indiana squad next season that scored 104 points at NCAAs last year — 32.5 more than the next highest-scoring men’s team. The Indiana native trains at the Indiana International School of Diving under coach Jill Eakright.

Jake Welsh – Texas

Welsh placed 13th on the 3-meter springboard at Winter Nationals last month with 588.75 points. He trains with Mission Viejo Nadadores Dive under coach Appleman along with his brother, Zach, a Purdue commit mentioned above. Texas diving coach Matt Scoggin guided the Longhorns to 44 diving points at NCAAs last year, third-most in the nation behind Indiana and Ohio State.

Tyler Wills – Purdue

Wills placed 4th on the 10-meter platform last month with 783.35 points. A native of Carmel, Indiana, he currently trains with coach David Boudia, whose platform gold at the 2012 Olympics marked the first American win in the event since 1988 (Greg Louganis). Along with fellow Purdue commit Zach Welsh, Wills will soon be part of a new crop of Boilermakers divers aiming to bring them back into NCAA scoring territory.

Class of 2025

Joshua Hedberg – Indiana

The lone individual winner on this list from last month’s Winter Nationals, Hedberg captured the 10-meter platform crown with 897.85 points at just 16 years old. Like Worobel, he trains with the Indiana International School of Diving under coach McCarthy.