Two-time SEC Diver of the Year Tori Lamp Wood has taken on her latest role at NCAA Division III Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee.
A five-time USA Diving National Team member and member of the US team at the 2013 World Championships, this will be Lamp’s third collegiate diving job.
She was the coach at Liberty University in Virginia from 2017 through 2020, and in fall of 2021 took over as the diving coach at Illinois State, where she worked for one season.
She now takes over the same role at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, where she will work with one of the best divers in Division III. Last season, sophomore John Beuerlein earned two First Team All-America honors when he placed 6th on 1-meter and 8th on 3-meter at the NCAA Championships. That helped lift Rhodes as a program to a 27th place finish at the NCAA Championships, which was the best finish in program history.
At Rhodes, she’ll work with both male and female divers, as compared to her last two collegiate stops, where there were only women’s programs. At the 2022 Missouri Valley Conference Championships, she coached the top-scoring diving program in the conference. On 1-meter, Illinois State finished 1-2.
At Liberty, she established the program’s first diving program and built it from scratch, eventually coaching the school’s first conference championship and two finalists as the USA Summer Nationals.
While competing at Tennessee, she won platform diving at the SEC Championships three times (2012-14). Additionally, she earned seven All-America awards, with a pair of NCAA national runner-up finishes. Wood was named SEC Diver of the Year in 2012 and 2013, while earning CSCAA National Diver of the Year honors as a junior.
She also competed for Team USA from 2008 through 2010 and 2012 through 2015. Highlights from her international career include placing 10th at World Championships in 2013 and participating in the FINA World Series in 2014. She was a Junior National Champion in 2008 before winning the title of 2009 High School National Champion.
She was named the 2012 and 2013 SEC Diver of the Year and 2013 CSCAA National Diver of the Year. She won three consecutive SEC titles in the platform in 2012, 2013, and 2014
Wood graduated with a bachelor’s degree in recreation sport management with a concentration in therapeutic recreation from Tennessee in May of 2014.
Lamp, who is married with two children, also coaches gymnastics.
This is a great hire! Tori is going to do great things, as this is also a swim and dive team on the rise.