Katherine Welsh ’26 of the Smith Swim and Dive team placed 13th in the 1-meter dive and 14th in the 3-meter dive at the NCAA Division III Northeast Regional Diving Championships hosted by Colby College in Waterville, Maine on Mar. 1-2, 2024. This is the second time Welsh has qualified for Regionals in her career at Smith and her highest placement so far.
Welsh received New England Women and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Diver of the Week honor four times this past season, recognizing the many points she has racked up for Smith at their regular season meets this Winter. Welsh also placed 6th in the 3-meter dive at the NEWMAC Championships from Feb. 22-25, 2024 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Welsh started diving in sixth grade on a club team, in her home state of Minnesota. She said that coming from swimming and gymnastics, diving combined her favorite parts of both sports — her love of the water and doing acrobatic tricks.
Welsh spoke on what drew her to Smith and Division III diving. She said that Meaghan Abelein Dicicco, the Head Diving Coach, is one of the main driving forces behind her collegiate success. “Meg is a really big reason that I’m at Smith,” she explained, “I think it’s super valuable to learn the same skill from different coaches,” she said, reflecting on the entire coaching staff and the transition from club to collegiate diving.
While Welsh has over seven years of experience, part of the reason she was drawn to Division III was the opportunity for new divers to try out the sport and find the joy that she has found in the pool.
“The really fun thing about Division III diving,” she said, “is that there is this opportunity to walk on without any experience.” Welsh is joined on the diving team by two juniors, Jiayi Sun ’25 and Leah Corckran ’25, who both did not have any experience before joining. Welsh hopes that the diving team will continue to grow as more people learn about the sport and she encourages interested Smith students to reach out to the coaching staff.
Welsh also stated that the year-round training support and team community has also helped her grow as an athlete. “At home, I would do my high school team and I would do club team, and they were very distinct seasons, but here, when I’m diving, I’m always with the same people, so it’s been a really cool opportunity to have that stability for a longer period of time.”
Because of the highly subjective nature of diving, athletes are judged on their execution of specific dives by a panel of three or more judges. Each dive has a pre-assigned difficulty level, which is multiplied by the sum of three of the judges’ scores (if there are more than three judges, the middle three scores are the ones used). Each dive is scored on a scale of one to ten based on execution alone. At dual meets, athletes will do six dives per height, while at bigger conference or regional meets, athletes do 11 dives.
Within these numbers of dives, there are guidelines of how many “easier” versus “difficult” dives the athletes must execute. There is also the requirement to fulfill the five categories of diving: front, back, reverse, inward, and twisting within the dive selection.
However, after fulfilling those specifications, the choice is up to the coach and the athlete. More difficult dives have more potential points, but risk lower execution scores. Welsh said that the uncertainty of the sport is part of its excitement. “It’s all a big bet,” she stated, “It’s all a matter of what risk you are willing to take with each dive and if it will end up benefiting you.”
Next season, Welsh has big dreams of qualifying for the NCAA National Diving Championship. In order to accomplish this, she would have to qualify again for the regional championship and then score in the top eight at the meet. This year, Welsh was close to qualifying in both her events, placing 13th in the 1-meter and 14th in the 3-meter dive, but she thinks with another year of training and experience, she will be in contention for a ticket to nationals next season.
In order to work toward this goal, Welsh is already back to training. She lifts with Kate Winstanley, a graduate assistant strength coach, in the off-season to maintain her strength, and practices her dives during open-swim hours. During the summer, Welsh trains with her club team in Minnesota before returning to campus for preseason in the Fall. There’s no doubt that with her killer combination of drive and skill, that the Division III Swim and Dive community will see much more of Katherine Welsh in her seasons ahead.
