Katie Sterpka ’15, who set every diving record at the University, has been somersaulting through the air since she was nine. In her final season competing for the Owls, she had one major goal: to make it to the nationals.
Sterpka traveled to Shenandoah, Texas, to compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Division III Championships in March. “That’s what it’s all about. This is what people shoot for,” Westfield State head coach Dave Laing told Sterpka. He wanted her to realize, “You are one of the 24 that made this meet, so you are one of the best.”
Sterpka capped an outstanding career by earning honorable mention All-America honors by virtue of her performance at the NCAA Championships. A native of Barkhamsted, Connecticut, she placed 14th in the nation on the three-meter board with a score of 402.85 in the preliminaries and 403.45 in the consolation final and came back two days later to finish in a tie for 13th on the one-meter board with scores of 368.70 and 370.20.
“I want people to look at my diving career and say, ‘Wow! I wish I could be like that,’” she says.
