A Diving Interest Takes Flight in NEPSAC

Wheeler has a long history of programming that began with a simple question, inspired by curiosity: “Do you think we might be able to make ‘this’ happen?” And the story of year one of varsity diving in the Upper School is no different.

When longtime swim coaches Kristin Murphy P’19, P’23 and Jim Filippo learned that Wheeler would be returning to the NEPSAC last fall, it didn’t take them long to reach out to Director of Athletics Sean Kelly ’02, P’35 and ask that question about diving.

“To their credit, Jim and Kristin were all over this idea,” Coach Kelly says. “They highlighted the fact that in the NEPSAC, unlike our former league, there was an opportunity for diving, and they stressed that the scores from diving would be part of the swimming and diving championships each year going forward. In our previous time in the NEPSAC, Wheeler had missed out on boosting our overall score because we only had swimming. Most importantly, they shared that we had a handful of current students who were genuinely interested in diving.”

With all of that taken into consideration, Coach Kelly was on board, but now they needed to figure out how to dive in.

Given that only a handful of pools in the greater Providence area have one-meter boards, opportunities were limited. “Throw in the logistics of colleges using their own pools for practice, limited practice times due to outside rentals, insurance, transportation, finding a coach, etc., and it was an uphill battle that didn’t look promising,” Coach Kelly says. However, it was the extended hand of another Rhode Island NEPSAC school that finally helped secure Wheeler’s first varsity diving season.

“We are incredibly thankful for the help of St. George’s, especially their AD Bob Pipe and the diving coach Jeff Mitchem,” says Coach Kelly. “Working together, we really embraced some creativity to make this happen, and it turned out to be a tremendous success. The driving force for everyone involved was to find a way to ensure we followed through on the interests of these student-athletes.”

Twice a week throughout their inaugural diving season, Catalina Smith ’25, Nina Gonzalez ’23, Alyssa Roop ’23, and Jackson Page ’25 made their way to St. George’s Newport campus for practice with members of the St. George’s team and Coach Mitchem. “Our four divers rose to the occasion and accepted the challenges of learning the many intricacies of diving techniques,” Coach Kelly says. “In addition to the practices and the accompanying dedication of getting to and from Aquidneck Island, these Warriors participated in a pair of diving meets the first ever in Wheeler history all of which was in preparation for the NEPSSA Swimming and Diving Championships in March.”

At the championship, the boys team placed second overall and the girls team placed third, and Wheeler’s divers played an integral part in those strong performances.

“This was an incredible experience for our kids and our program,” says Coach Filippo. “We are excited to take this momentum and build on this individual and team success.”

HOPKINS SCHOOL | NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT