Columbia Standard

On Dec. 15, South Carolina head diving coach Dale Schultz announced that Fayetteville, Arkansas, graduate transfer diver Brooke Schultz will join his team beginning in January.

After having spent her undergraduate years at the University of Arkansas, Schultz will join her father as he, too, transferred from Arkansas to lead the swimming and diving team at the University of South Carolina.

While with the Razorbacks, Schultz was a two-time SEC Diver of the year (2018 and 2019) and was the 2018 NCAA Champion in the three-meter dive. She also made trips to the NCAA championships in 2019, where she placed second in the three-meter dive, and in 2021 where she placed third in the one-meter dive, according to Gamecocks Online.

“Schultz has a long list of accomplishments in international competition as well,” Gamecocks Online said. “Prior to attending Arkansas, she earned gold at the 2017 Junior Pan American Championships in both the one-meter and three-meter dives and silver in the three-meter dive at the 2017 World University Games. In 2018 she was named a member of the World Cup team and earned a bronze medal at the Bolanzo FINA Grand Prix. Schultz also participated in the 2020 Olympic Team trials where she placed sixth in the three-meter springboard with a final score of 836.50.”

Schultz scored medals in the conference championships every year that competitions were held. In 2018, she swept the springboard events, claiming both the one- and three-meter titles. She repeated her impressive feat again at the 2019 championships. After the event was cancelled in 2020, Schultz came back in 2021 to take third in the three-meter diving event.

Schultz is currently competing unattached at the USA Diving Winter Nationals in Bloomington, Indiana. She partnered with current South Carolina diver Sophie Verzyl recently in the synchronized three-meter springboard, where the duo earned fifth place with a score of 457.50. 

Gamecocks Swimming & Diving tweeted about Schultz on Dec. 15, saying simply, "Welcome home, Brooke!"

SwimSwam reports that when Dale Schultz left Arkansas to join the University of South Carolina staff, most of the team in Arkansas either transferred out or graduated. After the announcement was made that Brooke would be following in her father’s footsteps, it left behind a mere three athletes on the swimming and diving team in Arkansas.

“After finishing 11th out of 12 teams at those SEC Championships, Brooke Schultz immediately improves South Carolina’s outlook in the conference in Jeff Poppell’s first season leading the program,” SwimSwam said. “Last year, they were 118.5 points behind LSU and 238 behind Auburn at the SEC Championships. Both of those programs hired new head coaches in the off-season as well.”