Live and Let Dive

Photo: Brevin Blach
Words: Patricia B. Dwyer

Kristen Meier knew she had a higher calling at age 12, when, after swimming practice, she watched divers doing warm-ups. “I was curious to try it-and I did,” she says. Ten years later, the San Diego State University senior is studying economics and making a splash in the diving world. She was named 2011’s Mountain West Diver of the Year, has nabbed half a dozen Mountain West Athlete of the Week awards and hopes to place high enough in the 2012 USA Diving Winter National Championships to pursue the Olympics after she graduates. Says Meier: “This sport has made me strive to do better.”