Senior Courtney Synder finished her diving career by making history. Snyder became the first ever Marywood Pacers diver to reach the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Zone Regionals.

In early March, Snyder finished 18th at the NCAA Division III Region 4 Diving Championships at Ithaca College.

While Courtney had a successful senior season, it wasn’t always a smooth journey. During her sophomore season, Snyder nearly considered quitting the sport.

“I didn’t really have a diving coach my sophomore year. That was really hard for me and I didn’t really want to be here,” she said.

According to Snyder, Marywood wasn’t looking for a diving coach at the time, so she not only had to coach herself but another freshman. It took an emotional toll on her.

“I lost the motivation just because I wasn’t seeing any improvement. I didn’t know how I was doing because nobody really was telling me how I was doing,” said Snyder.

She found herself practicing alone where she contemplated her future.

“Practicing by yourself is very hard. You don’t have anyone to talk to. So I was in the pool by myself and thought, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore.'”

Instead of staying on campus to practice over winter break, she decided to go back home to Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Snyder said conversations with her mom and best friends motivated her to stay at Marywood.

After her lost season, Marywood hired current swimming and diving head coach Noah Beck from SUNY-Geneseo in New York.

Reinvigorated by Beck’s energy, Snyder, now a junior, got back on track finishing as conference runner-up in 1-meter and 3-meter dive at the Landmark Conference Championships. And the rest is history.

Snyder earned 2018 Landmark Conference “Co-Diver of the Year,” made First Team All-Landmark Conference in 3-meter diving and Second Team All-Landmark Conference in 1-meter diving. She also set new school records in 1-meter (380.85) and 3-meter (429.23) dives.

Snyder capped off an incredible season with a trip to the NCAAs, which was a historic end to an unbelievable Pacer career.

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Twitter: @JohnFerraroTWW