L-W West's Kaitlyn Neiheisel Dives Into New Challenge, Comes Out as Athlete of the Month

When Katilyn Neiheisel made the decision to quit year-round training for club gymnastics, she was confronted with a dilemma shared by many of her peers.

Boredom.

She had gymnastics  to keep her hopping during the winter months through the Lincoln-Way co-op program. She had track and field to occupy her time during the spring sports season at Lincoln-Way West.

Nothing to do in the fall, though.

“I like to keep myself busy, so I just looked at the sports,” Neiheisel said. “I was like, ‘Oh, well, I’ll do diving. That’s kind of like gymnastics.’ And I just picked it up.”

Neiheisel, Patch’s Athlete of the Month for November, did more than pick up diving as a sophomore at Lincoln-Way West. She quickly turned her fall doldrums into splish-splash excitement in the Warrior diving well.

In her third trip to the IHSA state meet, she powered her way to a second-place finish Nov. 18-19 at New Trier High School in Winnetka. She finished with a point total of 382.15—topped only by Deerfield’s Erin Purdy (405.95).

For Neiheisel, the silver-medal performance followed on the heels of her signing a national letter of intent to attend Illinois State University. She will compete as a diver and pole vaulter for the Redbirds and pursue a career in nursing.

No diver in the Lincoln-Way school district ever has placed higher at the IHSA state meet than Neiheisel. No athlete at Lincoln-Way West ever has placed higher in any individual sport, either.

No wonder she is awestruck by her transformation from gym- to diver-dandy.

“I had kind of assumed they were going to be similar—they weren’t that similar,” Neiheisel said of gymnastics and diving. “I’d say the body awareness is the same, knowing where you are in the air, knowing when to kick. But, other than that, I don’t really think they are similar—because the floor doesn’t bounce as much as the diving board.

“Once you take off, you know if it’s going to be a good dive or a bad dive. When you know it’s going to be a good, it’s like the best feeling ever. You haven’t hit the water yet. But, you’re like, ‘I’m going to rock this entry. It’s going to be awesome.’ I think that’s the reason why I like diving so much.”

Neiheisel set school and pool marks at nearly every stop during her senior season, leaving her name as the one on the record boards for others to try and erase. She also added to her growing list of IHSA state meet credentials.

Competing with the Lincoln-Way co-op team in gymnastics, she finished fifth in the floor exercise as a junior and 10th on beam as a sophomore. In track, she placed 12th for the Warriors in the pole vault as a junior. She has cleared a personal-best 11-6.

Not bad for an old club gymnast working with a new diving coach, too.

“What many people do not know is that I began coaching diving the same year Kaitlyn (Neiheisel) chose to pick up diving as a sport,” Lincoln-Way West’s Heather Triezenberg said. “We both came into the sport with extensive gymnastics knowledge, but limited diving experience.

“As her coach, I spend a lot of time studying books and videos of dives as well as learning from other coaches to make sure I am coaching her, as well as my other divers, correctly. Throughout this season, I had several conversations with Kaitlyn about her goals to keep her focused.

“Practices are tough. The girls are expected to work hard. There is no sitting down. If they are not on the board, they are doing drills, mapping out their next dive on the ground or studying their previous dive on TiVo to see what they did well and what can be fixed.

“And, most importantly, I don’t tolerate negative thinking. Learning new dives can be very nerve-wracking and believing you can do it is more than half the battle.”

Neiheisel’s can-do approach is one that separates her from the crowd.

“She is internally motivated to keep improving herself,” Lincoln-Way West swimming coach Kristen Anderson said. “She has a very strong work ethic. And she’s  a great competitor. Maybe the day before at practice the dive might not be working out for her. But come competition, she refocuses and is able to earn her highest points for that day.”

And that’s the mark of a true Warrior.