55 state champions graced the Wall of Champions in the Millard West pool, but this season a new champion will be added to the wall after nine years without a new addition. Senior Lainey Woodward became the latest swimmer or diver to be added to the wall after a historic performance at the NSAA Swimming and Diving State Championships.

The former gymnast followed the trend that many take after moving on from the sport and took up diving. The summer before her freshman year is when she first took up the board at Airborne Diving Academy to get some experience before donning the green, white and black as a Wildcat. Although a lot of her gymnastics skills transferred seamlessly into her new sport, she was not the only freshman making an impact on the team. Her success was overlooked in place of then freshman Audrey Frohloff who quickly made a name for herself in the world of high school diving breaking Danielle Barmore’s record of 411.70 with a 455.90 in her first meet as a Wildcat. 

“Every single time we competed we were always close,” Woodward said. “I kept getting closer and closer as the season went on. Practicing with her definitely helped a lot because I would see what she would do and apply it to my dives. We pushed each other back and forth.”

At the state meet she placed in eighth with a score of 353.95 and returned to her club to prepare for the next season that next winter. 

Her sophomore year, Woodward took up the mantle as the top diver as Frohloff took her talents to cheerleading after her historic season. She showed major improvements adding an extra 77.75 to her score and being the state runner-up with a score of 431.70 at the state championship. 

Junior year came with a lot of unexpected obstacles. A season plagued with COVID-19 protocols and regulations, as well as a coaching change on the Millard West staff that left the team in an unmotivated place . She still performed extremely well throughout the season, breaking Frohloff’s school record with a 497.90. An unexpected turn of events plagued her state championship performance with a case of stomach flu. In the end she placed in fourth, a downgrade from her second place finish the year before.

“I was not happy with that fourth place finish,” Woodward said. “It wasn’t the best circumstances but it pushed me to keep getting better. I put in double the work I put in during the off season compared to the year before, all throughout the summer and going into high school season.”

All the hard work paid off as on Nov. 4, 2021 she announced her verbal commitment to the University of Iowa to continue her diving career. 

With her future in the sport on lock, the now senior diver had one thing on her mind. That first place finish at the state championship meet on Feb. 25. All the hard work she’d put in her for years all came down to the most important season of her career. With the new season came yet another head  coaching change, but one that was much more familiar to her. Woodward’s club coach Peter Charles had been hired to take over the dive program. 

“I was excited and scared at the same time,” Charles said. “Just the idea of working for a strong Athletic department like Millard West is nerve racking in itself. I had the privilege of working with Lainey every day for the last four years.”

In her senior season, she broke her own school record, placing first in every single meet she dove at including the Metro Conference Championship two weeks before State. When the time came Woodward performed, blowing the competition out of the water and taking first place by a margin of almost 60 points with a score of 478.10. 

“I was so proud of her because I saw how much she worked each day in practice,” teammate junior Kate Stoltenberg said. “She’s such a great leader. If one of us is down at practice she’s always there to lift us up and the fact that she accomplished what she set out to do makes us all really happy.”

The state champion and future hawkeye has left a legacy that will forever be remembered and preserved on the Wall of Champions in the Millard West pool as number 56.