Some high school students spend a few years and log many miles trying to find the right college. For Parkland senior Kate Gottwald, the process was much more efficient.

Her first and only visit was to Bucknell University. She immediately liked the school, its diving program and her future teammates.

“Everyone was super tight and close-knit,” Gottwald said.

She wanted to be close to her teammates the way she was during four years as a varsity diver at Parkland. And Bucknell’s program reminded her of the one she was part of in Orefield.

Gottwald spent her entire high school career competing for the most competitive diving program in the Lehigh Valley, maybe in the entire state. In the past four years Parkland has sent multiple divers to the league and district medal stand, including the past four girls champs in both leagues and districts.

Gottwald competed in two East Penn Conference meets each year of high school, as well as all four districts meets. In those 12 meets, she earned one second-place finish, eight third places and two fourth places. She also won the Bucknell Invitational meet as a sophomore and took second place their twice in her career.

She was part of league and district championship teams in 2018 an d 2020.

“Parkland has helped me prepare to dive in college immensely because I have had an amazing coach in Cary Lehman,” Gottwald said. “It has been very helpful to have such talented teammates because it has pushed me to be a better diver myself. My team provided a competitive atmosphere that pushed me to be the best I can be.”

Gottwald’s athletic career started on the soccer field, just like her older brother and sister. But she moved on to gymnastics at five-years old and made it to Level 8 before deciding to leave that sport for the diving board. She liked that diving can be an outdoor sport and that it was a bit less demanding than gymnastics.

“Diving is pretty similar to gymnastics, so I decided to give it a try and I ended up liking it,” she said.

Gottwald joined the Parkland Diving Club in fifth grade and started traveling to other states to compete. With her sports being busiest in the winter, she was still able to participate in the fall play and spring musical when she was in Orefield Middle School.

She has performed as well in the classroom as she has in the pool. Gottwald took honors and AP classes in high school and was a member of the National Honor Society, English Honor Society and German Honor Society.

She will be the third Gottwald sibling to play college sports as her brother Jacob was a soccer goalkeeper at Lehigh before graduating in 2017. Sister Louise is a midfielder at Stevens Tech.

In summer Gottwald competes on the Orchard View Swim team where she is also assistant diving coach. This year’s summer season has been canceled.

Kate Gottwald plans to major in Environmental Science at Bucknell.