MICDS Diver Nealey Wallis Looks For Gold In Diving At The State Meet

Nealey Wallis left something on the swim deck of the Rec Plex in St. Peters at the state swimming and diving championships last February. Then a junior at MICDS she was leading all divers on points through eight rounds. The championship was almost in her hip pocket.

By her admission, she blew her last dive with a 2 1/2 twist and plummeted from first to fifth. She has hopes the trip back to St. Charles might result in the opportunity to stand on the top rung on the victory stand. “State will be tough. There are four or five really good divers in St. Louis, and more around the state."

She’s dedicated herself to making it all happen her senior season. Diving at MICDS has become a real challenge. Because of the slope of the pool, the diving board from their natatorium had to be removed years ago. “It’s difficult, it’s frustrating not having a board in our pool,” she said.

Still, the interest is there. MICDS has four divers: Kat Friese, Courtney Trowbridge, McCaig Dove and Wallis.

This has been a results season for Wallis. She won the title at the Lindbergh Invitational and first place in a wide variety of smaller meets.

Next year, she will dive for the Violets of New York University. She is headed to New York City to study medicine: “I want to be a heart surgeon some day,” she said.

Her coach Kristen Kaiser has relied on Wallis to earn lots of points in meets over the years. “Obviously, she’s a very good diver. She shows us a lot of leadership on the board. She’s shown a lot of composure and she has last year’s championship experience under her belt. That should all help,” said Kaiser. “She’s just a joy to coach,” said her coach.

What Wallis is a great role model for younger female athletes. Her dedication to diving has been inspiring. For the record, MICDS divers practice one the 1 meter board at the Center of Clayton.