GBI Magazine

Exclusive Club With her title in the 3-meter dive, Casey Matthews became the second diver to capture an NCAA championship in the past three years under Coach Adam Soldati. The Purdue coach since 2006, Soldati also oversaw David Boudia's six NCAA titles in three different diving events. Matthews is now the 19th Boilermaker in school history to win an individual national title and seventh in the past 20 years, joining recent champions such as Maria Hernandez (women's golf), Lindsey Blaine (women's javelin), and Serene Ross (women's javelin). Returning next year for her senior season, Matthews will be defending her 3-meter title as well as competing in the 1-meter event with the opportunity to become Purdue's third athlete to win multiple national titles. David Boudia, with six titles, and Arnold Plaza, who won wrestling titles in 1948 and 1949, are the only two to accomplish the feat as Boilermakers. Recent Purdue National Champions Casey Matthews 3-meter dive 2013 David Boudia 3-meter dive 2009-2011 David Boudia 1-meter dive 2010-2011 David Boudia Platform dive 2009 Maria Hernandez Golf 2009 Lindsey Blaine Javelin 2007 Serene Ross Javelin 2002 Matthews suffered a second shoulder tear that would prevent her from competing in the Olympic Trials. That second injury forced her to miss the first the first few months of competition for Purdue this season as well. Matthews finally returned to action for Purdue at the Ohio State Invitational on Dec. 2. "When all that happened, I was really fueled to come back and compete at the level I had before," Matthews said. "I wanted to show myself that I could do it. I wanted it so badly." When she returned in December, Matthews was forced to adjust as a diver. No longer could she compete in the platform, as the 10-meter height of that event was more than her shoulder could take. "After that second tear, we had to come up with a new game plan," Matthews said. "We decided to focus on the Tom Campbell Diving coach Adam Soldati has maintained a close relationship with Matthews, guiding her every step during her journey to a national championship. springboard where there was less of a potential to tear that rotator cuff again." This change was made because the springboard events, at 1 and 3 meters, presented a lower risk of re-injury to Matthews' shoulder than the 10-meter dives. "I had competed on the springboard before, but that's a tough adjustment because it is very different form the platform," she said. "But I think I made the adjustments pretty well." Changing events wasn't the only major adjustment that had to be made to prepare Matthews to excel at exactly the right time, on the biggest stage of the year. With Matthews returning in December, diving coach Adam Soldati adjusted Matthews' preparations so that she wasn't performing dives with multiple spins in competition until four weeks before the Big Ten Championships, a small window of time for Matthews to round into form for the most important events of the season. It was a gamble made in the hope that she would peak at the right time. It paid off. "That is really a super-miraculous story," Soldati said following Matthews' title in March. "We literally started doing optionals, which are the dives we do in competition, about four weeks before Big Tens. It was a really strategic plan in trying to get her ready. Gold & Black IllustrateD • volume 23, issue 5

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