First-year actuarial science student and member of UW-Eau Claire’s swim and dive team, Tait Johnson, was chosen as the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Athlete of the Week for the week of Jan. 26 to Feb. 1. 

This was after Johnson took first place in both the 1-meter and 3-meter dives against UW-Whitewater. He also achieved a career high with 278.35 points on the 1-meter dive. 

Annie Ryder is the head swimming and diving coach who said Johnson has improved since the start of the season, and they hoped he would be named Athlete of the Week after the UW-Whitewater meet. 

During the meet against UW-Whitewater, the Blugolds found themselves winning 15 of the 16 events they competed in. 

Johnson said he started swimming around the age of three and began swimming competitively at five. 

“I always was asking for a reward if I could jump off the edge of the pool or jump off the diving board,” Johnson said. 

Johnson said he went to a different middle school every year — first to Richfield, then Fairmont, then down to Florida — and the last two schools didn’t have a dive team. He moved again for high school and joined the swim and dive team for the Richfield Spartans. 

Johnson said there was no adjustment period for getting back into swimming because of how long he’d been doing it and due to swimming almost every day the summer before, although there was an adjustment to learn more proper form in high school. 

Johnson said having a background in swimming wasn’t necessarily something that helped him in diving. 

“I would say that they’re pretty completely opposite sports,” Johnson said. “Even when you dive in swimming, it’s like a completely different physics game.” 

When it came time for college, Johnson decided on UW-Eau Claire due to its affordability and its actuarial science program. 

He said this was also decided after speaking to the swim and dive coaches, especially Assistant Diving Coach Sara Bates. 

Johnson said now he does both 1-meter and 3-meter instead of just one-meter as he did in high school. Ryder said three-meter dives are not something high schools compete in. 

“I think our diving coach, Sara, does a fantastic job preparing them for (the) three-meter,” Ryder said. “A lot of our divers don’t have three-meter experience when they come in unless they dive (for a club team).”

Johnson said part of his current training is “dry land,” where Bates takes him and other athletes to practice on a trampoline and diving board set up in front of a mat to work on positioning and timing. 

“It’s just a way more efficient way to practice really specific things within the dive,” Johnson said.

Johnson said Bates also has a focus on the mental aspect of swim and dive and helps him stay positive. 

Ryder said Bates is good at focusing on and improving both the diver’s physical and mental skills. 

“The mental component of it definitely helps them bounce back after a dive that maybe didn’t go quite as well,” Ryder said. 

For diving, Johnson said his goal is to place in the top eight for nationals. 

Outside of Johnson’s accomplishment, the Blugold men’s swim team has competed in five meets/invites, including against Whitewater since the beginning of the year. The Blugolds will next participate in the WIAC Championship on Feb. 18. 

“We are excited to be competitive within the conference and are looking forward to a successful championship,” Ryder said.

Curtin can be reached at [email protected].