She's shared a hot tub with Olympic gold medalist Mary Ellen Clark. She's been to junior nationals, and held a spot on the junior Olympic team. She was New Jersey state diving champion three times over. And now, she's a record holding Dartmouth diver.
Courtney duBois '99 started out just playing around on a diving board 10 years ago. Today, she holds Dartmouth's one and three meter diving records, and for the second year in a row, is headed toward zones, the precursor to the NCAA diving championships.
Yet for all of duBois's individual accomplishments, when one speaks with her one cannot help but take note that it is her teammates and having fun that come first when she's on the diving board.
"We have such a good time at practice . . . we all complement each other, we're all so different."
duBois is proud of the Dartmouth program, and most of all, she's thrilled that the other two female divers have qualified for zones, "I'm really psyched that all three women divers are going to zones ...We're all really good friends"
duBois doesn't hesitate when describing what keeps her diving, "It's fun."
After just two years of playing around on a diving board at her club, the Princeton diving coach asked her if she would like to join his junior olympic team.
Records have been falling left and right ever since.
duBois came into this season with just one goal -- to break the school's one meter record.
That goal didn't last long. In fact, the goal didn't even last one day into the season, as duBois broke the record in the team's first meet against Brown.
From there she set a new goal -- to break the three meter record. Though that goal lasted a bit longer, it fell just 10 days ago against UVM. Later that same day, she rebroke Dartmouth's one meter record.
So when duBois said, "I've been setting small goals and going from there," she really meant that she's been setting lofty goals and shattering them all.
duBois qualified for zones on the same day she first broke the one meter record, the first meet of the season. From March 14 to 15, she'll travel to zones for the second time in her two-year Dartmouth career.
Last year, duBois failed to advance to the NCAA championships, but she's hoping for a different outcome this year.
"Zones should go better this year," duBois said, "I think over the course of this season, I've figured out how to compete."
Part of that learning experience has come from learning to enjoy her diving.
"I think that's part of the reason why I'm competing better this year," she said, "I'm not stressing out ... It helps to take a 'Just do it' attitude about it. That's my new motto."
duBois lavishes high praise on Dartmouth Diving Coach Ron Keenhold, "He's awesome ... He was a huge part of motivating me to dive this year.
"I think the coach has a lot to do with the quality of the divers."
With just one meet left before eastern regionals, and then zones, duBois is looking to finish strong, "Easterns are a good preparatory meet for zones."
Regardless of how far duBois goes in this season's championships, she is a Dartmouth diving success story without equal. Her two years remaining here can be counted in diving seasons, or more likely in the number of records that will fall by the wayside with her remaining dives.
