Photo submitted to the Times Observer Warren graduate and Clarion University sophomore Katie Madigan was a two-time All-American this weekend at the NCAA Division II Diving Championships at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.

GENEVA, Ohio — It shouldn’t be a surprise.

“I swear there is nothing the Madigans are bad at,” said one Facebook friend of Katie Madigan’s weekend at the NCAA Division II Diving Championships at SPIRE Institute.

Madigan, a Warren Area High School graduate and Clarion University sophomore, earned not one, but two All-America honors in her first trip to the national diving meet. After finishing fifth in the nation in the 3-meter competition Thursday, she was seventh in the 1-meter competition Saturday.

In fact, four Golden Eagles finished among the top eight 3-meter divers in the nation with junior Alexa Gonczi crowned national champion with a six-dive total of 505 points. Clarion sophomore Luna Castellanos was third with 471.75 points, Madigan fifth with 418.5 and freshman teammate Colleen Hudson sixth at 415.75.

That’s not all — Gonczi, Castellanos and Madigan added All-America honors Saturday, with the trio finishing in the top-eight of the women’s 1-meter championships. Grand Valley State’s Madison Kooistra won that title with 463.95 points. Madigan was seventh in the finals with a score of 416.4 points after qualifying for the finals with a seventh-place total in the semifinals earlier in the day. She was seventh out of 53 in the preliminaries and advanced to the finals among 22 diving in the 1-meter semifinals.

“It felt really good. All the time and hard work from this season paid off,” said Madigan. “I was definitely a little surprised. Going into the meet, I was hoping to finish in the top 8 on both boards.”

Nothing should be a surprise surrounding a volleyball, softball and diving standout at WAHS, who won two straight District 10 2A diving titles and fourth- and third-place finishes at states her junior and senior years, respectively.

“High school to college was a huge adjustment for me,” she said. “The season is so much longer in college and filled with many ups and downs. I also had to learn a complete list on a new board (3-meter). Prior to college, I had never dove on that board before. I believe that my transition from high school to college went fairly smoothly. I had an amazing coach and teammates around me.

“Going forward, I hope to continue to improve my technique, add some harder dives, and improve my places on each board,” Madigan added.

The former gymnast’s first D10 diving title in high school came after just a year in her new sport.

“When individuals find out I have little experience, they think it’s crazy,” said Madigan. “I would definitely say my other sports helped my adjustment to college diving. Gymnastics had the biggest impact on preparing me for my transition into diving. I believe that it gave me the foundation. I would not be the athlete I am today if it weren’t for all the different experiences I’ve had, in all my sports.

“At the beginning of the college season, my goal was to qualify for nationals. It is a very hard score to get,” she added. “At my school, we have very high standards and true judging. Once I qualified for nationals, my training shifted. My coach reminded me all year to trust the process; we train for March. The season is very long, I haven’t dove this much ever in my life.”

There are always things to improve upon.

“I am very hard on myself,” she said. “That was something I worked on a lot this year. I want all my dives to be perfect all the time. … Really, I want everything to be perfect. … I wanted my dives to be perfect too soon in the year. Trusting the process was very hard for me. My training worked in the end and, moving forward, I need to be less stubborn, less of a perfectionist. I need to be more patient.”