Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League

 
As a diver at the University of Arizona, Samantha Pickens won two NCAA titles in the women’s one-meter springboard, a championship repeat that shouldn’t have surprised anyone who watched her compete at Franklin Regional. Whenever she won a title, she always seemed to win it again. In high school, Pickens won four consecutive PIAA Class 3A titles from 2007-10, making her the first girl to win four in a row at Pennsylvania’s highest classification. She also won three consecutive WPIAL titles in 2008-10, writing and rewriting the championship record book each time. Her WPIAL-winning score improved more than 60 points in those three years, climbing from 542.25 as a sophomore to 605.55 as a senior, a mark that remains the WPIAL championship record today. That success continued in Arizona, where Pickens won NCAA 1-meter titles in 2013 and 2015. In between, she won gold at the USA Diving Winter National Championships in 2014. Additionally, Pickens won a bronze medal in 2015 at the FINA Puerto Rico Grand Prix in the 3-meter. Injuries tested Pickens, who showed resilience during her high school and college career. She won the state title her freshman year at Franklin Regional despite a stress fracture in a vertebra that later required her to wear a brace for months. The injury recurred during her freshman year at Arizona, but she continued to compete. As a two-time NCAA champion, she was named to the Pac-12 All-Century Team in 2016, a 32-person collection of the best divers and swimmers in conference history. In her three trips to the NCAA championships, Pickens finished fourth, first and first in the 1-meter competition, and third, second and eighth in the 3-meter. She’s since competed internationally, including a FINA competition in February 2020 in Madrid, Spain.