The Ripon sophomore is a making a splash in a sport few in the area have participated in.

In fact, she’s the first student from her school to qualify for the California Interscholastic Federation State Diving Championships. She achieved this by placing third in the Sac-Joaquin Section varsity girls 1-meter division last Friday at St. Mary’s High.

“I love what I do, and I know a lot of people don’t do it,” Goeckeritz said. “It honestly makes it better. I work really hard in my sport. I just have my coach, and it’s a little hard when there’s no one else does it around here. I do it because it’s fun.

“I’m actually the first diver ever at Ripon High,” she added. “It’s a really cool opportunity to show off my school and to show off my skill.”

Her coach is Robert Wimberly of Stockton-based Delta Valley Diving.

Goeckeritz won’t necessarily be alone at the state meet, which coincides with the swim championships May 11-13 at Clovis Olympic Swim Complex. There’s a chance that some of her RHS classmates qualify for swim. Not only that, other state qualifiers out of the Section meet are also club teammates of hers — Keira Chandler (Mountain House) and Savanna Berry (Lodi) finished 1-2, respectively, and Riley Lee (St. Mary’s) took fourth.

There were 37 competitors in her division, the largest field of the SJS meet, and she coasted through the preliminary and semifinal rounds before netting the final third-place score of 426.00. Chandler ended with 453.65, and Berry 447.35.

Goeckeritz started diving when she was 11 years old and has been a serious competitor since. She recently qualified for the USA Diving Junior Nationals, placing 13h in the 1m and 10th in the 3m in the 16-18-year-old division of the Region 10 Championships.

“I’m hoping to get a scholarship to a Division I school,” Goeckeritz said. “I have been looking at colleges, so it’s definitely something I want to keep doing in the future.”