Paige Kalik

The past week: Kalik placed first at the 2018 WPIAL 3A diving championship with a 440.40.

Check this out: The junior saw significant improvement from last year, when she took fifth. How did it feel to win a WPIAL title? It was my first time winning and it felt great. I wasn’t really expecting to come out on top. Why weren’t you expecting to win? I kind of had a rough week of practice the week before, so I wasn’t feeling super confident, but I had a good day. Were you excited when getting ready to dive? I was really nervous after my last dive, because one of my Pitt [Diving Club] teammates, Adrienne [White], who took second, she was doing really well at the end so I knew it was going to be close. How did you celebrate

afterward? I went over to my two coaches who were there and after I saw Taylor [Miller] and Adrienne [White], who finished second and third. I dive with them with my club team, so we’re good friends.

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would

you go and why? I would go to Ireland because I’m Irish and I’ve always wanted to go there and see all the castles and mountains. What’s the best thing you can cook? Probably mac and cheese.

Besides winning a WPIAL title, what’s one of your best diving accomplishments? Probably be getting chosen for the All-American award. … I send in a video and a bunch of judges go in and score your dives, and whoever is in the top 100 scores gets it.

Cats or dogs? Dogs. I’ve always had a dog growing up. I like when they’re sweet and caring. And I’m allergic to cats. What’s your pre-diving

routine? Recently I’ve been getting Dunkin Donuts. So a sweet tea from Dunkin Donuts is my go-to right now. And then probably listening to music. What music? I like listening to Imagine Dragons before.

Did you play other sports or have you always done

diving? I did gymnastics from when I was 3 to 14, and I started diving in eighth grade. I just didn’t really enjoy gym anymore and I heard about Joey Ference, who won states two years in a row and WPIALs. I heard about his success and I was like, ‘OK, I’ll just try it to have fun,’ and I ended up loving it.