UWEC Athletics Hall of Fame
Sara Smith was a member of the prestigious Blugold swimming and diving team from 1984 to 1987. Smith won an unprecedented four national diving championships while at Eau Claire. She captured the NAIA 3-meter title in 1984, 1985 and 1987 and the 1-meter championship in 1985. She was also the national runner-up four times, placing second on the 1-meter board in 1984, 1986 and 1987 and second on the 3-meter board in 1986. Her national places earned her a total of eight All-American honors. Smith also set the national scoring record on the 3-meter board in 1987. On the conference level, Smith won the WWIAC championship on the 1-meter and 3-meter boards in 1986 and 1987. Smith was a member of four conference championship teams while at Eau Claire and also a member of the 1987 NAIA national championship team. Smith was honored as the Female Athlete of the Year by the Madison Pen and Mike Club in 1987 and was featured in Sports Illustrated's Faces in the Crowd in April of 1987. Since 1988, Smith has spent her summers traveling around the world as a professional high diver. She has performed springboard, platform and high diving exhibitions and shows at Sea World of San Diego, CA; Sea World of Ohio, Hawaiian Cliffs, Taiwan, New York and Bangkok, Thailand. A 1983 graduate of Madison West High School, Smith received her bachelor's degree from UWEC in 1989. At the time of her induction, she was substitute teaching at the elementary through high school levels.
