Kevin Lawrence begins his 8th year as the diving coach for the Tar Heel Diving Club. During the past 8 years Tar Heel Diving (formerly NCAC diving) has had many divers succeed at the Junior National and Senior National level.
This past summer, current member Julie Doran competed in her 10th National Championship. Julie was the 2005 Summer Junior National Champion on 1 meter. Elissa Dawson qualified for her 2nd nationals this past summer finaling on 1 meter. Holly Thacker qualified for her first National Championship this summer.
Former THD Diver Ryland Jones, (now diving at UNC) qualified for the US Senior and Junior National Championships this past year. During the 2007-2008 Season, former THD Ryan Funderburk, qualified for the US Senior Nationals and made it to the Semi-Finals on 3 meter. That spring, he also made it to the semi final round as well.
Former THD coach and UNC diver, Erika Matheis paired up with current THD member Julie Doran, and finaled at the 2007 US Senior Nationals diving 3M syncro. It was the first time
finaling for both of them. During the summer of 2006, Ryan Funderburk qualified for the 2006 U.S. Senior Nationals, representing THD, where he made it to the semifinals on the one-meter board, finishing seventh. That Summer THD also finished 3rd as a team during the Junior National Championships.
In 2004, Former THD diver, Nick McCrory, was the Summer Platform Junior National Champion.
Lawrence is also the current head diving coach for the University of North Carolina. Lawrence has done a magnificent job with the Tar Heel divers since coming to UNC from Kansas eight years ago. During his tenure at UNC, Lawrence has coached All American Ryan Funderburk, and NCAA qualifiers David Solarz, current diving coach Jon Fox, and former standout UNC diver Eric Pointras. In 2007, Lawrence was one of the few coaches in the country to have a diver compete at the NCAA Championships, U.S. Senior Nationals and the World Championships. Lauren Karatanevski, a senior at UNC in 2007, became the first Carolina diver in history to compete in the World Championships in Australia in the spring of 2007.
She was a member of the Macedonian team.
“It has been a pleasure working with the age group divers while at UNC. I have come across many wonderful people and have made many new friends. It’s always great to see age-group divers pursue their diving careers in college or beyond. As important as it is to develop good divers, my philosophy has always been to develop good human beings. Diving will end sometime in your life, but the character of who you are will stay with you for a lifetime.” — Kevin Lawrence UNC & THD Diving Coach.
