Kayla Purkiser

Class:
Senior
Hometown:
Hopkinsville, Ky.
High School:
Plainfield High School

Junior: Kayla made an immediate impact on the Cardinal diving corps. She made the B-finals in both the 1-meter (261.20) and 3-meter boards (261.90) at BIG EAST, finishing sixth in the 1-meter and ninth in the 3-meter. She advanced to the NCAA Zone B meet, where she finished in the Top 25 in the 3-meter and competed in the 1-meter board as well where she finished 32nd.

Prior to U of L: Kayla came to the University of Louisville as a transfer from Indian River Community College in Fort Pierce, FL. In 2008, Kayla Purkiser scored 493.05 points in the 1-meter diving preliminaries, surpassing her own 2007 national record by nearly 33 points. She trained with Mark Butcher and the Indy Starz and took control of the NJCAA Diving Championships winning both the 1-meter and 3-meter titles and posting records for both events. This earned her All-American status in 2007 and 2008. Purkiser's 3-meter score of 511.40 raised the record score by 39.35 points and her 1-meter score of 460.60 broke the NJCAA record that had previously stood for 9 years. Prep: In high school, Kayla dove for Plainfield and was a member of the Indiana High School All-State team twice and state finalist earning her team MVP honors in 2005 and 2006.

Personal: She is the daughter of Richard and Lori Purkiser. She is majoring in exercise science. She was born Nov. 28, 1987. Her brother, Ryan, is a senior at IUPUI and is in the Army National Guard and was deployed in Iraq all last year.