Cheryl Meltz-Kroopnick

Head Dive Coach

Girls Varsity Swim & Dive

This year is Cheryl’s 22nd season as Head Dive Coach for Oakton High School. Cheryl started diving at age 11, competed at the Junior Olympic level during her high school years and was a two-time high school All-American qualifier. She then went on to dive Division I in college, where she was a three-year captain of the Colgate University Diving Team. While in college, Cheryl broke 5 Varsity and Pool records. She was the Patriot League Conference Champion on both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboards her senior year, the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) silver medalist on 3-meter in her junior year, and a four-time NCAA Division I National Qualifier. She was named the Patriot League Diver of the Year her senior year, as well as the Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year for both her junior and senior years. She also earned the distinction of being named to the GTE-CoSida Academic All-American team (encompassing all sports) in her junior and senior years and was named to the All-Patriot League Swimming and Diving Team her senior year. She received the ECAC Merit Medal, was an ESPN Sports Spotlight Athlete and was a National Finalist for the “NCAA Woman of the Year” in her senior year. In addition, Cheryl won Colgate’s award given to the student-athlete (encompassing all sports) who had the highest GPA in the university.

In 2007 Cheryl returned to diving and began competing at the Masters level on 1 meter, 3 meter and platform. In her stint at Masters Diving, she has won 34 US National Masters titles, 5 World Championship titles, and set 1 US National record. In 2010, Cheryl received US Diving’s award for the top Female Masters Diver in the country.

In addition to coaching Oakton High School, Cheryl helped start up the Oakton Swim and Racquet Club Diving Team in 2004 and coached there ever since. Prior to that, Cheryl spent 10 years coaching the Potomac Woods Diving Team in Rockville, MD, assisted at the college level for 4 years, as well as helped coach an age group program in Hamilton, NY. Cheryl also coached for 5 years at the Junior Olympic level with York Dive Club and Dominion Dive Club.

Aside from coaching, Cheryl works full-time as a Chief Systems Engineer for Perspecta, a spinoff of Lockheed Martin Corporation. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from Colgate University, and a Masters degree in Systems Engineering and Engineering Management from George Washington University. Cheryl and her husband, Marc, have two sons, Tyler and Justin.