Not even a change in leagues could keep diver Brandi Goettsch from being named the best performer.
Goettsch, who earned Female Diver-of-the-Year honors twice in the Mid-Continent Conference, was named the 2002 Horizon League Diver of the Year her lone year in the conference. Following her career, she was named the 2001-02 YSU Female Athlete of the Year.
Goettsch was the first member of the Swimming and Diving program to earn YSU Female Athlete-of-the-Year accolades. She is the first women’s diver to be named to the Athletics Hall of Fame and only the fourth member of the women’s swimming and diving program to be enshrined.
In her four years at YSU, she was a four-time NCAA Zone Qualifier, four-time team MVP, earned four letters, a three-time conference diver of the year and a two-time team captain. She set and then eclipsed YSU Diving records 16 times and has had numerous first and second place finishes.
As a senior in 2001-02, Goettsch won the Horizon League three-meter dive title and placed second in the one-meter event. At the league meet, she won the three meter event with a score of 458.05 and was second in the one meter competition with a score of 271.10. At her fourth NCAA Zone Diving Meet, she placed 18th in the three meter competition and 20th in the one meter. In the competition at the Zone meet, Goettsch scored a 396.85 in the three meter and a 228.45 in the one-meter competition.
She placed first in the three-meter competition with a Mid-Con record score of 492.20 and was fourth in the one meter at 370.10 as a junior. In the Zone meet, her score of 218.35 in the one-meter dive placed her 17th while she finished 19th in the three meter competition with a 220.60.
As a sophomore, Goettsch won the one-meter Mid-Con title and placed second in the three meters with scores of 274.9 and 436.1. She placed 28th at the NCAA Zone C three-meter diving competition with a score of 203.75 and was 30th in the one meter with a score of 158.2. Goettsch became the first Penguin to qualify for the Zone meet in the one and three meter dives during the 1999-2000 season.
As a freshman in 1998-99, Goettsch burst on the Youngstown State scene, winning the Mid-Con Championships in the one-meter and three-meter competitions while earning conference Diver-of-the-Year honors. She finished with a score of 406.00 in the one meter and a 464.2 in the three meters. Goettsch also picked up Blue Grass Mountain Conference Diver-of-the-Year accolades, winning the one and three meters at that meet.
That season, she became the first YSU Women's Diver to compete in the Zone meet, the qualifying stage for the NCAA Championships. She placed 19th at the Zone meet in the one meter with a 182.85. In her collegiate debut in a meet against Buffalo, she set school marks with scores of 246.62 on the one meter dive and a 252.07 on the three meter dive.
She earned her degree from YSU in Early Childhood Education and later received her Master’s Degree from Walden University.
She works for the Mahoning County Educational Service Center as an intervention specialist at Springfield Elementary School.
A graduate of Liberty High School, she was a two-time state meet qualifier and a four-time participant at districts. Her best finish at the state championships was third.
Brandi Pavone, and her husband, Matt, have two children, Jemma and Rylie. The family resides in Boardman.
