Women's Swimming and Diving
- Title:
- Diving Coach
- Email:
- njgayes@bsu.edu
- Phone:
- 765-285-5141
Nick Gayes enters his eighth season as the diving coach for the Ball State swimming & diving program in 2020-21. He oversees the divers for both the men's and women's teams, and has helped his student-athletes earn several trips to the NCAA Zone Diving Championships. Most recently, Gayes coached Rachel Bertram to her fourth-striaght NCAA Zone appearance in 2020 and helped Caitlin Locante make her first appearance at zones.Â
Gayes joined the Ball State swimming & diving program in September of 2013 as a part-time coach, and was elevated to a full-time position following the 2014-15 campaign.
At the 2017 MAC Championships, freshman Rachel Bertram became the first female diver to record a top-three finish since 2001 with her third place performance on 3-meter.Â
Under Gayes leadership, the Ball State women’s program has sent divers to the NCAA Zone Diving Championships in each of the last six seasons. In addition to their success in the diving well, Gayes has mentored the majority of his divers to Academic All-MAC honors in the classroom.
In his first season at Ball State, Gayes led men’s senior diver Jake Brehmer to one of the best campaigns in school history. Brehmer etched his name in the Cardinals’ record book ranking second on the 3-meter and third on the 1-meter. He became the first Ball State male diver to qualify for the NCAA Zone Diving Championships since 2007, and the first to finish in the top eight at the Mid-American Conference Championships in the same span. Brehmer was named team MVP and Ball State’s Comeback Student-Athlete of the Year.
Prior to joining the Ball State coaching staff, Gayes spent five seasons as an assistant coach for the Sun Devil Divers at Arizona State. During his time in Tempe, Gayes worked to develop athletes from elementary-age through collegiate All-Americans on the springboard and platform.
Another highlight of Gayes time in Arizona was working with Sam Dorman, the NCAA Division I record holder (3-meter), the 2015 NCAA National Champion (3-meter) and a 2016 Olympic Silver Medalist (3m Synchro).
Gayes also has six years of coaching experience at the high school level, having coached at McClintock High School in Temple, Ariz., for three years and at Delta High School in Muncie for three years. During his time at the prep level, Gayes coached state qualifiers, medalists and All-American qualifiers.
The Indianapolis native also spent time as an assistant and head coach of Ray's Rippers Diving club based out of Indianapolis.
During his coaching career, Gayes has helped develop divers that have gone on to compete collegiately at Alabama, Arizona, Arizona State, Auburn, BYU, Denison, Idaho, Illinois State, Miami (OH), Miami (Fla.), Michigan, Northern Arizona and Western Kentucky to name a few.
Gayes is a 2003 graduate of Ball State University where he majored in journalism. In 2017 he added a Master’s of Arts in Athletic Coaching Education, also from Ball State. He and his wife, Kari, have one daughter, Katharine and one son, Niko.
