When she arrived at Boston University, Alayna Kennedy dreamed of being recognized as Patriot League Diver of the Week. It wasn’t long until she realized that dream.

After her collegiate debut against Holy Cross in October, where she delivered a winning performance in the 3-meter dive, Kennedy got that honor.

“I really wanted to get Diver of the Week,” Kennedy, a freshman, said. “That … gave me the motivation to keep doing my best and keep pushing myself.”

Fast-forward to the 2026 Patriot League Swimming and Diving Championships in February, when Kennedy won something even bigger. 

On the second night of competition, Kennedy won the 1-meter title, defeating Navy senior Mackenzie Kim — the 2025 Patriot League Diver of the Year who swept both springboard events at last year’s meet. The rookie Kennedy placed first in her last three dives, scoring 300.55 points.

Then came the final of the women’s 3-meter on the last night of the championship meet. It was the event that initially put Kennedy on the Patriot League diving radar at the very beginning of the season. It was Kim’s last event — a chance for the veteran to end her collegiate diving career on a high note.

Kennedy entered the championship final seeded seventh, 46 points behind. 

“I had also messed up my reverse 1½, which is usually probably one of my best dives,” Kennedy said. “To mess it up, I was like, ‘this isn’t going to go very well.’”

Kennedy didn’t let those thoughts overwhelm her in the final, going back to her routine mindset.

“My one main focus was to just do it how I do in practice,” Kennedy said. “Don’t put too much pressure on myself.”

These high pressure environments are where Kennedy performs best, according to BU’s Head Diving Coach Brad Snodgrass.

“In those stressful situations, she seems to thrive on it,” Snodgrass said. “Most of us aren’t wired that way, but she is.”

In the final, she had the slight lead heading into the sixth and final round. It all came down to one last dive. Kennedy dove before Kim, performing a forward 1½ somersault with two twists and ending her six-dive routine with a final score of 321.30.

Then it was Kim’s turn. The veteran finished her routine with an inward 2½ somersault tuck. Despite getting the highest score in the sixth round, she finished just 1.25 points behind Kennedy, failing to defend her title against the BU freshman.

It was done. Kennedy had made program history, becoming the first BU freshman to sweep both diving events at a championship meet. Both the men’s and women’s teams swarmed around her, jumping up and down in celebration.

“Obviously, I wanted to do really well,” Kennedy said. “My goal was to make finals, but I had no idea that I’d go this far.”

Only 12 of the 55 athletes who compete for BU Swimming & Diving are divers. But according to Snodgrass, athletes supporting each other across disciplines “really, really matters.”

“We cheer for the swim team, the swim team cheers for us,” Snodgrass said. “The one thing I remember as an athlete myself is my teammates cheering for me. That was probably the highlight of my career.”

The smaller diving group has become a tight-knit community. Diving captains senior Rena Ho and junior Zein Mahana mentored Kennedy and the other divers, pushing them to raise the bar at every practice.

“There’s this inward dive that I hate doing, and Alayna and I would do it together all the time and push each other to get it off the board,” Ho said. “I made it my mission to really bring [us] all together, because we’ve never had such a good group of divers before.”

Snodgrass deeply cherished the leadership of the two captains, who played a pivotal role in the divers’ success throughout the season.

“Both Zein and Rena are so steady, so calm, so positive,” Snodgrass said. “When you have positive leadership like that, it makes everything easy, it really makes my job super easy.”

Looking beyond her rookie season, Kennedy aspires to continue to find joy in her sport while supporting and uplifting her teammates.

“Obviously I want to work hard, but at the end of the day, it’s just a sport, we’re meant to have fun,” Kennedy said. “I’m here with my team, so that makes it so much better.”