Baxter’s Russell signs with Northern Iowa diving team

Two-time state champion chooses Panthers over South Dakota and Nebraska Omaha

By Troy Hyde

December 18, 2025 at 1:33 am CST

Baxter senior Camryn Russell, center, signed with the University of Northern Iowa swimming and diving team earlier this month. She was joined at her signing by her father Josh Russell and her mother Cheryl Russell. Camryn Russell chose UNI over interest from the University of South Dakota, the University of Nebraska at Omaha and others. “I thought I connected with the coaches and team the best at UNI, and they all were super helpful during the whole recruiting process. I liked the team environment the best out of all the schools.” Camryn Russell has been diving for 3.5 years. She’s also a standout track and field athlete. “I wanted to go to a bigger school,” Russell said when asked why she chose diving over track and field. “I’ve been doing track longer, but I did gymnastics for a long time before I started diving so I wanted to be able to keep doing it. I was hard to choose between the two, and I did go on some visits for track, but once I made my official visit to UNI, I decided I definitely wanted to do diving.” Russell is a two-time state champion diver for the Grinnell-BGM-Baxter swimming and diving team. She finished no worse than seventh in all four high school seasons. The biggest difference between high school diving and collegiate diving is 1 meter and three meters. “Camryn already has a few dives up on 3 meters, after attending a summer dive camp this past summer,” Grinnell/BGM/Baxter diving coach Deidre Freeman Huff said. “In addition, being in an environment where the level of her teammates, the competition and the amount of practice time she'll have will elevate her training and performance. She can start training with the UNI dive team as early as June this coming summer.” Camryn Russell also will see a familiar face at UNI, too, as former teammate Trista Thompson currently dives for the Panthers. “Every time I talk to Trista, she has nothing but positive things to say about her experience at UNI and the diving program,” Freeman Huff said. “I think it will be a really good fit for Camryn. It's not too big of a school that she'll get lost, and there's a huge sense of Panther pride. I know Camryn will thrive at that level, and she'll have a great team to share experiences with.” (Photo by Amanda Moorman)

Baxter senior Camryn Russell signed with the University of Northern Iowa swimming and diving team recently.