With 20 years of NCAA Division I coaching experience at the University of New Mexico and UNLV (Nevada-Las Vegas), Julie Weddle began her role as Colorado Mesa University's diving coach in August, 2024.
Prior to CMU, Weddle spent ten years at New Mexico from 2013-23 as the Lobos’ Head Diving Coach after a similar ten year stint at UNLV from 2003-13 in her hometown. Her divers were successful in both programs.
At UNM, she guided 15 NCAA Division I Zone Qualifiers in her time in Albuquerque, including Megan Harper, who won the Mountain West Conference title on the 3-meter in 2014. At UNLV, she guided 20 Zone qualifiers as the Rebel divers contributed to eight (7 men’s, 1 women’s) conference titles in their stints in the MWC, Western Athletic Conference and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
Weddle also coached or oversaw youth club programs in both Albuquerque and Las Vegas and served as the head diving instructor from the City of Henderson (Nev.) Parks and Recreation, a position she started in 1997 before beginning her own collegiate career. She grew that program from 15 to 120 students.
Prior to joining the Division I coaching ranks, Weddle also had coaching stints with the Nevada Diving Club (1999-2002) and for the Clark County School District (2003).
“We are thrilled to welcome Coach Weddle to the Maverick Nation. Julie has a wealth of diving experience and I know she will have an immediate and lasting impact on our divers. I couldn’t be more excited about working together,” Wender said.
“She has also been involved in every facet of operating the collegiate teams at UNLV and UNM- and understands what it takes to be successful as a total program. We are philosophically aligned and have the same goal for all the athletes in our program— to provide them with opportunities to develop to their full potential as athletes and future leaders while competing at the highest levels both in and out of the pool).”
At CMU, Weddle will join an already powerful Maverick swimming & diving program, which has swept the last six Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference team titles while taking a program-best second (women’s) and fifth (men’s) at the NCAA Division II Championships in 2024. The Maverick divers have been big parts of those efforts, claiming 14 of the last possible 16 RMAC Men’s & Women’s Diver of the Year honors over the past eight years.
A NCAA Division I diver herself, Weddle was a 4-year letterwinner and 3-time NCAA Division I Zone Qualifier at Nevada from 1998-2002, where she was coached by Jian Li You, who went on to coach U.S. Olympian Krysta Palmer at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, contested in 2021.
At the 2001 WAC Championship meet, Weddle finished fifth in the 3-meter diving event. In that same season she took 22nd and 23rd in the one-meter and three-meter boards, respectively at the NCAA Zone meet. In 2000, she placed second in the 1-meter diving event and third in the three-meter diving event at the 2000 Big West Championships as the Wolfpack won a fifth straight conference title before moving to WAC. Weddle was a part of two of those titles.
In 1999, Weddle was eighth in the one-meter competition at the Big West Championships and qualified for the NCAA Zone Championships.
Weddle graduated from Nevada in 2002 with a degree in health ecology.
She has two sons. Her son Karter is a freshman football student-athlete at Western New Mexico while her younger son Karson is a junior at Fruita Monument High School, where he is a on the football, basketball and track & field teams. Her aunt and uncle are also residents of Grand Junction, which along with her hobbies and interests made CMU a natural fit.
When not around the pool, Weddle loves paddleboarding, anything to do with water, mountain biking and hiking.
