David Boyko recently completed his eighth season as diving coach for the Eagles at the end of the 2019-20 season.
During his tenure with the Eagles, Boyko has been named CCSA Diving Coach of the Year four times (2013, 2017, 2019 and co-coach in 2020). Additionally, he has coached divers to school records off the 1-meter spring board (Melissa Novak, 2018), 3-meter spring board (Megan Wakefield, 2019). Every top-10 mark in the FGCU record book has been turned in under Boyko's guidance as the Eagles have produced new records every campaign since his arrival in 2012.
In addition to capturing CCSA Co-Diving Coach of the Year during the 2020 conference meet, Boyko saw Reese Wakefield collect Diver of the Meet honors. Wakefield, who captured a league-record seven CCSA weekly diving honors throughout the season, took home the 3m event and placed second on the 1m board in her rookie campaign with the Green and Blue. Under Boyko's guidance, she and classmate Delaney Nelson advanced to the NCAA Zone B Diving Championships, where they were one of just a few non-Power 5 student-athletes among the field.
During the 2019 CCSA Championships, Boyko helped guide Wakefield to a pair of titles in the 1- and 3-meter dive. After capturing the 1-meter board, Wakefield took home the 3-meter crown with a score of 336.5, in the process, etching a new FGCU record. At the conclusion of the meet, she was named the Most Outstanding Female Diver.
The Eagles turned in arguably one of the best seasons under Boyko in 2017-18. Including the aforementioned diving records, FGCU turned in a pair of second-place finishes at the CCSA Championships in the 1-meter (Melissa Novak) and 3-meter (Novak) dives. Two members of the Green and Blue in Wakefield and Margot Kessler also went on to finish first and third, respectively, at the conference's tower platform exhibition events.
Boyko has been a part of five CCSA Championship teams and mentored a plethora of divers in Maegan Butler, Mikaila Buening, Ashley Wright, Melissa Novak, Megan Wakefield, Reese Wakefield and Delaney Nelson to the NCAA Zone Diving Championships in 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018 2019 and 2020, respectively.
In 2013, Butler became the CCSA Champion in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events under Boyko, setting the CCSA Championship record in the latter event. Four years later, Wright accomplished the same feat with a pair of personal best dives at the 2017 CCSA Championships. Additionally, Collins and Buening have finished runner-up in both spring board events during the 2015 and 2016 conference championships, respectively.
Prior to joining the Eagles, Boyko was the diving coach at Hickman and Rockbridge High School from 2009-2011 where he helped produce a three-time Missouri state champion and was a diving coach for the University of Missouri Diving Club from 2008-11. While at the Missouri Diving Club, David helped in the development of the five-time Junior National Champion and three-time Pan American Champion. He also helped out as a diving coach at Chesterfield Aquatic Center for children ages 5-18 and two of the divers he mentored went on to dive at NCAA Division I programs.
Before transitioning into coaching, Boyko was standout diver at the University of Missouri where he was a four-year letter winner. A finalist in the Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships all four years at Missouri, he qualified for the NCAA Swimming and Diving National Championships in 2007. In the Missouri all-time record books, Boyko is ranked fifth in the 1-meter (11 dives) diving event for the Tigers.
Boyko earned a Master's degree in Health Education and Health Promotion from Missouri in 2011 as well as a degree in Nutrition and Fitness in 2008.
Updated 4/1/2020
