Passages: Lia Smith, Former Middlebury College Diver, 21<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lia Smith, a former diver at Middlebury College who was involved in multiple school activities, died this week. She was 21 years old.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-lia-smith-former-middlebury-college-diver-21\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Passages: Lia Smith, Former Middlebury College Diver, 21\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lia Smith, a former diver at Middlebury College who was involved in multiple school activities, died this week. 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{"id":625427,"date":"2025-10-27T23:26:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T06:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=625427"},"modified":"2025-10-28T04:36:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T11:36:17","slug":"passages-lia-smith-former-middlebury-college-diver-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-lia-smith-former-middlebury-college-diver-21\/","title":{"rendered":"Passages: Lia Smith, Former Middlebury College Diver, 21"},"content":{"rendered":"

Passages: Lia Smith, Former Middlebury College Diver, 21<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lia Smith,<\/strong> a former diver at Middlebury College, died last week<\/a>. She was 21 years old.<\/p>\n

Smith had competed in previous seasons as a diver for the Division III school, though she wasn\u2019t actively listed on the team\u2019s roster. She was last seen on Oct. 17, was reported missing on Oct. 19, and her body was found after an extensive law enforcement search near campus last Thursday. An identification by police was made on Friday.<\/p>\n

Smith was a member of the Class of 2026. She was a native of Woodside, California, double majoring in computer science and statistics. She was a member of the chess club, Japanese club and Women in Computer Science as well as an advocate for transgender rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the past few days, I have learned what a remarkable person Lia was\u2026\u201d college president Ian Baucom<\/strong> wrote in an email to the campus community<\/a> on Saturday, while thanking college staff for their efforts in the search with Vermont State Police. \u201cShe was a gift to us and we are so grateful that she was \u2013 and will always remain \u2013 a member of our Middlebury family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have spoken with Lia\u2019s family to express my heartbreak. As president, and far more as a fellow parent, I ache for them. This is a profound loss that nobody should have to endure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"