COLUMBUS — Dreams take more than hoping. It took hard work and resiliency for a Shaker Heights native to make his dreams a reality.

What You Need To Know

  • OSU diver Lyle Yost was named the 2023 Arthur Ashe Jr. Male Sports Scholar of the Year, making him the first male winner in the school's history

  • Yost finished the 2023 season strong, earning a national title on the 1-meter board 

  • He has his eyes set on the 2024 Olympic trials

After almost giving up, Lyle Yost eventually climbed his way to the top.

"One thing I have a bit of a reputation for is pushing the limits of what's possible in our sport,” said Yost.  

But before becoming a Junior National Champion Diver and an OSU collegiate star, he would spend his days imitating parkour.

"I was around seven or eight," Yost said. "I was like running up my garage in the backyard. I was teaching myself backflips off of YouTube. I was climbing all over the playground.”

Yost said his mom feared for the worst, pushing him to try diving instead. 

"At one point, my mom was like 'yeah, you're gonna break your neck. So, we're gonna put you in the water,'" he said.

But after a few diving lessons, Yost wasn't sold. 

"I wasn't a super talent starting off," he said. "I almost quit a few times." 

But things started to click the first time he qualified for Junior Nationals when he was 10, and the rest is history.

These days, while competing for Ohio State, Yost has been named National Champion in the one-meter springboard, making him the first Buckeye to win an NCAA Diving Championship since 2016.

Yost was also the first in Ohio State's history to be named the 2023 Arthur Ashe Jr. Male Sports Scholar of the Year for his diving and involvement in community service and academics. 

But there's no stopping Yost anytime soon, as he eyes up his biggest endeavor yet. 

"That's my biggest focus right now is getting to Nationals and then qualifying and making it to Worlds," Yost said. "We've got more than a year until the 2024 Olympic trials. So, that's ultimately the bigger goal." 

So far though, Yost's diving is not about winning the likes of fans but the kids he's hoping to inspire.

"I think just inspiring people to just always never been satisfied with what people can tell you what to do," he said. "There's always more, right? I got a chance to show that." 

This year both male and female winners for the 2023 Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholars of the Year are from Ohio.  

Miami University soccer player Camber Hayes won the female award.