- 2-Time NCAA Champion
- 2008 NCAA Division III Men's Diver of the Year
- Coached two divers to three NCAA Championships in the last four years, with one winning two titles and the other claiming one.
Two-time NCAA champion Kai Robinson '09 has served as diving coach for the Amherst College men's and women's programs since 2016. The 2021-22 season marks his fifth season over six years after the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020-21 season.
Robinson was the first Amherst diver to win a national championship when he swept the men's one- and three-meter diving events in 2008 and was named the Division III Men's Diver of the Year. As a coach, he helped Lindsey Ruderman '21 duplicate that feat as she became Amherst's first women's diving national champion when she won both diving events at the 2019 NCAA Championship and was named Division III Women's Diver of the Year. Also coached Sydney Bluestein '25 to become the 2023 NCAA champion for the 1-meter.
A 2009 Amherst graduate with a bachelor's degree in economics, Robinson enjoyed a highly-decorated two-year career in Purple & White and established himself as one of the best divers in NESCAC history.
After transferring from Division I Brown University, where he was an Academic All-America honorable mention, Robinson immediately made a splash at Amherst. In addition to his national championship double in 2008, the Vashon, Washington, native was a four-time NCAA All-American, a four-time NESCAC champion, a two-time NESCAC Diver of the Year and a two-time NESCAC All-Academic selection. He was also named a CoSIDA Academic All-American and a CSCAA Scholar All-American. Robinson finished as a quarterfinalist at the 2007 Kaiser Permanente Senior National Diving Championships, the Olympic trial qualification meet held at Stanford University.
In addition to his accolades in the pool, Robinson has excelled as an award-winning math teacher at Northfield Mount Hermon School, where he serves as the math department chair and registrar.
