LEWISTON – Kelsey Lamdin has never entered an NCAA Division III championship wearing so many of the tattoos inherent to her sport of diving.

“I’ve never been hurt seriously, just chronic things. And a nice bruise every once in a while,” said the Bates College junior from Brunswick, showing off the patches of yellow and purple skin near her left shoulder as badges of honor. “The water hurts a little more than hitting the ground, sometimes. This was the first year I’ve actually bruised, so one out of seven isn’t bad.”

Diving competitions aren’t usually decided by black-and-blue biceps, creaky backs or stubbed toes, though. Everybody climbing the ladder could take an ache-and-pain inventory.

All-Americans are separated from the competition as much by their mental approach, and it’s that area where Lamdin has never been more prepared or carefree.

And she achieved it by spending a semester halfway around the world without a springboard in sight.

“I’ve been pretty much full-out since I started diving as a freshman in high school. Last summer was the first summer I took off completely,” Lamdin said. “I went nine months without diving, which is a seriously long time. I usually take off three months total during the year.”

Lamdin left home to study in Perugia, Italy, an ancient, Etruscan hill fort and village that she said taught her the truth in that old Bill Cosby comedy bit about the walk to school being “uphill, both ways.”

When she returned to the states in December, having missed Bates’ first three meets of the season, Lamdin felt physically and mentally prepared even without her traditional training regimen. It was that trip to Europe that constructed the foundation for a shorter journey this week: Lamdin’s third consecutive ticket to the national championship meet in Oxford, Ohio.

Only Bates’ second All-America women’s diver in history – piggybacking a breakthrough by Kara Seaton in 2005 – Lamdin has achieved that status four times and counting.

Having finished sixth in the 3-meter dive in 2006 and fifth in the 1-meter plunge last March, Lamdin is a strong bet to ring up her fifth and sixth All-American laurels, beginning Thursday. In the recent New England Small College Athletic Conference championships, Lamdin smashed Seaton’s school scoring record for the traditional 11-dive program at 3 meters.

“I got my fill, and it was good for me,” Lamdin said of her non-traditional summer and autumn of preparation. “I’ve been dealing with back injuries, so it was good to have a change of pace for a while. That helped me a lot this season. I haven’t had to deal with that nearly as much.”

If divers contending for national titles at Bates are a rare breed, having one of them be a homegrown talent from a surrounding community could be a once-in-a-lifetime event.

High school diving in Maine is considered a dangerous, and therefore endangered, activity. At last month’s Class A boys’ championship meet in Orono, only seven divers from the entire state qualified for the finals. Her senior year at Brunswick High, Lamdin believes there were only 25 girls competing across all ability levels.

“It’s hard to get qualified coaches. There are serious liability issues for high school. The insurance rates are through the roof,” she said. “Really the only places that still have it are the places that haven’t pulled their boards. It’s really sad.”

Not to mention the fear factor.

“It’s a scary sport,” Lamdin admitted. “It’s not easy to throw yourself at the water. You can get hurt. It’s a confidence thing. It’s a taxing mental sport.”

Most divers eventually hit their head as a rite of passage, said Lamdin, laughing as she acknowledged meeting her quota in that department as a high school freshman.

Lamdin was Bates’ lone representative at the NCAA meet in her two previous travels. This year, she’s pleased to share the spotlight with Katelyn Drake, a swimmer who qualified in the backstroke.

Reaching All-American status once, let along four or more times, was never part of Lamdin’s design.

“I’ve reached goals that I didn’t think I had,” she said.

All the while, finding time for pursuits far away from the pool.

“That’s the thing about Division III that I love,” Lamdin said. “You’re free to have a life as much as you can.”