 Neyer was born in Ashland, Kentucky in 1962, but moved to Mission Viejo, California to further her athletic training with the Mission Viejo Nadadores.Neyer won the United States Olympic trials in both springboard and platform diving in 1980, but did not participate in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow because of the American-led boycott arising from the Soviet Union's 1979 invasion of Afghanistan.She was one of 461 athletes to receive a Congressional Gold Medal instead.