WATERVILLE, Maine – Junior Sydney Bluestein of the Amherst College women's swimming and diving team won the Northeast/North regional championship on the one-meter diving board on Friday at the NCAA Regionals at Colby College.

The win qualifies Bluestein, the defending national champion in the event, for a return to the NCAA Division III Championships, which will be held March 20-23 in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Bluestein scored 454.55 points in 11 dives, maxing out with a score of 52.00 on her most difficult dive, a forward two-and-a-half somersault pike that earned marks of 6.5 and 7.0 from the judges.

Bluestein, who also won the NESCAC championship in 1m diving this season, captured the regional championship for the first time after finishing as the runner-up in the event each of the last two years.

The diving regional meet continues on Saturday (March 2) at Colby with the three-meter competition beginning at noon.