INDIANAPOLIS – First-year
Brooke Ronan and senior
Donna Zhang each earned First Team All-America honors in three-meter diving and the Amherst College women's swimming and diving team earned Second Team All-America honors in the 400-yard freestyle relay as the NCAA Division III Championships concluded on Saturday at Indiana University Indianapolis.
Ronan finished fourth and Zhang placed eighth in the championship final of the three-meter diving event. Ronan tallied an 11-dive score of 477.15 to earn the second All-America finish of her rookie season at the NCAA Championships. Zhang also earned All-America honors in both diving events this year, scoring 446.25 points on the three-meter board for her third career All-America honor and highest-ever finish at nationals in her final collegiate event.
The Mammoths capped off the championship with a school-record performance in the final event of the meet, the 400 free relay. Sophomore
Sydney Thompson and juniors
Lucy Smith,
Maeve Kelley and
Paige Arnold teamed up to win the consolation final and place ninth in the nation with a time of 3:23.57, breaking the previous Amherst record of 3:23.64 that had stood since 2008, and earning Second Team All-America honors for an Amherst quartet that is already well-decorated. Thompson closes the meet with three All-America performances this year, Arnold captured a sixth career All-America finish, Smith earned her eighth career All-America honor and Kelley is now a nine-time All-American with her fourth top-16 finish this year.
The Mammoths finished the meet with 92 points in the team standings to place 14th in the nation and mark the 28th straight NCAA Championship that Amherst has placed in the top 16. NYU topped the standings with 517 points to win its first-ever championship.
At the morning trials, Arnold tied for 18th in the 100-yard freestyle with a personal-best time of 50.84 seconds. Thompson placed 24th in the event in 50.96 seconds and first-year
Ava Insteness finished in 52.57 seconds to claim 57th place.
First-year
Penny Lazar swam the 1650-yard freestyle and finished in 26th place with a time of 17:41.50.
* Amherst record
