NCAA Zone A Diving Championships
March 16, 2002 • U.S. Naval Academy

Van Deusen Places Third in 3-Meter; Qualifies for NCAA Championships

 

ANNAPOLIS, MD -- University of Delaware junior Julie Van Deusen became the first Blue Hen swimmer or diver ever to qualify for the NCAA Championships as she placed third in the three-meter diving event at the NCAA Zone A Diving Championships Saturday at the U.S. Naval Academy's Lejeune Hall.

Van Deusen, a native of Bear, DE (The Hill School, Pa. HS) and a first-year transfer from Syracuse University, posted a point total of 454.60 in the three-meter diving event to earn one of three NCAA Championship berths. She placed eighth in the one-meter diving event Friday night at Navy. Her place in both events was the highest ever for a Blue Hen woman diver.

By placing in the top three at the meet, Van Deusen qualifies for the NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships at the University of Texas in Austin, TX. She will be among 41 divers competing in the three-meter this Friday, March 22. She is the first member of the UD swimming and diving program to qualify for an NCAA Division I championship and first to qualify for a national meet since the Blue Hens qualified as a team for the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women national championships in 1982.

"Julie did a great job," said UD diving coach John Schuster. "This is a great thing for our swimming and diving program at the University of Delaware. She is very excited to go out there and compete against the best divers in the nation. She had a rough start Saturday but kept battling back and had to hit her final dive to qualify."

Van Deusen, who became the first athlete in UD history to win an individual Colonial Athletic Association title in February when she won the one-meter title in the meet in Fairfax, VA, placed eighth in the one-meter event Friday at Navy with a point total of 248.45. Penn State's Maggie O'Brien won the event with a total of 269.60. Penn State's Steve Bohner won the men's three-meter title Friday with a total of 559.35 points.

In Saturday's action, Bohner captured the men's one-meter title with 361.35 points, Princeton's Kent De Mond won the men's platform event, Princeton's Danielle Stramandi won the women's platform event, and Yale's Bates Gregory won the three-meter title with 479.50 points. Gregory and runner-up Katherine Mattison of Princeton also qualified for the NCAA's along with Van Deusen in the women's one-meter event.

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