After capturing IUPUI's first NCAA national title, the IUPUI Department of Athletics has announced that sophomore diver Chen Ni has been named the IUPUI Student-Athlete of the Month for March.
Ni took home the crown at the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships, held at the Boilermaker Aquatics Center, with a score of 325.50.
After claiming the top seed after the afternoon preliminary session, Ni went to work over five dives from the 10-meter platform in the final. Placing second after the first round of dives, Ni took the lead for good in the second round with a back 2 1/2 somersault pike, receiving scores of 9.0-9.0-9.0-9.0-9.0-9.0-9.5 from the judges for a total score of 78.30 on the dive, when factoring the 2.9 degree of difficulty.
The sophomore followed it up with 56.70 points on her third dive, a reverse 2 1/2 somersault tuck, to hold on to the lead, though it shrank to uner 12 points.
Ni maintained her advantage on her fourth dive, using an armstand back 2 somersault 1/2 twist pike to score 64.80, giving her a 10-point cushion heading into her fifth and final dive of the event.
For Ni, who finished fourth on the platform in 2009 in her first year of competition, it was a matter of holding her nerves prior to the final dive.
"I just treated it like practice," Ni said following the meet. "If you get caught up in it being your final dive, you'll lose, so I acted like it was practice.
"I've been training where during practice I tell myself, 'o.k., everyone is watching you, and if you mess up, you're going to lose, but if you make the dive you are going to win. So I knew to calm myself down and hit my dive.'"
Ni did just that, hitting a back 2 1/2 somersauly 1/2 twist pike to record a score of 58.50; with a total score of 325.50, the native of China won the meet by 2.45 points over Alabama's Carrie Dragland. Six of the seven divers Ni competed against in the finals hailed from BCS-level institutions.
For IUPUI diving coach Dr. Johannah Doecke, it was the culmination of an eight-year coaching career at IUPUI. "It means everything to our program; IUPUI is a young school and this is phenomenal.
"We worked all year, simulating that situation - one dive for the title - and it paid off. I'm over the moon."
In two seasons at IUPUI, Ni has rewritten the Jaguars record books in the diving well, while capturing a Summit League Diver of the Year award along with two NCAA All-American honors.
The sophomore was runner-up for The Summit League Diver of the Year title following the conference meet in February and was one of two Jaguars to earn All-Summit League honors.
The student-athlete of the month honor is the sixth of Ni's career, and third of the 2009-10 season.
ESPNU will air their coverage of the 2010 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships on Thursday, April 8, beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET.
