ELMHURST, Ill. -- The Summit League has announced that IUPUI freshman Chen Ni has been named The Summit League Female Co-Student-Athlete of the Month for March.  It is the second straight month Ni has been honored by the conference.

Ni takes the award after finishing fourth on the platform at the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships March 21.  Ni, who was the first IUPUI student-athlete to qualify for any NCAA individual championship, led all 24 divers on the platform the morning’s preliminary round.  In five dives, Ni posted a score of 340.30, averaging 68.06 points per dive.  The mark set the pool record on the platform at the Student Rec Center Natatoirum on the campus of Texas A&M University.

In the prelims, Ni took control on her second dive, a Back 2 1/2 Somersault Pike with a degree of difficulty of 2.9.  The Carmel, Ind.-native nailed the dive, as her scores ranged from 9.5 to 8.0.  Her total of 78.30 vaulted her into the lead, making her the last diver in the evening’s finals.

Given the advantage of diving last among the eight finalists, Ni again scored big on her Back 2 1/2 Somersault Pike, picking up a score of 78.30.  However, on her next dive, Ni, faltered, picking up a 40.50 on a Reverse 2 1/2 Somersault Tuck.  Ni had received a 66.15 on the dive in the preliminaries.

Still, the fourth-place result and score of 310.40 put Ni ahead of 2008 Olympian Christina Loukas and just behind USA National Team member Jessica Livingston.  North Carolina State’s Kristin Davies won the event after finishing eighth in the morning session, finishing with a final round score of 339.65.

In her first season at IUPUI, Ni made an immediate impact, picking up school records on both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards, along with the platform.  After sweeping both the 1-meter and 3-meter events at The Summit League Championships, Ni was named the conference’s diver of the year..

Ni shared the honor for March with South Dakota State’s Jennifer Warkenthien.  It was third time an IUPUI student-athlete has been honored as The Summit League Student-Athlete of the Month this year.