University of Rochester divers Stephen Savchik and Sophie Lever have been named to the Division III All-America team by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America.
 
Savchik is a senior from Pittsburgh, PA (North Allegheny HS). Lever is a first-year student from Oak Park, IL (Oak Park and River Forest HS). They were selected on both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving boards.
 
Neither person had the chance to dive at the national championship meet. The national championships were scheduled from March 18-21 at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, North Carolina with the Old Dominion Athletic Conference serving as host.  In all, a total of 579 participants will compete, including 53 divers. The meet was canceled one week earlier due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
"Despite the cancellation of the NCAA Championships, (Rochester diving coach) Greg Brandes did a remarkable job this season," explained Greg Earhart, Executive Director of the CSCAA. "These two student-athletes had the rug pulled out from them this season, so we are excited to recognize them."
 
They were selected for the NCAA championship meet based on their performances at the regional meet staged by Ithaca College. Savchik scored a fourth place finish on the 1-meter board with a score of 463.40 and a tenth place finish on the 3-meter board, scoring 429.25 points.  Savchik is the UR school record holder for both 6-dive and 11-dive meets during 1-meter competition as well during UR's 11-dive, 3-meter competition.
 
Lever posted two top-10 performances at the regionals.  She was eighth on the 1-meter board scoring 403.15 points and finished tenth on 3-meter with 412.30 points.  Lever broke the school record for 11-dives on the 1-meter board earlier this year in a dual against SUNY Geneseo, scoring 454.04 points.
 
Savchik is the third Rochester men's diver in school history to qualify for the national championships.  Scott Richardson qualified in three separate seasons (1986, 1987 and 1988) while Scott Bruce was a qualifier in the 1987 season as well.  By qualifying, Savchik became the first overall member of the UR swimming and diving team to make nationals since John-Eric Andersson in 1995.
 
Lever is the seventh women's diver in Rochester program history to qualify for the national meet and first since Danielle Neu made back-to-back appearances in the 2014 and 2015 seasons.  Others women's divers who have represented Rochester at the Division III meet included Michelle Garnish (1983), Kim Curtis (1987), Nicole Kosky (1991), Susi Rubinowitz (1991) and Naomi Tuefel (1996).