North Allegheny grad Savchik honored for performance in diving, classroom

North Allegheny graduate and University of Rochester senior diver Stephen Savchik has earned a prestigious award.

Savchik, 21, of Franklin Park, was one of 10 Rochester Garnish Scholars.

The award is given to members of varsity teams who have achieved at a high level in both athletic and academic pursuits through their junior years. It was created in honor of Lysle “Spike” Garnish, coach and mentor to many Rochester students from 1930-48.

Recipients were honored during halftime of a Yellowjackets football game in September.

Savchik said it is the highest official honor he has earned for athletic achievement.

“It feels nice to have my hard work be recognized at his level,” Savchik said.

Savchik earned All-University Athletic Association honors after placing third on the 1-meter board in the conference championship meet last season. He has competed in the NCAA Division III regional championship in each of the past three seasons.

He is majoring in data science and minoring in German, plus music and linguistics. This summer, he did a three-month internship at a German university, where he worked with a PhD student to build and train a computational model that classifies German recorded conversations and tweets in regard to tag questions.

He plans to attend graduate school for computational linguistics.

Savchik, who placed third in 1-meter diving in the 2016 WPIAL Class AAA championship and qualified for the PIAA meet, opened this season with wins in the 1-meter and 3-meter events against Canisius on Oct. 11.

He hopes to cap the season in the NCAA championship in March.

“Just being able to attend would be a great end to my diving career,” he said.

Yellowjackets diving coach Greg Brandes said he has been impressed by what Savchik has accomplished in the classroom and on the diving boards.

“His passion for the sport of diving, his love for his teammates and his dedication to our university (have) made us all better,” Brandes said. “I am so proud Stephen is being recognized for all of his achievements.”