North Allegheny's Savchik reaches NCAA diving championships

North Allegheny alum and Rochester men’s senior diver Stephen Savchik is capping his career in a big way.

Savchik qualified for the NCAA Division III championships March 18-21 in Greensboro, N.C.

Savchik placed fourth on the 1-meter board with 463.40 points and 10th on the 3-meter board (429.25) in the Region 4 meet Feb. 28-29 at Ithaca.

He was one of seven competitors from the region and one of 24 from all four regions who advanced.

“I would just like to put together a solid list,” said Savchik, the 2016 WPIAL Class AAA boys 1-meter bronze medalist. “Going to nationals (is) like icing on the cake.

“I already achieved my goal of holding all the (school) diving records.”

Savchik, a four-time regional qualifier, is the third Yellowjackets men’s diver ever to qualify for the national championship and the first since 1987.

He holds school records for 6-dive meets and 11-dive meets on both boards.

On 3-meter, he broke a record this season that had stood since 1986.

“He is definitely the best diver I have coached in my 16 years here,” Rochester coach Greg Brandes said. “What I will miss most is his leadership and work ethic.

“We have a strong group of divers returning (next season) who have hopefully learned from his example.”

Savchik, who was named one of 10 Rochester Garnish Scholars in the fall for achieving at a high level in both athletics and academics through his junior year, plans to attend graduate school for computational linguistics or find a job in data analytics.