Making an NCAA splash

Following the Tigers' triumphs over Lions, Bears and Midshipmen, one lone Tiger will venture into unfamiliar territory to take on Longhorns and Wildcats.

Junior diver Stuart Malcolm is in Minneapolis, Minn., representing the men's swimming and diving team in the NCAA Championships at the University of Minnesota.

Malcolm qualified for the NCAAs by winning the tower event in the regional Zone Championships at Rutgers on March 4.

Malcolm will compete in both the 3-meter and tower events in Minnesota. He placed third in the 3-meter competition in the Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League (EISL) Championships in DeNunzio on Feb. 24, helping the Tigers take first place overall. Malcolm is the only diver in the Ivy League to qualify for the men's championships.

"This season went really well in terms of consistency and just performing well at every meet," Malcolm said. "I expected to win and to make the NCAAs — I was confident in my tower diving. I think I can make top 15 at the championships."

The tower event is not part of EISL meets, but four Tigers practice tower diving in order to participate in the NCAAs and other competitions. Princeton typically sees one male and one female diver qualify for the championships, though head diving coach Greg Gunn has sent as many as three and as few as none.

Senior diver Michelle DeMond represented Princeton at the women's championships in Minneapolis last weekend, winning an All-American honorable mention with a 16th-place finish in the tower competition. Now, Malcolm has his eyes set on a similarly impressive finish.

"We had high hopes for him to qualify," Gunn said, "but there is tough competition at the meet, so if he had a poor performance, he would not have made it. It is difficult to predict how he will perform at the national level — I've been there almost every year, but he has never gone before. He can perform each of his dives well enough that if he has a good day, he will be in the top 16, but his performance is not a guarantee."

Malcolm is not a newcomer to national events. During high school in Vancouver, Canada, he qualified for the Canadian Olympic Trials and Nationals. He also went to the Pan-American Game Trials in 2003, where he placed sixth in the tower competition.

"The psychology of performing when you know everyone at the meet is as good or better changes your ability to perform," Gunn said.

Malcolm has been training with senior diver Kent DeMond, who went to the NCAA Championships and earned All-American Honors last year but is ineligible this year. DeMond has been training for the Olympic Trials.

"Training with him definitely helps," Malcolm said. "It helps me push myself. Diving tower by yourself is difficult — it's a scary sport, and it's hard to stay motivated when you do it by yourself."

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Even with all his experience, the NCAAs are a difficult competition to prepare for. Malcolm has been getting ready for the event by constantly repeating his entire list of tower dives rather than breaking down each individual one.

"It's not like a track meet where the fastest person will win," Malcolm said. "It's always up in the air. It just depends how good you are that day."

Regardless of how the championships go, Malcolm's season is not over. He has qualified for this year's Pan-American Game Trials in Vancouver in April and the World University Games in Bangkok, Thailand, in August.