GREENSBORO, N.C. – On the final day of the 2024 NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships, the Ithaca College women's swimming & diving team saw junior
Kailee Payne became a two-time National Champion as this time on Saturday she won on the 3-meter boards.
Her teammate
Abby Marraccino claimed her second All-American Honorable mention honor with her 10
th place finish in the event and the Bombers diving coach
Chris Griffin was named the women's CSCAA Dive Coach of the Year at the conclusion of the meet. With the honor, Griffin becomes a three-time women's diving coach of the year.
The afternoon preliminaries saw
Kailee Payne actually finish second going into the championship finals. Payne put together a score of 469.35 as she trailed Chicago's Veronica Fong going into the evenings finals session as Fong put together a 496.60. However, Payne was impressive putting together a score of 198.95 on her voluntary dives.
Angela Burke just missed out on qualifying for the consolation finals as the junior ended up finishing in 17
th place overall putting together an 11-dive prelim score of 395.70. The consolations finals saw
Abby Marraccino maintain her 10
th place status as she put together a prelim score of 442.75 that was followed up by her finals score of 447.65. With her All-American Honorable Mention finish, she concludes her career with four All-American finishes.
Kailee Payne ended up surpassing the 2023 winning score (479.40) as she dazzled in the finals and put together a 509.50, which was over 20 points better than Veronica Fong who put together a 487.70. Over the course of the past four days, Payne became IC's sixth-ever individual national champion in program history that dates back 56 seasons.
Overall, the Ithaca College men's program finished in 35
th place with 12 team points while the women's program placed 17th overall with 54 team points.
