After an impressive season, Fordham senior Natalie Ortof earned the opportunity to represent the Rams at the NCAA Zone A Diving Championship in Annapolis, Maryland on March 8. Ortof, participating in the one-meter dive and three-meter dive, looked to build on a season that saw her break two personal records.

Her scores of 278.77 in the one-meter dive and 282.22 in the three-meter dive earlier this season were both personal bests, highlighting what was the strongest season of Ortof’s Fordham career. She also placed eighth overall in the one-meter dive and 12th overall in the three-meter dive at the Atlantic 10 Championship in Ohio.

In Annapolis, Ortof first competed in the one-meter dive, where she placed 57th in the preliminary round with a score of 211.35. Although only the top 18 scores advanced to the final round, Ortof finished ahead of 22 swimmers from schools such as Harvard, Brown, Navy and Yale. The one-meter dive was ultimately won by Teagan Moravek of Virginia Tech, with Buffalo’s Victoria Franz coming in second and Rutgers’ Savana Trueb finishing third.

In the three-meter dive, Ortof again finished 57th, this time out of 60 divers with a score of 204.60. This competition was won by Abigail Knapton of Rutgers, who just missed out on the podium in the one-meter dive by finishing first. Elizabeth Kaye of the University of Virginia came in second while Franz secured her second podium finish of the competition, placing third.

For Fordham Swimming and Diving, another season has officially come to a close. The women’s team finished team competition with a perfect 7-0 record and an impressive fourth place finish at the A-10 Championship, while the men’s team finished 5-3 to go along with a seventh place finish at the A-10s. 

Although Fordham will lose important seniors on both the men’s and women’s side like Spencer Clarke, Becky Kamau and Ortof, the Rams still have impressive young talent like freshmen Ainhoa and Leire Martin to lead the team into next season and beyond.