Rachelle Smith to Compete in NCAA Diving Championships

Rachelle Smith, a junior diver from West Valley City, will represent BYU at the NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships Thursday and Friday in Athens, Ga.

Smith will compete in both the 3-meter and 1-meter diving events. She qualified for the NCAA Championships last weekend at the NCAA Zone E Diving Championships in Tempe, Ariz. At the event featuring 18 schools, she scored 422.50 on the 1-meter diving board to take second place, 18.15 points behind winner Lang Rao of Nevada Reno. Smith also qualified in on the 3-meter board, placing fifth with a score of 476.65.

Smith was the 1996 Utah State 5A Diving Champion and two-time Region III Diving Champion before coming to BYU. She has been the Western Athletic Conference runnerup in the 1-meter competition in each of her three years while earning All-WAC honors. She also finished second on the 3-meter board at last year's WAC Championships and earned a fourth-place finish in the event this year.