Freshman Melissa Parker took top honors Saturday at the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Swimming and Diving Championships at Navy, winning the women's 3-meter diving championship event with a score of 260.80 points. She also took fourth place in the 1-meter championship with a score of 231.20 points, and was honored as the ECAC Female Diver of the Meet for her performance.

In the 3-meter event Saturday, Parker finished second in the preliminary round of six dives before notching 50.40 points on her first dive in finals, a forward two and a half somersaults in the pike position. The Livermore, Calif. native went on to distance herself from the field and win the event by 12.40 points. She averaged 43.46 points per dive through her six dive list, outscoring all divers from Army, Navy, Bucknell, Harvard, Marist, Bryant, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

As a result of her performance at the ECACs, Parker was selected as the ECAC Female Diver of the Meet, AU's first-ever honoree of the award. She has also been named the American University Student-Athlete of the Week presented by GEICO.

Prior to the ECAC Championships, multiple American swimmers participated in the Long Course Invite Thursday, resulting in four top-three finishes. Freshman Miriam Crispo led the way with a first-place finish in the 800-free, setting a meet record with a time of 9:46.16 (10:56.50 in yards). Sophomore Sean Cudahy placed second in the 400 IM, while classmate Bobby Ballance and senior Leah Breen each finished third in the 100-back and 50-free, respectively.  

Below are the full results from Thursday's Long Course event:

50 Freestyle
Leah Breen                   27.33 lcm         23.80 yards      3rd Place

800 Freestyle
Miriam Crispo               9:46.16 lcm       10:56.50 yards  1st Place

200 Backstroke
Bobby Ballance            2:10.07 lcm       1:50.43 yards    4th Place
Matt Wurm                   2:12.62 lcm       1:52.59 yards    5th Place