By David Fierro
Grace Wu concluded her brilliant Greenwich Academy diving career in championship fashion.
The Greenwich Academy senior also put the finishing touch on her diving career in record-setting fashion.
Wu won the diving title at the New England Prep School Swimming Association Division I Diving Championships held recently at Suffield Academy with a score of 533.25 points on the 1-meter diving board. Amassing 533.25 points over 11 rounds of diving gave Wu the NEPSAC record in the event, which was previously set by Gabriella Mercier of Williston Northampton in 2017 with a score of 529.45.
Wu’s sensational diving performance on Thursday at Suffield Academy also set a NEPSSA Division I meet record and established a pool record at Suffield Academy. So, three records were broken by Wu with her outstanding 11-round routine at the championship meet.
Executing her front and back dives and all of her dives impressively each round led Wu to continuing her championship streak at the New England competition. Her first-place finish marked the third consecutive season that she captured the NEPSSA Division I diving title.
Wu won the New England Division I diving championship in 2023 with a score of 496.55 points and claimed the title in 2022 (488.20 points). Finishing in second place at Thursday’s NEPSSA Division I championships was Gage Calhoun of Deerfield Academy (461.90 points). Grayson Ford, a Greenwich Academy sophomore, also produced an outstanding performance, placing third in the NEPSSA Division I diving finals, earning 459.60 points.
Sacred Heart Greenwich received a sparkling performance from sophomore Emma Beatty at the Division I competition. Beatty totaled a score of 425.50 points, good for fourth place on the 1-meter board for Sacred Heart.
Kira Johnson, a Hopkins School junior, was fifth (404.30 points) at the ultra-competitive Division I NEPSSA diving finals. Katherine O’Brien, a Sacred Heart Greenwich senior, earned a top-10 finish, placing ninth with a score of 359.15.
Greenwich Academy junior Abbie Schmitt produced a 10th-place finish, compiling 358.75 points. Senior Catie Davitt posted a score of 176 points for Sacred Heart, which was also represented by Kaitlyn Bentley at the championship competition.
Wu is a two-time National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association Girls One-Meter All-America Diver, receiving the accolades the past two years. When the NISCA announces their list of high school All-America divers this summer, she’ll once again, Grae the impressive list.
