By Jodie Ng, news staff

After a leading performance at the 2015 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championships, freshman diver Jacquelyn Gover represented Northeastern in this year’s National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Zone A Diving Championships.

“It was really intimidating,” Gover said. “I knew going into it – it was my first time. I didn’t really know what to expect so I just tried to stay positive and just have fun with it.”

This year, the diving championships took place in Buffalo, N.Y. from March 9 to 11. The Husky competed in the 1- and 3-meter events in the preliminary qualifying round.

On Wednesday, Gover dove six times from the 3-meter board to compile a score of 218.75. She earned 48th place out of 54 female divers. From the 1-meter height on Thursday, she placed 50th of 57 with a score of 196.25.

According to the first-year diver, Championships predictably brings fierce competition. Gover, who describes herself as competitive, feels that while her opponents may sometimes  have better dives, she still tries to maintain a positive attitude.

“I did well for being a freshman, but I definitely need to learn new skills because the dives these girls are competing with are incredible, so I really need to step up,” Gover said. “If I don’t have a great meet, it just motivates me to do more for the next meet and work harder. Especially when it came to Zones, it motivated me so much to get better for next year.”

Gover explained that the trick is to constantly practice your dives and “fix the little mistakes.” Like any sport, it also has to do with mentality.

“Confidence and being consistent is a big part of it,” Gover said.

Earlier this season, the North Easton native took the spotlight when she scored 286.35 points in the 1-meter dive on Jan. 17 against the University of Vermont. She also placed first in the 3-meter dive with 265.04 points at the Dartmouth Invitational the following week.

Although Gover may have been the sole representative for the Huskies, the diving squad improved overall from last year. Along with the swim team, they placed fifth at this year’s CAA Championships, moving up from sixth place in 2014.

The transition to college athletics can be both daunting and stressful, but Gover says she has enjoyed it, and everyone on the Northeastern swimming and diving team cheers for and supports each other.

“We have a lot of fun,” she said. “We dance around, we blast our music, but we get all our work done and focus on getting better in a fun atmosphere, which is really nice.”

Photo courtesy Jim Pierce, Northeastern Athletics