Senior Heath Ogawa and Coach Nathan Lightman were named Division III Diver and Diving Coach of the Year on Saturday after Ogawa added a fourth-place finish in 3-meter diving to the national title he captured off the 1-meter board on Thursday. The awards were bestowed by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America.
Ogawa finished Saturday's event with an 11-dive score of 535.75, less than 16 points shy of the champion. He was also fourth with 523.40 points after the afternoon prelims but started the finals in eighth because only the scores from each diver's five voluntary attempts from the prelims carry over. He jumped into fourth place after the first round of the finals and climbed to first after earning 74.40 points, the second-highest score by anyone on the day, on a forward three-and-a-half somersault in the pike position. After falling to fifth a couple of rounds later, Ogawa finished off his collegiate career with 67.50 points on a forward two-and-a-half somersault with a full twist in the pike position and moved up a spot into fourth.
The National Diver of the Year Award was the second in a row for Ogawa, who won the 3-meter event and was third in the 1-meter competition in 2018. He finished 14th off the higher board and 15th off the lower in 2017 and was eighth in the 1-meter event and 13th in the 3-meter as a freshman.
Lightman earned the National Diving Coach of the Year Award in just his second season working with athletes at the collegiate level.
Ogawa earned 35 points at the meet, placing the Foresters 21st in the team standings.
