“It’s pretty amazing,” commented RPI Head Coach Shannon O’Brien of having her top three divers all qualify for the meet.

This will be the first trip to the national stage for Culen and Monahon, and the second for Derevianko in the last two seasons.

Monahon, a co-captain, is coming off a stellar state meet where he finished third in the three-meter and fifth in the one-meter. In dual meet action this season, the Brewster, N.Y., native never finished lower than third in any diving event.

Culen also enjoyed a solid state meet, finishing sixth and seventh in the three- and one-meter dives, respectively. The first-year phenom was named Rookie of the Week by the Liberty League once during the season, and never finished lower than fourth in a dual meet diving event.

Derevianko will be looking to match, or eclipse, last year’s All-American performance. Last spring, the Wilmington, Del., native tallied a third-place finish in the one-meter and an 11th-place finish in the three-meter at the national meet, earning him All-American status on the low board and All-American Honorable Mention accolades on the three-meter.

There has been no dropoff this year for Derevianko, as he has continued to dominate, breaking his own school records on both the one and three-meter boards. The applied physics major rewrote the record books five times this season, setting new marks once in the three-meter and an outstanding four times in the one-meter. He was also named Liberty League Diver of the Week five times.

The NCAA Championship, hosted by Carleton College, will take place March 16-18 in Minneapolis, Minn.

Field hockey leads nation

For the second year in a row, the National Field Hockey Coaches Association has bestowed its Division III Academic Team award to RPI. The Red Hawks maintained a 3.46 grade point average, tying Eastern University for the highest in all of D-III.