🏊♀️ Lai Named to CSCAA All-American Second Team
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Freshman diver Shiyun Lai has been named an All-American Second Team selection for the one and three-meter diving events, the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) announced Tuesday.
With the recognition, Lai becomes the first Jayhawk since Chelsie Miller (2015) to be named a CSCAA All-American Second Team. The last Kansas diver to earn All-American honors was Vicky Xu (2019), who was named a first-team selection by the CSCAA in the one-meter and three-meter dives.
Lai capped off a stellar freshman season for the Jayhawks after receiving All-American Honorable Mention honors in both the one and three-meter diving events at the 2024 NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships in Athens, Georgia last weekend. Lai led Kansas to a 32nd-place finish, scoring 6.0 points and helping Kansas to finish second amongst the six participating Big 12 programs and outscoring 37 different schools.
In the one-meter event at the championship, Lai dove her way into the consolation final of the event after totaling a score of 270.90 in the prelims. Lai finished sixth in the consolation portion for a nation-wide 14th-place finish with 280.25 points.
Lai returned to the boards for the three-meter diving event and once again earned her way into the consolation final after scoring 291.75 points in the prelims. Lai finished sixth in the 3m consolation final with 281.95 points, marking yet another 14th-place finish.
Prior to the NCAA Championships, Lai notched a first-place finish in the three-meter event at the Big 12 Championships, diving for an impressive 406.20 points to become just the third diver and seventh Jayhawk to win an individual title in the conference championship. Lai’s total of 406.20 is the second-most points tallied in the three-meter dive in school history, just behind Vicky Xu’s 420.60 during the 2018-19 season. At the conference championship, Lai was named the Big 12 Women’s Newcomer Diver of the Meet.
The awards were determined by a vote of CSCAA-member Division I head swimming coaches and head diving coaches. All-Americans are selected on the basis of their finish at the NCAA Championships and a team’s current membership with the CSCAA.
The complete list of CSCAA All-American performers can be found here.
