Readers’ pick: Delaney DeHaan
After clinching the 2024 women’s Atlantic 10 Swimming and Diving Championships by 420 points, junior diver Olivia Paquette said securing this year’s championship by only 27.5 points was even sweeter.
If it wasn’t for Paquette, who picked up Most Outstanding Female Diver at the February meet and single-handedly contributed 37 points, the team might have lost its status as the reigning A-10 champion and ended its four-year title run. She made quite the splash at the meet and made the podium for two events — the 1-meter and 3-meter — setting a program record for the former.
“It made it a lot more stressful this year but a lot more worth it because we really had to come together to cheer each other on and every single point counted,” Paquette said.
Paquette has led GW swimming and diving all season, picking up accolades, like women’s Performer of the Week at the December Big Al meet at Princeton University. There, she picked up first place in two events — the 1-meter and the 3-meter — setting a program-record in the former with a score of 288.05.
The record only lasted three months before she set an even higher record of 288.35 at the A-10 Championship. During her time at GW, Paquette has garnered a reputation for breaking her own records — setting a new program record for her 6-dive score in the 3-meter during a January 2024 meet after breaking the record earlier in the season.
Paquette said breaking the record at Princeton against top programs in December, like the 25th-ranked host, affirmed how much she had grown as a diver.
“My first time breaking [the record] this season was at a mid-season invite where the scores are pretty tough, and it was against some really good teams,” Paquette said. “And so to get it in that meet really proved to myself that I earned it, and then to do it again was just really exciting.”
Women’s swimming and diving has won the A-10 Championship every year for the past four seasons, leading the Revs to levels of success unparalleled in the University’s other athletic programs. At last year’s championship, Paquette also picked up Most Outstanding Female Diver, after taking first place in the 1-meter and 3-meter dives. Her freshman year, she placed top six in both events, including picking up a bronze in the 3-meter.
Paquette’s scores this year earned her a trip to NCAA Diving Zone A in March, where she competed for a chance to make nationals. After not making it past the finals, Paquette said her sights are set on qualifying for nationals next year.
“I’ve made zones every year, and each year I get closer to qualifying, but it’s really tough,” Paquette said. “And so if I could qualify my senior year, that would be really, really awesome.”
