Gopher Swimming and Diving: Sarah Bacon Wins 5th NCAA Championship!

A Minnesota Gophers legend just got even more impressive. Four-time NCAA Champion is now Five-time NCAA Champion. Sarah bacon won the 3-meter springboard event at the NCAA Championships in Atlanta, Georgia Friday night and is now a 5x NCAA Individual champion.

Bacon was trying to win her fourth 1-meter springboard NCAA title Thursday night but would fall short as Miami’s Mia Vallee would break Bacon’s NCAA record she set in 2019 and take home the title and leave Bacon in second place. So she moved her sights to the three-meter event on Friday. Bacon won the 3-meter for the first time in 2021.

She was the #1 qualifier headed into the finals and had a nine point lead over Arizona’s Delaney Schnell after the first three of six dives. Bacon’s fourth dive was her worst of the night and she fell 0.1 points behind Schnell after their fourth dives. Bacon would do much better on her fifth and took a 1.5 point lead into the final dive on the night.

Schnell would falter on her final dive and slip all the way back into fourth place. Indiana’s Kristen Hayden would be Bacon’s only real threat left, and after her 6th dive she held a lead of 65.95 points over Bacon. Bacon nailed her best dive of the night recording a score of 78 points and brining home NCAA title #5!

Bacon now becomes the most decorated athlete male or female in NCAA Championships history. After her three-peat last year she was tied with Men’s gymnast John Roethlisberger who won the men’s All-Around NCAA Championships from 1991-1993 and track and field athlete Fortune Gordien who won the NCAA discus championship three times in a row from 1946-1948. Bacon now becomes the only Gopher to win four or more NCAA titles in four seasons.

Bacon completed her Gopher career on Friday night. She now turns to the professional circuit with her eyes on the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Congrats on an amazing career and becoming the most decorated individual Gopher of All-Time!