Alaska Sports Hall of Fame

Already the most accomplished diver in Macalester College history, Renee Jordan of Anchorage is now the best in the country.

The former Alaska state champion won a national championship after placing first in the 1-meter competition at the NCAA D3 Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships in Indianapolis.

Jordan is a senior at Macalester College in Minnesota.

“It was a fun, close competition. It really brought out everyone’s best diving and I finished on top somehow and I’m really excited about it,” she told NCAA.com.

Jordan, of Steller Secondary School fame, broke her own Macalester College school record with a NCAA finals score of 468.90 as she held off defending national champion Maria Zarka to win the gold.

Jordan is the first NCAA champion in swimming and diving for Macalester.

“I’m a senior. I really wanted go out with a bang,” she said. “But my main goal was come here and have fun and just celebrate my four years.”

Jordan won the MIAC 1-meter title this year and was an All-American at last year’s national championships.

“I am incredibly proud of Renee,” Macalester coach Bethe Whittle told the school’s website. “She showed great poise and composure while facing some really tough competition. To cap her four-year career at Macalester with a national championship on 1 meter is an amazing accomplishment. I’m excited that all of her hard work paid off in such a huge way and I am so happy for her.”

Jordan won Alaska state championships in 2007, 2008 and 2009 with East High.