NCAA Women’s Championships: Minnesota’s Viviana Del Angel Claims Platform Title

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

The final individual event of the 2024 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship was perhaps the most up in the air – literally and figuratively.

Last year, Arizona senior Delaney Schnell claimed the platform title, so there was no defending champion to deal with, either.

With North Carolina’s Aranza Vazquez Montano repeating on both springboard events and not in the final for platform, it was the most wide-open event of the meet, considering how nearly every swim event went predictably.

But there were five returners from last year’s top eight that were back in the finals and Viviana Del Angel from Minnesota made sure it was quickly not wide open. She was first with a 64.50 after round one and kept her lead going the entire event to win with 327.90.

She was third last year in the event and despite all the springboard success that Minnesota has had in the past, Del Angel is the first Gopher to win the NCAA title on platform.

“I am just so happy,” she said. “It means a lot. I have been doing this for 16 years not. It is just a lot with school and this new lifestyle for me. It just means a lot. To finish as a champion is just amazing. I am surrounded by so many good people. It is a lot of inspiration. We have the NCAA champions on the wall and I wanted to be there – and I did it.”

Louisville’s Else Praasterink crushed her second dive that was scored 8s and 9s, giving her a two-dive total of 138.00 to move into the lead for a short time before Del Angel took it back by less than two points to end round two.

Del Angel’s third dive was on 5-meter and scored 57 points, keeping her in the lead at 196.70.

Another 65 dive kept Del Angel in the lead with one round to go at 262.30.

LSU’s Montserrat Lavenant threw down a strong fifth dive to lead with 304.70 but that was before Del Angel’s final turn.

In her final turn, off 10-meter, Del Angel did a 3.2 degree of difficulty dive and nailed it for 65.60 points and the title with a total of 327.90.

Lavenant was second with 304.70.

“The first one was key for me. I needed to be super relaxed and confident,” Del Angel said. “I am confident with my last dive, it is just about following my rhythm. I just had to do what I know. My heart was pounding, but that means you are alive.”

Event 20  Women Platform Diving
=========================================================================
         Meet: M 396.75  3/23/2013 Haley Ishimatsu, USC
         Pool: P 356.10  2/22/2014 Victoria Lamp, Tennessee
    Name                 Year School            Prelims     Finals Points 
=========================================================================
                       === Championship Final ===                        
 
  1 Del Angel, Viviana     SO Minnesota          308.80     327.90   20  
  2 Lavenant, Montserrat   SR LSU                294.40     304.70   17  
  3 Skilken, Jordan        SR Texas              280.30     293.60   16  
  4 Praasterink, Else      SR Louisville         301.60     290.30   15  
  5 Wright, Daryn          SO Purdue             304.10     282.70   14  
  6 Vieta, Maycey          SR Purdue             313.10     280.50   13  
  7 Boyle, Janie           SR OSU                277.90     267.20   12  
  8 McAfee, Sophia         JR Purdue             297.35     264.45   11  
 
                        === Consolation Final ===                        
 
  9 Cheng, Eden            SO UCLA               267.30     317.35    9  
 10 Watson, Aliyah         SR Duke               256.25     282.60    7  
 11 Lucoe, Tanesha         SR Tennessee          273.10     280.35    6  
 12 McGing, Ciara          SR OSU                257.65     248.55    5  
 13 Agunbiade, Nike        SR USC                251.85     248.40    4  
 14 Waxman, Holley         JR Utah               252.90     248.20    3  
 15 Buckley, Maggie        JR LSU                272.35     244.85    2  
 16 Trueb, Savana          SR UCLA               254.30     190.95    1

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