{"id":499808,"date":"2022-03-17T16:24:37","date_gmt":"2022-03-17T23:24:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=499808"},"modified":"2022-03-17T20:26:50","modified_gmt":"2022-03-18T03:26:50","slug":"miamis-mia-vallee-ekes-into-final-emerges-with-gold-in-one-meter-diving-at-ncaa-champs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/miamis-mia-vallee-ekes-into-final-emerges-with-gold-in-one-meter-diving-at-ncaa-champs\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami’s Mia Vallee Ekes Into Final, Emerges With Gold in One-Meter Diving at NCAA Champs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Miami’s Mia Vallee Ekes Into Final, Emerges With Gold in One-Meter Diving at NCAA Champs<\/strong><\/p>\n

A year ago, Mia Vallee<\/strong> earned her way into the final of the one-meter diving event at the NCAA Championships<\/a> and finished eighth in the eight-woman field. A year later, she vaulted to the top of the standings \u2013 after a close call during prelims.<\/p>\n

Dueling with Minnesota\u2019s Sarah Bacon<\/strong><\/a>, the two-time defending champion, Vallee set a meet record with a tally of 365.75 points at the McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta. That total handed the Miami junior a victory over Bacon, who checked in with a score of 356.60. Bacon set the previous record when she won the 2019 crown with a score of 363.20.\u00a0Vallee is the 14th Miami diver to win a national title under coach Randy Ableman<\/strong>. She was the first diver on the board during prelims and the final.<\/p>\n

\u201cStarting first is never fun,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is stressful to be the one starting the round. I think having done it in prelims, it was easier to do in finals. Everyone starts at zero. So I really went in with the mentality that everybody is back at the start\u2026nobody is ahead of anyone else.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Vallee almost missed out on the championship round after placing eighth during the afternoon prelims. Vallee scored 309.75 during qualifying, which gave her the last spot for the evening competition by a little more than two points. Having survived to compete for the championship, Vallee elevated her performance to fend off Bacon, who is one of the United States\u2019 premier stars on the diving boards.<\/p>\n

Representing Canada in international competition, Vallee was the silver medalist on the one-meter board at the ACC Championships, where she picked up gold in the three-meter competition. In Atlanta, she didn’t know where she stood until the event was over.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never looked at the board,\u201d she said of the scoreboard. \u201cI didn\u2019t know where I was placing when I finished. I had no idea I had been in first at all. I don\u2019t listen to anyone else\u2019s scores so I didn\u2019t know how anybody else was doing.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Aranza Vazquez Montano<\/strong> was also in the mix for the championship, as the University of North Carolina sophomore scored 354.75. For the University of Texas, which is excelling in the pool, freshman Hailey Hernandez<\/strong> was fourth and picked up 15 valuable points for the Longhorns. Texas doesn\u2019t have enough firepower to challenge Virginia for the team title, but it can battle Stanford for second place.<\/p>\n