{"id":581690,"date":"2024-03-22T17:12:51","date_gmt":"2024-03-23T00:12:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=581690"},"modified":"2024-03-22T18:13:32","modified_gmt":"2024-03-23T01:13:32","slug":"ncaa-womens-championships-aranza-vazquez-montano-sweeps-springboards-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ncaa-womens-championships-aranza-vazquez-montano-sweeps-springboards-again\/","title":{"rendered":"NCAA Women’s Championships: Aranza Vazquez Montano Sweeps Springboards – Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 3-meter diving at the NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships quickly turned into a head-to-head battle between North Carolina’s Aranza Vazquez Montano<\/strong> and Texas’ duo.<\/p>\n

Dive after dive, they were within a couple points from each other as each tried to make a move.<\/p>\n

In the end it was Vazquez who swept both springboards for the second year in a row, this time winning 3-meter with a score of 364.75.<\/p>\n

“It is hard to believe (I won both boards twice),” she said. “You just have to do everything you have like it is your last competition. It has been a long, hard year, but we practice for this. I wanted to win. It doesn’t matter if I am out of fuel, if I can win, I will win.”<\/p>\n

Vazquez, an Olympian for Mexico, started with a 66.00 on her 405B to take the early lead and was at 119.20 after two dives, just a couple of points behind Texas’ Bridget O’Neil<\/strong> (125.40).<\/p>\n

Her third dive got a mix of 7s and 8s and scored 64 to push her to 182.2.<\/p>\n

But O’Neil was at 184.20 until she had a round of 4.5’s in the fourth round and dropped to fourth place.<\/p>\n

Her teammate Hailey Hernandez<\/strong> then surged into second with 232.95 points, trailing Vazquez (240.70).<\/p>\n

In the fifth round, Vazquez threw down a 5335D and nailed the twister, scoring a 56.55 to lead at 297.25, still just two points ahead of Hernandez (295.95) with one round to go.<\/p>\n

Hernandez’s last dive was a 513D and gave her 46.20, but the degree of difficulty was 2.1 and put her in second place behind Indiana’s Anne Fowler<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Vazquez’s final dive was a 3.0 degree of difficulty and scored 67.50 points to give her the winning total of 364.75, and another repeat title.<\/p>\n

“I know that that dive is one of my best dives and that is why it is last on my list,” Vazquez said.\u00a0 “I know that no matter how I am feeling, I can hit that. I knew we were close and I knew I could hit it. It just had to trust that feeling and go for it.”<\/p>\n

Vazquez will now shift her springboard focus to the Olympics.<\/p>\n

“This competition is a high level. Handling that pressure and adrenaline really helps pushing toward Paris,” she said. “That is one of the advantages I have of being in the U.S. in this system. There are so many high-level competitions.”<\/p>\n

Fowler finished second in 342.45, just fractions of a point ahead of Herandez (342.15).<\/p>\n