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Miami’s Mia Vallee Ekes Into Final, Emerges With Gold in One-Meter Diving at NCAA Champs
A year ago, Mia Vallee earned her way into the final of the one-meter diving event at the NCAA Championships and finished eighth in the eight-woman field. A year later, she vaulted to the top of the standings – after a close call during prelims.
Dueling with Minnesota’s Sarah Bacon, 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. Vallee is the 14th Miami diver to win a national title under coach Randy Ableman. She was the first diver on the board during prelims and the final.
“Starting first is never fun,” she said. “It 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…nobody is ahead of anyone else.”
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’ premier stars on the diving boards.
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.
“I’ve never looked at the board,” she said of the scoreboard. “I didn’t know where I was placing when I finished. I had no idea I had been in first at all. I don’t listen to anyone else’s scores so I didn’t know how anybody else was doing.”
Aranza Vazquez Montano 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 was fourth and picked up 15 valuable points for the Longhorns. Texas doesn’t have enough firepower to challenge Virginia for the team title, but it can battle Stanford for second place.
Event 6 Women 1 mtr Diving
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Meet: M 363.20 3/21/2019 Sarah Bacon, Minnesota
Pool: P 381.65 2/22/2011 Abby Johnson, Duke
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
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=== Championship Final ===
1 Vallee, Mia JR Miami (Florida) 309.75 365.75M 20
2 Bacon, Sarah SR Minnesota 329.85 356.60 17
3 Vazquez Montano, Aran SO UNC 327.85 354.75 16
4 Hernandez, Hailey FR Texas 316.20 348.50 15
5 Schnell, Delaney JR Arizona 334.10 339.05 14
6 O'Meara, Margo FR Duke 312.95 322.75 13
7 Amer, Maha JR Florida 313.90 316.70 12
8 Gilliland, Tarrin SO Indiana 314.00 293.90 11
=== Consolation Final ===
9 Schultz, Brooke SR South Carolina 307.60 331.95 9
10 Gullstrand, Emma SO Miami (Florida) 300.65 328.50 7
11 Hayden, Kristen SR Indiana 299.75 312.95 6
12 Fowler, Anne SO Indiana 294.15 302.50 5
13 Lavenant, Montserrat SO LSU 291.30 297.15 4
14 Straub, Kelly SR Notre Dame 294.55 294.45 3
15 Pineda, Paola SR Texas 297.05 291.85 2
16 Knight, Kyndal SR Kentucky 302.20 278.75 1
