NCAA Women’s Championships: Chiara Pellacani Leads 1-2 Miami Finish in 1-Meter Diving
The first diving event of the 2025 NCAA Division I Women’s Championships from Federal Way, Washington, was 1-meter springboard on Thursday night to cap off the individual events on Day 2.
In a battle between two Miami divers and two North Carolina divers, the Hurricanes earned a 1-2 finish in the 1-meter diving.
Miami’s Chiara Pellacani won the event with a 354.65.
“Honestly, it means a lot. I took the Olympic year last year and it was a long and hard time after the Olympics and coming back to Miami really helped me to recover. Now coming back with this means a lot to me and is very important,” Pellacani said.
Pellacani had a great Olympics, but also a disappointing time in Paris, finishing fourth twice.
“The Olympics were good. Two fourths is really good, but my goal is to get an Olympic medal and to get so close to it hurts a little bit,” she said. “You are happy about your result, but also missing something. It was a long stressful period after Paris. I was done with diving because it was too much, but I talked to my coaches and teammates and we took a break, which was the best thing. I went home for two months and went to therapy. Then I came back to Miami and now I am just very excited to be here.”
Miami teammate Mia Vallee finished second with a 333.85, just a half point ahead of Lanie Gutch from North Carolina, who finished at 333.80.
“Practice is always like this (back-and-forth),” Pellacani said. “We know we are some of the best divers so practice is so (competitive) every day.”
UNC teammate Aranza Vazques Montano, the two-time defending champion in the event, took fourth at 322.00.
It was a four-way battle throughout the day, but especially in the final two rounds.
Vallee took the lead on the second to last dive in the fifth round.
Pellacani took it right back with a 59.80 dive to take the lead right back from her teammate with a total of 207.05.
Heading into the final round, it was two Hurricanes, followed by two Tar Heels in the mix for the NCAA title.
Defending champion Vazquez Montano trailed by 22 points going into the final dive. She threw down a reverse 2 1/2 somersault tuck to take the lead at 322.00 with four divers remaining.
Her teammate Gutch went 53.30 on the final dive to retake the lead at 330.80.
Vallee’s final dive was a forward 1 1/2 somersault with two twists. She earned a score 50.70 on the dive and moved into first place at 333.85, just a half point ahead of Gutch.
Pellacani did an inward 1 1/2 somersault in the pike position on her final dive. It got a score of 57.60 with 8s across the board and gave her a final winning total of 354.65.
“One of the dives was just the second time I have competed in it. It was a little stressful but I was very confident and that made the difference,” she said.
Event 6 Women 1 mtr Diving
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NCAA: N 365.75 3/17/2022 Mia Vallee, Miami (FL)
Meet: M 365.75 3/17/2022 Mia Vallee, Miami (Florida)
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
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=== Championship Final ===
1 Pellacani, Chiara SR Miami (FL) 338.80 354.65 20
2 Vallee, Mia SR Miami (FL) 323.40 333.85 17
3 Gutch, Lanie FR UNC 315.30 330.80 16
4 Vazquez Montano, Aran SR UNC 314.95 322.00 15
5 Hernandez, Hailey SR Texas 305.20 320.95 14
6 Estudillo Torres, Ale FR Texas 305.30 316.30 13
7 Lai, Shiyun SO Kansas 301.85 309.10 12
8 Lavenant, Montserrat SR LSU 317.35 288.25 11
=== Consolation Final ===
9 Verzyl, Sophie JR South Carolina 295.30 343.65 9
10 O'Meara, Margo SR Duke 286.40 309.20 7
11 Kaye, Elizabeth SR Virginia 291.05 306.85 6
12 Worobel, Avery FR Purdue 295.60 301.15 5
13 Cranford, Bayleigh SO Texas 282.50 298.30 4
14 Roselli, Ella SO Indiana 282.05 291.85 3
15 Del Angel, Viviana JR Minnesota 283.30 289.30 2
16 Earley, Brooke SR Arizona 299.50 281.05 1
