SAN DIEGO – San Diego State divers will be vying for automatic qualification to the national meet this week when they compete in the NCAA Zone E Championships, March 11-13, in Flagstaff, Arizona.
The Aztec trio of Valentina Lopez Arevalo, Alina Skrocki and Summer Westmoreland will participate in all three upcoming events at Wall Aquatic Center—the 1-meter springboard, 3-meter springboard and platform—while Jules Harrison will perform in the 3-meter and platform competition. In addition, the Aztec delegation features Taylor Konopacke (platform), Jessica Schroeder (3-meter) and Olivia Zamudio (platform), who will dive in one event apiece.
The 2024 Zone E Championships commence on Monday with the 1-meter springboard, followed by 3-meter springboard action on Tuesday, and platform diving on Wednesday. Preliminaries are slated to begin at 11:30 a.m. MST/PDT each day.
Divers that finish in the top eight for the 1-meter and 3-meters, and top-nine for the platform will automatically qualify for NCAA Championships, set for March 20-23 in Athens, Georgia. Individuals who earn an automatic qualification in one event and finish among the top 12 in another will secure NCAA qualification in that event as well.
After propelling the Aztecs to their third consecutive league title and fifth in the last six years, Lopez Arevalo was named Mountain West Diver of the Meet on Feb. 24, marking the third time an SDSU competitor has earned such honors after Ximena Lechuga Gonzalez garnered the same distinction in 2019 and 2022.
An all-MW honoree in three straight years, Lopez Arevalo took home gold medals on the 3-meter springboard and in platform competition while claiming a silver in the 1-meter springboard event. The Aztec junior recorded career-high scores on the 1-meter (328.70) and 3-meter (374.20) boards, both of which rank second in program history. In addition, she successfully defended her conference crown from the platform height, compiling a season-best total of 340.70 points to shatter another NCAA Zone qualifying standard.
As a freshman in 2022, Lopez Arevalo qualified for the NCAA Championships in the platform after placing ninth at the Zone E meet, which was also held in Flagstaff, Arizona, with an aggregate score of 484.20 points.
During the 2023-24 campaign, Lopez Arevalo earned four Mountain West Diver of the Week honors, while Skrocki received MW Freshman of the Week distinction on one occasion.
Westmoreland also received all-MW recognition with a trio of top-eight finishes in all three events at last month's conference meet, setting career-best marks in 3-meter (8th, 296.25) and platform competition (6th, 251.80), the latter of which ranks seventh on the program's all-time charts. She also totaled a season-best 296.50 points on the 1-meter board en route to a sixth-place standing.
Elsewhere, Schroeder captured the consolation finals of the 3-meter event at the conference championships with a career-high 288.40 points, while Harrison set a season best in the 3-meter preliminaries (288.90) before compiling a collegiate-high score in platform preliminaries (243.25).
Northern Arizona University will serve as host for the 2024 NCAA Zone E Championships. Along with the Lumberjacks, SDSU will compete against divers from Air Force, Arizona, Arizona State, Brigham Young, California, California Baptist, Cal Poly, Colorado State, CSU Bakersfield, Denver, Fresno State, Grand Canyon, Hawai'i, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Northern Colorado, Pepperdine, San José State, Stanford, UCLA, UNLV, USC, Utah and Wyoming.
A link to NAU streaming video and live results via DiveMeets.com will be available on GoAztecs.com.
San Diego State has already advanced two swimmers to the NCAA Championships in Alex Roberts (100 backstroke, 200 backstroke, 100 butterfly) and Christiana Williams (100 breaststroke, 200 breaststroke).
Aztec Divers Set for NCAA Zone E Championships
