Lopez Arevalo Takes Platform Event With Record Score

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Freshman Valentina Lopez Arevalo had the best day of any platform diver in San Diego State history and the eight-best in Mountain West history when she totaled 294.68 in the platform final at the Lumberjack Invitational on Sunday at the Wall Aquatic Center on the campus of Northern Arizona University.  

Lopez Arevalo eclipsed the previous program record of 292.30, which was set by teammate Ximena Lechuga Gonzalez at the 2020 Mountain West Championships. In a five-dive competition she has the eighth best score in league history, and she has qualified for the Zone E Championships in the 1-meter, 3-meter and platform events.  

Including Lopez Arevalo, a total of seven of the eight San Diego State divers who competed in Sunday's platform final recorded Zone E Championships qualifying scores, which for the platform is 225.  

Joining Lopez Arevalo on the podium were teammates Gillian Garcia and Lechuga Gonzalez, who finished in second and third, respectively.  

Garcia posted a 272.25 in the final surpassing her season and career best, a 243.05, which she totaled at UCLA's Bruin Diving Invitational on Jan. 16. Lechuga Gonzalez compiled a score of 263.10, just shy of her season best of 265.05.  

Senior Lexi Letts also set a season and career-high score with a 248.03. The Mesa, Ariz., native finished in fourth place and bettered her previous best of 236.15, set at the Phill Hansel Invitational in Houston.  

Spots seven through nine were all occupied by Aztecs.  

Jules Harrison, a sophomore out of Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., was seventh with a 235.05 total.  She easily surpassed her season and career-best of 207.10, which was set at the Bruin Diving Invitational in Westwood, Calif., mid-January.  

Freshman Emma Duggan scored 223.58 in the final, narrowly missing the Zone E qualifying score, but bettering her previous best, 196.15 from the Phill Hansel Invitational, by 27.43. She was the eighth-place finisher.  

In ninth place, Summer Westmoreland, a freshman out of Tucson, Ariz., recorded a season-best score with a 226.73, which punched her ticket to the Zone E Championships.  

In 11th place and making the most improvement from the prelims to the final was Olivia Zamudio. She bettered her prelim score by 34.90 points and with a 225.45, and surpassed the Zone E qualifying score by 0.45 of a point. It was the San Diego native's best platform score of her college career.  

San Diego State now turns its attention to the Mountain West Championships which are scheduled to be conducted Feb. 16-19 in College Station, Texas.