The University of Miami’s women’s swim and dive team officially wrapped up its season with stellar performances at the NCAA Championships, landing at 22nd in the nation and bringing home a third place finish by reigning NCAA champion Mia Vallée in the 1-meter.
Vallée, who took the title on the 1-meter at the 2022 NCAA Championships, had another stellar meet with two All-America performances. She opened the week by finishing in second place in the 1-meter preliminary round with a score of 315.45 and went on to take the bronze in the finals with a score of 338.10. Vallée fell to Arizona senior Delaney Schnell (340.05) and University of North Carolina (UNC) junior Aran Montano (358.75).
Vallée also made the finals for the 3-meter competition with a third-place finish in the preliminary round with a score of 346.65m, and on the third day of competition, she posted a score of 355.65 in the finals, landing her in fifth place. Taking first was UNC’s Aran Montano with a 385.8. This earned Vallée her third NCAA All-America title of her career.
This added to the Canadian diver’s career successes, which also include two gold and two silver medals at the ACC Championships, gold at the Commonwealth Games and a silver and bronze medal at the World Championships in 2022.
Graduate student Tara Vovk returned to Coral Gables with second-team All-America honors after finishing in 11th place in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 58.89. She also competed in the 200-yard backstroke.
Team captain Zorry Mason made her NCAA Championships debut and competed in her last meet as a Hurricane. She swam in the preliminary rounds of the 200-yard IM, 100-yard breaststroke and 200-yard breaststroke.
Mason has been a ‘Cane since her freshman year in 2018, where she delivered a standout year. She was Miami’s top point getter and a top-10 all-time performer in six individual events. She had another dominant season in her second year at Miami but did not see any action her junior year due to an offseason injury that resulted in surgery. Mason redshirted the next year and finally made her way to college swimming’s greatest stage this past weekend at the NCAA Championships that were hosted by the University of Tennessee.
The NCAA Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships will be held in Minneapolis from Wednesday, March 22, where Mohamed Farouk, Max Flory and Brodie Scapens will attempt to add to the hardware returning to Coral Gables for the Hurricanes.