SAN DIEGO – San Diego State’s Valentina Lopez Arevalo was named Mountain West Diver of the Week on Tuesday after winning all three events at California Baptist’s Lancer Diving Invitational, Jan. 9-11, in Riverside, California.
With her accolade, Lopez Arevalo earned her third conference weekly honor this year and ninth of her career, giving the Aztecs seven such plaudits this season.
A native of Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico, Lopez Arevalo also received the meet’s individual high point award with 60.00 points, according to DiveMeets.com, surpassing NCAA zone qualifying standards in all three events.
Lopez Arevalo opened the meet with a victory in the 3-meter springboard competition, vaulting seven places in the individual standings after posting a winning total of 302.25 in the finals.
The SDSU senior followed that effort with a triumph on the platform tower the next day, recording a dominating performance in the finals with a score of 287.75 to easily outdistance the second-place finisher by 47.80 points.
Lopez Arevalo delivered in crunch time on the 1-meter springboard to close out the weekend, climbing three places from the preliminary round to finish with 289.15 points in the finals and edge the second-place diver by just 1.25 points.
With her sweep at the Lancer Diving Invitatinal, Lopez Arevalo has eight event titles to her credit this season. She also emerged victorious on the 1-meter board earlier this month in a double dual meet at home vs. New Mexico and Pepperdine with a season-best score of 296.50 on Jan. 2.
Lopez Arevalo and her diving teammates will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 25, when they battle the University of San Diego in a dual meet at Aztec Aquaplex, starting at 9 a.m. PT.
