Mirafuentes earns Honorable Mention All-America honors

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Sophomore Melissa Mirafuentes wrapped up her first NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship and took home Honorable Mention All-America Honors on Saturday afternoon.

It's the second such honor of her career and the first Cowgirl since Karla Contreras did it in 2018.

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The sophomore from Guadalupe, Mexico would score a five-round preliminary dive of 259.70 in the platform which would help her reach the consolation final round. She would score a fifth place finish with a mark of 245.00.

"It was a bit of a roller coaster ride, but we ended up with another Cowgirl All-American," head coach Ted Everett. "As a coach, it was so hard to sit and watch her first several dives. In her last prelim dive, she needed something special to reach the consolation final and she did it.

"It was not just great for her but for diving in our zone because she earned a spot in next year's NCAA meet for our zone."

Mirafuentes wraps up her 2020-21 campaign with a very impressive season.

At the Zone E Meet, she punched her ticket on the first day of the competition with an eighth place finish in the 1-meter board with a score of 531.55. She followed that up a fourth place spot in the 3-meter.

She recorded a second place score of 309.65 in the prelims and then combined for a score of 606.15.

In the platform, Mirafuentes scored a season-best 299.50 for a spot in the finals. With a five dive score of 293.80, she remained in second with a score of 593.30. She qualified for the same event a season ago.

"In the consolation finals, she moved up two places and finishes 13^th. After preliminaries, she was very nervous so I'm proud of how she fought through it and now she knows that she really belongs at this meet," Everett added.

Mirafuentes is coming off another stellar performance at the 2021 MW Championship. She would defend her championship in the platform event with a posted a total of 263.80 in the preliminaries followed by a score280.50 in the finals.

For her efforts, she was named the MW Championship Diver of the Meet for the second straight year. In the 1-meter, she turned in a preliminary score of 292.10 which was second and followed that up with a six dive total of 282.95 in the finals.

Mirafuentes followed that up with a score of 319.10 and a season-best total of 330.15 in the finals for a second place finish. She was also named MW Diver of the three times this season. She is the current school record holder in both the 3-meter and platform with scores of 378.00 and 348.80, respectively, while being ranked four in the 1-meter with a mark of 314.55.

* University of Wyoming press release