THE STARTING BLOCK
• The NM State divers are set to head to Flagstaff, Ariz., where they will take part in the Lumberjack Diving Invite on Friday, Feb. 3-5.
• This will mark the first dive-only invite of the year for the Aggies, however, they will be familiar with the NAU facilities as NM State competed in a single-day meet versus the Lumberjacks just 12 days ago.
• When they competed on Jan. 22 at NAU, junior Italia Aranzabal was the Aggies' top-scoring diver as she turned in a pair of third-place finishes.
• Meanwhile, Kate Malinowski, Casey Schmidt and Erin Orn also got a feel for the NAU boards as they competed alongside Aranzabal.
• In addition to a rematch with the NAU divers, NM State will also see athletes from the likes of San Diego State, New Mexico and fellow WAC member Idaho.
• Similar to NAU, the Aggies are also familiar with the New Mexico divers as NM State is coming off a 174-126 victory over the Lobos last weekend.
• This will also serve as a final tune-up for the Aggie dive team as it will be the last time that they will compete before the WAC Championships that are set to take place on Feb. 23-26, 2022.

LAST TIME OUT | NM State 174, New Mexico 126
• Against UNM, the Aggie divers were led once again by Aranzabal who earned WAC Diver of the Week honors after earning the top score in both the 3-meter and 1-meter events.
• Aranzabal posted the best score for any Aggie in the 3-meter event as she registered a 305.40 to take the top spot.
• Malinowski and Schmidt took sixth and seventh from the 3-meter board, respectively.
• Aranzabal also had the top 1-meter score for NM State this season when she posted a 277.35 for the win in that event.
• Additionally, the Aggies' Malinowski took sixth in the 1-meter with a finals score of 215.55 while Schmidt's 214.65 was good for seventh.
 
QUOTABLE | DIVING COACH MIRANDA KING
"I am so excited to see the divers compete this weekend," King said. "They have been training incredibly hard the last few weeks and everything is starting to come together at the right time. Being able to compete against two WAC opponents this weekend in a conference-style meet will help show where the girls are three weeks out from the WAC Championships. Being able to have a prelim-finals style format will help the girls prepare for how the WAC Championships will be and will help our freshman understand the type of endurance and mental preparation it takes to perform at the highest level of our conference. 

COMING UP NEXT
• The Aggie dive team will be joined by the swimmers at the end of this month when they head to Houston to compete in the WAC Championships on Feb. 23-26.