FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The Aggies' weekend stay in Arizona kicked off with a fifth-place finish from junior Italia Aranzabal in the one-meter event.
 
Following preliminaries, Aranzabal found herself in a good position as she posted a score of 265.25 to rank sixth and qualify for finals. Freshmen Erin Orn, Kate Malinowski and Casey Schmidt also battled among a deep field today as Orn notched the Aggies' top placement behind Aranzabal when she finished 24^th in prelims with a score of 202.80.
 
In the finals, Aranzabal improved her spot by one placement as she moved into fifth place with a final score of 529.20. The Mexico City, Mexico, native's score was just over six points better than the next closest competitor as San Diego State's Summer Westmoreland posted a final score of 523.00.
 
"The competition today was tough," said NM State Diving Coach Miranda King. "Italia had two very strong lists in prelims and finals and was able to stay very consistent in this tough competition. Kate, Casey and Erin were able to hold their own against this tough field while competing a few new dives that we are testing out for conference. We have another long day tomorrow with 3-meter, but the girls are looking forward to bettering themselves."
 
The top spot in the one-meter event went to Westmoreland's teammate in Ximena Lechuga who ranked second after prelims and pushed her way to the top with a final score of 591.45. The Aztecs finished with a pair inside the top-three as Valentina Lopez Arevalo finished third (559.45). Meanwhile, host Northern Arizona logged the remaining spot in the top-three as Victoria Knapp took second (570.90).
 
UP NEXT
The Aggies will be back in action tomorrow morning when they dive from the 3-meter boards with prelims beginning at 10:30. All results can be found here and live streams of each event will be shown on Facebook.