Aranza Vazquez will return to UNC to use her COVID-19 fifth year of eligibility, the school’s roster shows. Vazquez has scored points at NCAAs in all four of her years so far with the Tar Heels.
Vazquez won the 3 meter springboard and 10 meter platform event at 2021 ACCs as a freshman. She also was the runner up in the 1 meter, scoring a total of 92 points, the highest on the UNC roster.
She went on to dive at 2021 NCAAs, finishing 2nd in the 1 meter and 3 meter as well as 6th off of the 10 meter platform. She scored 47 points, leading the team to a 12th place finish.
As a sophomore, she scored 78 points at ACCs to lead the team once again. She was 3rd in the 3 meter, 4th in the 1 meter, and 5th in the 10 meter event. At 2022 NCAAs, she scored in all three diving events again with 3rd in the 1 meter, 9th in the 3 meter, and 11th in the 10 meter event. She scored 31 points, the 2nd most on the team.
Sweeping the diving events at 2023 ACCs, Vazquez won all three events to score 96 points. She also went on to win two NCAA titles, winning the 1 meter and 3 meter events. She also was 10th in the platform event, scoring a total of 47 points in UNC’s 10th place finish.
This past season, she defended her ACC titles in the 1 and 3 meter events, also finishing 4th in the platform event. She also won NCAA titles in the 1 and 3 meter events to score a total of 40 points.
The return of Vazquez is huge for the UNC women after only scoring 77 points this past year for a 17th place finish. Without Vazquez’s 40 points, the team would have fallen to 22nd. Out of the 77 points, 40 came from Vazquez, 24 came from relays, and the remaining 13 came from four individual swimmers all scoring single digits.