‘Now’s your moment’: Vazquez defends two titles at ACC championship, prepares for Paris Olympics

She was down by 25 points after two rounds. Senior diver Aranza Vazquez turned to her head coach, Yaidel Gamboa. 

Gamboa got straight to the point. 

“Gamboa was like, ‘If you want it, now's your moment and you need to hit your next four dives,'" Vazquez said. "'If not, you're not winning.’”

That was enough for Vazquez. Her competitiveness kicked in as she took the board for her final four dives.

And just like that, she pulled ahead by 11 points — officially defending her title as the ACC 3-meter springboard champion in Greensboro.

Only two weeks prior to the ACC Championship, Vazquez was 7,137 miles away representing Mexico in the World Aquatics Championship in Doha, Qatar. Vazquez and her teammates took home the silver medal in the mixed 3-meter and 10-meter team competition. 

Even though Vazquez knew people had high expectations of her after last year’s triple crown, she approached the ACC Championship meet like any other — wanting to perform at her best. 

“I was trying not to put a lot of pressure on myself and just really enjoyed the competition,” Vazquez said. “I went in just wanting to dive well and do well for my team, for myself, and it worked out.”

Only a day later, Vazquez took home the gold once again in the 1-meter springboard competition. In this competition, though, Vazquez dominated the field — beating second-place Louisville senior Else Praasterink by 30 points. 

Anton Down-Jenkins, a former UNC diver and current volunteer assistant coach, had the opportunity to compete alongside Vazquez for three seasons. As both a teammate and a coach, Down-Jenkins said he has seen a tremendous amount of growth in her abilities. 

After their first year as Tar Heels, Down-Jenkins and Vazquez both qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and attended with Gamboa. During the World Championships in February, Vazquez was walking to the bus with Gamboa when he delivered the news. 

She was going to her second Olympic Games.

“I think I said, ‘I don't believe you’ like 20 times. [Gamboa] was like, 'We actually are telling you, it’s not a joke you are going,'” Vazquez said. “And then I started crying. It was a relief after a great event that it had been worth it and that I was going straight to the Olympics.”

Vazquez said she went through an “Olympic depression" after her trip to Tokyo. She struggled with returning to collegiate competition after being on the world’s biggest stage.

After finding a love for diving again over the last two seasons, Vazquez has continued to focus on the mental side of competing. In September 2023, she reached out to the Carolina Athletics Mental Health and Performance Psychology Program department to help her combat anxiety and negative self-talk during meets.

Now, having worked with a sports psychologist for several months, Vazquez is confident in her ability to reset her expectations, take pressure off herself and perform at her best.

Aside from her long list of accolades as a UNC diver, Vazquez has seen growth outside of the pool that she believes will assist her in the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics. 

“If the post-Olympic depression wouldn’t have happened," Vazquez said, "I don't think I would have learned as much as I've learned as a person and as a diver."

Over the next four months, Gamboa will continue to help Vazquez prepare for their second Olympics together. At the ACC Championship, Vazquez also came home with the title of Women’s Most Valuable Diver. 

Despite her impressive resume, Gamboa wants Vazquez to set her sights on what’s next. 

“You're already an Olympian. You won NCAA, you won ACC, you recently qualified for your second Olympics, that's been done. That’s great,” Gamboa said. “But what we are going to accomplish tomorrow is a whole new world. We are starting from scratch. We got to do it all over again and if we want to do so, then we got to get ready for for tomorrow.”

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