LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – UNLV women's diving junior Montse Moreno earned a trip to the 2021 NCAA Diving Championships on the 3-meter board to headline UNLV's performances on day two of the NCAA's Zone E Diving meet at Northern Arizona's Aquatics Complex. She will represent the Rebels at the annual national competition being held at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, N.C. from March 17-20.
 
THE RUNDOWN – WOMEN:
*Representing UNLV's women's squad at the competition, Moreno scored a 300.05 in the 3-meter finals to launch herself three spots up from her 10th-place standing after prelims and secure a seventh-place finish (591.65) that gave her one of the nine qualifying spots awarded at the meet. The Scarlet and Gray springboard standout is the program's first women's diver to move past the zone rounds since Rebel alumna Myka Fielding advanced to the 2018 NCAA Championships in the same event.
*With her 3-meter performance, Moreno wraps up her double-event appearance at the annual zone qualifying rounds in which she also notched a 19th-place finish (239.75) in the  women's 1-meter prelims on the first day of dives.
 
THE RUNDOWN – MEN:
*For the UNLV men's team, senior Jesse Cawley also added a strong finals score of 301.90 on the men's platform to place seventh (565.95) and come within one spot of a top-six finish needed to advance. Mirroring his Rebel women's counterpart Moreno, Cawley himself jumped three positions up the standings from his 10th-place position during the prelim rounds to record his highest personal finish in the platform event at the meet.
*Additionally, Cawley tallied a combined score of 586.70 on the 3-meter board to finish in 11th place on day one. This, too, was a career-best finish for Cawley at the zone qualifying event and fell just two spots shy of a required top-9 finish needed to advance to the national meet.

QUOTABLE: "Both our divers fought their way up in dramatic fashion after only being in 10th during prelims and really did well in the end. Jesse was outstanding and came up just 10 points short of moving on, while Montse completely crushed it today for us in the women's 3-meter finals." - Head coach Ben Loorz

UP NEXT: The Rebels' representation in Flagstaff, Ariz. at the 2021 NCAA Zone E Championships will continue Wednesday, as Cawley looks to advance to the national championships in the men's 1-meter competition. The prelims on the final day of the meet will begin at 10:30 am, with the final round starting at 11:50 am.