History was made for CSI Athletics and for the Swimming & Diving program this week as Yubal Parra was named an All-American at this week’s NCAA Swimming & Diving National Championship meet. The redshirt sophomore placed 10th in the 3-Meter Diving National Championship and 6th in the 1-Meter Diving National Championship earning the Dolphins a 28th-place team score of 20 points at the meet.
This year’s NCAA Championship meet, which took place over five days, was held in Indianapolis, Indiana. Parra arrived on Monday with the start of competition coming on Tuesday, and Parra was invited to compete by virtue of his diving marks on the 1-Meter and 3-Meter bords during the regular season and the NE-10 Championship, where we was named Diver of the Meet.
Tuesday at Indiana University featured a qualifying round allowing divers to earn the right to advance to the National Championship rounds later in the week. Prelims then took place for the 1-Meter and 3-Meter Diving Championships to seed the competitors before finals determined a National Champion on Thursday and Saturday night. When the week came to an end, Parra had placed 10th in the 3-Meter Diving National Championship and 6th in the 1-Meter Diving National Championship. He also became the first All-American in the history of CSI Athletics and earned the Dolphins a 28th-place team score with his efforts in Indianapolis. Overall, 36 teams scored in the meet. Below is a day-by-day account of how it took place.
TUESDAY, MARCH 11, 2025
Competing in the qualifying rounds for diving, Parra secured a spot in the Finals for both boards. He placed 9th overall in the qualifying round to earn his spot in the meet on Thursday. A total of 18 divers are taken from a wider pool of divers asked to participate in the opening day of dives.
THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2025
On Thursday morning, the 18 total divers participated in preliminary dives on the 3-Meter platform to determine the Top 16 divers who would go on to compete for the National Championship and point scoring. Parra scored 459.70 points in the preliminary round, securing a spot in the Top 16. Then, in the evening session, he improved his prelims score by nearly fifty points with a 508.70 showing in the finals. The finish played his 10th overall and garnered CSI a total of seven points in the meet, officially placing them for the first time in the scoring at the NCAA Division II Championship.
SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 2025
Saturday marked 1-Meter diving and Parra did not disappoint, placing 6th overall in prelims with a score of 468.4, securing a spot in the evening final. During the 1-Meter Diving National Championship finals, Parra matched his 6th-place finish from the prelims and improved his score to 495.95. The point total was just under 23 points away from placing in the top three. By virtue of his Top-8 finish, Parra also officially joined the ranks of All-American athletes with his performance at Nationals this week becoming the first Dolphin to achieve the honor in program history. His efforts this week also earned the Dolphins a 28th-place score of 20 points as a team.
Parra, a redshirt sophomore, saw his first action for the Dolphins during the latter half of the 2024-2025 season and immediately began to re-write the record books. On Senior Day in the team’s home finale, Parra broke a pair of Men’s Diving records in the 1-Meter and 3-Meter (6 dive) events. He then broke the 1-Meter 11-dive record in the team’s season finale at Brooklyn College before claiming the 3-Meter 11-dive record at this year’s Northeast-10 Conference Championship. Already having been named Diver of the Week by the conference to end the regular season, Parra was also named Diver of the Meet at the NE-10 Championship last month. This came on the heels of two gold medals for Parra in the meet including a massive victory by nearly 200 points in 3-Meter Diving.
For more on Parra’s trip to NCAA Nationals, check out www.csidolphins.com.
– Story courtesy of CSI Athletics