Pellacani's Gold Medal Highlights Day 1

ATLANTA – A gold medal performance from veteran diver Chiara Pellacani highlighted Day 1 of the 2026 ACC Swimming & Diving Championships at the McAuley Aquatic Center on the Georgia Tech campus Sunday evening.

Pellacani’s top honor on the 3-meter springboard was one of several impressive showings on the first day at the conference meet. Margo O’Meara was right behind her teammate with a silver medal, while freshman Matteo Santoro captured a bronze medal on the 1-meter springboard.

Pellacani, who won the event with a score of 352.50, had her top dive in the finals on a forward 2 ½ somersault with a twist from pike position that scored her 67.50 points, one of three dives to score 60-or-more points in the finals.

Right behind Pellacani was O’Meara, who took silver with a score of 323.60. O Meara’s back 2 ½ somersault pike, her second dive of the final round, scored her 60 points to establish early position in tandem with Pellacani.

All three of Miami’s men’s divers qualified for the eight-person final, with Santoro’s bronze medal highlighting the night’s final. Santoro scored 389.35 in his first-ever trip to the ACC Championships, finishing on the podium behind Luke Sitz of SMU and Max Fowler of Georgia Tech.

Santoro finished just ahead of teammates Jake Passmore, who was fourth (386.30), and Mohamed Farouk (367.50), who was fifth. The Italy national had several impressive dives on the evening, including a forward 3 ½ somersault from pike which scored him 77.55 points.

The ACC Championships continue Monday from Atlanta.