Swim & Dive Hires Alejandra Fuentes as Head Diving Coach

MIAMI – FIU swimming & diving head coach Randy Horner introduced the hiring of Alejandra Fuentes as this system’s head diving coach on Tuesday.
 
Fuentes joins the Panthers after spending the previous two seasons as the pinnacle diving coach at St. Bonaventure, the place she led each the lads’s and ladies’s diving applications within the Atlantic 10 Conference.
 
“I am very excited to start working with the Panthers, and I look forward to contributing to the team’s success,” Fuentes stated. “This is a great opportunity to grow professionally while supporting our student-athletes and being part of a dedicated, competitive environment.”
 
Fuentes loved a standout 2025-26 season with the Bonnies, incomes Atlantic 10 Women’s Diving Coach of the Year honors after guiding sophomore Dhavgely Mendoza to convention titles on each the 1-meter and 3-meter boards. Mendoza grew to become simply the third student-athlete in program historical past to earn Atlantic 10 Women’s Most Outstanding Diver honors.
 
On the lads’s aspect, Ben O’Neill captured a silver medal within the 1-meter occasion on the 2026 Atlantic 10 Championships. Mendoza at the moment holds the St. Bonaventure faculty data on each boards, whereas O’Neill set this system’s males’s 1-meter file in the course of the 2025-26 season.
 
In her first season with the Bonnies in 2024-25, Fuentes guided each Mendoza and O’Neill to NCAA Zone Championship appearances. Mendoza earned a silver medal within the 1-meter dive on the Atlantic 10 Championships, whereas O’Neill additionally claimed silver within the males’s 1-meter competitors.
 
“From the start, I wanted to make sure we found the right person for our program, not just someone to fill the position,” Horner stated. “It was important to find a coach who believes in our one-team culture, builds strong relationships and truly cares about helping student-athletes grow both in and out of the pool. Alejandra showed us all of those qualities throughout the process. Her coaching experience, international background and passion for developing athletes make her a great fit for FIU, and we’re excited about what she will bring to our program.”
 
Fuentes brings an achieved worldwide résumé to FIU, highlighted by greater than 20 years of teaching expertise and an Olympic profession as a diver.
 
A local of Venezuela, Fuentes represented her nation on the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. She additionally earned bronze medals on the 2006 Rome Grand Prix and 2006 Madrid Grand Prix whereas inserting fifth on the 2005 FINA World Championships in Montreal.
 
Prior to becoming a member of St. Bonaventure, Fuentes spent seven years as an assistant diving coach for the Venezuelan National Team earlier than relocating to Seattle, the place she served as head coach of Alpha Diving Club. There, she developed divers who competed on the AAU and USA Diving National Championships whereas additionally teaching at the highschool degree in Washington.
 
Fuentes is a licensed worldwide diving coach and holds USA Diving security coaching certification.

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