Veronica Ribot-Canales enters her fifth year as diving coach at SUNY Cortland in 2025-26.
Ribot-Canales was named the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Women's Diving Coach of the Year in each of her first two seasons at Cortland (2021-22 and 2022-23). She also was part of Cortland's SUNYAC Men's Co-Swimming and Diving Coaching Staff of the Year in 2021-22, the SUNYAC Men's Swimming and Diving Staff of the Year in 2024-25, and the 2024-25 SUNYAC-AMCC championship Women's Diving Coach of the Meet along with being part of the Men's Staff of the Meet and Women's Staff of the Meet.
In 2021-22, Ribot-Canales' divers included Taylor Williams, who earned All-America honors with a sixth-place finish on the 3-meter springboard and honorable mention All-America honors with a 16th-place showing on the 1-meter springboard at the NCAA Division III Championships in Indianapolis. Her performances earned the Red Dragons a 29th-place national finish, the team's best national finish in more than 30 years. Williams also earned SUNYAC Women's Diver of the Year and Women's Diver of the Championship Meet awards.
Four of Ribot-Canales' divers qualified for the 2021-22 NCAA Region 4 (Northeast and South) Championships. At the SUNYAC Championships, her female divers placed first, second and fourth on the 3-meter board and first, second and fifth on the 1-meter board, while her top male diver placed sixth on both boards.
In 2022-23, Ribot-Canales' diving contingent included Ashley Zachgo, who qualified for the NCAA Division III Championships in Greensboro, N.C., and was named both the SUNYAC Women's Diver of the Year and Women's Diver of the Championship Meet. Two Cortland women and two men qualified for the NCAA regional meet, and at the SUNYAC Championships the women featured a first and sixth-place finish on both boards while the men placed fourth and fifth in the 1-meter competition and fifth and seventh in the 3-meter event.
In 2023-24, her men's divers included Lance Meeson, who qualified for regionals and missed qualifying for nationals by one point, and Kazuki Kadota-Browner, who set a school record for the 1-meter board (11 dives). On the women's side, Madison Heffern advanced to the finals at the SUNYAC Championships on both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards and Alyssa Haberlack advanced to the finals on the 3-meter board and won the 1-meter consolation final.
During the 2024-25 season, three of her divers qualified for NCAA regionals - Kadota-Browner and Kohlhoff on the men's side and Alyssa Haberlack on the women's side. Kohlhoff was named the SUNYAC Men's Diver of the Year and Haberlack earned SUNYAC Women's Diver of the Year. Haberlack won the SUNYAC-AMCC 1-meter title and Megan McLaughlin was the 3-meter champion at the combined conference meet to earn SUNYAC-AMCC Co-Women's Diver of the Meet honors.
A highly accomplished diver, Ribot-Canales was the Masters National Champion in the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events as well as the Grand Masters event (open only to past national champions, NCAA champions and Olympians) at the 2023 Masters Summer Nationals in Iowa City. She also competed at the Masters World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, in August 2023, where she became Masters World Champion in both individual events in the 60-64 age group.
In 2024, she won another three individual events at the 50th Anniversary Masters Nationals at Ohio State and five titles at the Summer Masters Nationals in Novato, Calif. In 2025, she competed at the World Aquatics Masters Diving World Championships in Singapore and competed in three individual events and two synchronized diving events over a span of six days. She won four gold medals and world titles (1-meter and 3-meter springboard and platform as well as synchronized 3-meter springboard), and she and her partner captured a silver medal in the synchronized platform event. These results made her an overall 9-time World Masters Champion.
Prior to the start of Ribot-Canales's coaching career, she was a four-time Olympian representing her native Argentina. She was a 12-time South American Champion, a Pan American Silver & Bronze medalist on the 10-meter platform, a U.S. Olympic Festival Gold & Bronze medalist on springboard, and a two-time U.S. National Champion on 3-meter springboard.
As an all-around diver, Veronica was the only woman at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games to make the finals (top 8) in both Olympic diving events (10-meter platform & 3-meter springboard). She was a six-time U.S. National team member, having switched her sports nationality to represent the United States for the last three years of her career, and competed at the 1996 U.S. Olympic trials in Indianapolis.
Ribot-Canales's first collegiate coaching position was head coach of diving at Cornell University in Ithaca from 2007-16. She was one of the only female coaches in the Ivy League during eight seasons. Her divers occupy most of Cornell's all-time top-10 list, and her top male diver was a double finalist and third-place finisher at the Ivy League Championships.
During her years at Cornell, she had several finalists at the Ivy League Championships. She trained seven of the men's all-time top-10 finishers on the 3-meter board, eight of 10 male divers on the 1-meter board, five of 10 women in 3-meter and four of 10 in 1-meter.
Before her appointment at Cornell, Ribot-Canales coached her own USA Diving Club team, Team Olympia, in Miami, Florida, competing in the Florida Gold Coast Diving Association during 1996-2007. Having an eye for talent, she acquired her best diver, Bianca Alvarez who began training with her at the age of 12, after leaving a gymnastics career at a high level. By age 16 she was an age group National Champion, many times regional winner, Florida State High School Champion, and the most highly recruited athlete to college. Bianca went on to compete at the 2012 Olympic trials in Federal Way, Washington.
Prior to her arrival at Cortland, Ribot-Canales taught yoga full time. One of the places she taught was at the Student Life Center in Cortland from 2017-20.
