Courtesy: USA Diving
ATLANTA – Day five of the 2018 USA Diving Winter Trials featured competitions in the men’s 3-meter and the women’s 1-meter events at the McAuley Aquatics Center on the campus of Georgia Tech Thursday. David Boudia (Noblesville, Ind./West Lafayette, Ind.) won the men’s 3-meter with 907.95 points, while Brooke Schultz (Fayetteville, Ark.) captured the women’s 1-meter title with 532.20 points after finishing the preliminary round at fourth place.
In his first national competition since the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials and a month after winning the silver medal at the FINA Gold Coast Grand Prix, Boudia captured the Winter Trials title after entering finals at third place. Michael Hixon (Amherst, Mass./Bloomington, Ind.), who had a 10.35 point lead ahead of Boudia following preliminaries, led the men through the first five rounds of finals before missing a dive in the last round that caused the Massachusetts native to slip to second place with 886.50 points. Boudia’s reverse 3 ½ tuck in the fifth round scored 94.50 points and put the four-time Olympic medalist 13.40 points behind Hixon. In the final round, Boudia dove a reverse 1 ½ somersaults with 3 ½ twists for 89.25 points to clinch first place and his first national title in the men’s 3-meter contest since 2013, when he won at the USA Diving Winter National Championships. Andrew Capobianco (Holly Springs, N.C./Bloomington, Ind.) finished behind the two Olympians at third place with 861.60 points. Boudia wraps up Winter Trials with the men’s 3-meter title, while Capobianco and Hixon finish the week sharing titles in the men’s 3-meter synchro.
Despite entering finals at fourth place with 251.25 points carried over from the preliminary round, Schultz proved to be resilient in the finals as she climbed her way to the top to clinch the gold medal Thursday afternoon. With strong, consistent dives, Schultz quickly moved up to second place and then to first following a reverse 2 ½ tuck that scored 58.50 points in the third round. She held her spot through the rest of competition to capture her second Winter Trials title, as she also earned a title in the women’s 3-meter synchro with Murphy Bromberg (Bexley, Ohio/Austin, Texas). Sarah Bacon (Indianapolis, Ind./Twin Cities, Minn.) wrapped up competition at second place with 515.40 points, while Alison Gibson (Austin, Texas) placed third with 509.20 points. Schultz and Gibson will return to Winter Trials Friday when they compete in the women’s 3-meter contest.
The Winter Trials conclude Friday, December 21 with preliminaries in the men’s platform and the women’s 3-meter at 10 a.m. ET. Finals in both the men’s platform and the women’s 3-meter will begin at 4 p.m. ET. Friday’s competitions will be streamed on Facebook Live through USA Diving’s Facebook page.