INDIANAPOLIS – Amy Cozad (Indianapolis, Ind./Bloomington, Ind.) and Jessica Parratto (Dover, N.H./Bloomington, Ind.) won the women’s 10-meter synchro title, while Kristian Ipsen (Clayton, Calif./Stanford, Calif.) and Sam Dorman (Tempe, Ariz./Coral Gables, Fla.) came from behind to win the men’s synchronized 3-meter title Tuesday at the USA Diving Winter National Championships.
In addition to winning national titles, the winning teams punched their tickets to the FINA Diving World Cup in Rio de Janeiro in February, where they will look to qualify the United States for the 2016 Olympic Games.
Ipsen and Dorman scored 822.99 points over two lists of dives to overtake Ipsen and Troy Dumais (Ventura, Calif./Austin, Texas) in the final round. Ipsen and Dumais finished with 819.81 points, with Dumais and Dorman finishing third with 798.33 points.
Ipsen and Dumais led 745.35-737.94 with one round to go. Dorman and Ipsen dove first and scored 85.05 points on their reverse 1 ½ with 3 ½ twists. Dumais and Ipsen closed out their list with 74.46 points on a front 2 ½ with two twists, but it wasn’t enough to maintain their lead.
“The competition felt really solid, but it was a really long day diving with both Troy and Sam. I really started to feel it in the afternoon. I broke my hand at the beginning of October, and I haven’t been doing a lot of numbers with my training. I started to get really tired at the end, but I’m happy with the outcome. I’m really happy I went 1-2. That’s good to know,” said Ipsen, who won bronze with Dumais at the 2012 Olympic Games.
With the victory, Ipsen claimed his 13th career national title and Dorman his sixth. It was their second title together.
“I like to play the comeback game, but I don’t pay attention to scores. I just try to get in the zone and take each dive one at a time,” Dorman said. “I’m so excited to go to Rio. I haven’t been there yet. (The World Cup) is a trial run for the Olympics.”
Cozad and Parratto finished with 596.04 points over two lists of dives to win their third national title together.Samantha Bromberg (Bexley, Ohio/Austin, Texas) and Delaney Schnell (Tucson, Ariz.) were second with 560.64, and Tarrin Gilliland (Liberty Hill, Texas/Midland, Texas) and Lisa Faulkner (Irvington, Va./Orlando, Fla.) were third with 545.88 points.
It was the seventh career national title for both Parratto and Cozad and their third together.
“With there only being four teams, this competition was a lot different than what we’ll see in Rio (at the World Cup). There will be three times as many teams. This was a fast competition here,” Cozad said.
“This was a faster pace, so it felt more like practice. At bigger meets, we’ll be waiting and starting to feel stiff instead of always moving around. We just have to remember how we felt at this meet and try to dive like that at the bigger meets,” Parratto said.
The USA Diving Winter National Championships continue through Sunday, December 20. Wednesday’s competition features women’s synchronized 3-meter and men’s synchronized 10-meter. Preliminaries begin at 10 a.m., with finals set for 6 p.m.
Results
Synchronized men’s 3-meter final
- Kristian Ipsen (Stanford Diving) / Samuel Dorman (University of Miami), 822.99;2. Kristian Ipsen (Stanford Diving) / Troy Dumais (Longhorn Aquatics), 819.81;3. Troy Dumais (Longhorn Aquatics) / Samuel Dorman (University of Miami), 798.33;4. Cory Bowersox (Longhorn Aquatics) / Zachary Nees (Penn State Diving), 738.45;5. Michael Hixon (TriSynerG Diving Academy) / Darian Schmidt (TriSynerG Diving Academy), 728.25;6. Cameron Thatcher (Ohio State Diving Club) / Grayson Campbell (Dominion Dive Club), 679.56;7. Harrison Jones (Mile High Dive Club) / Hayden Jones (Mile High Dive Club), 656.85;8. Aaron Fleshner (Unattached) / Briadam Herrera (University of Miami), 647.97;9. Ian Forlini (Unattached) / Connor Kuremsky (Stanford Diving), 632.37;10. Bryce Klein (Unattached) / Bradley Christensen (Stanford Diving), 623.01;11. Joseph Cifelli (Purdue Diving) / Max Showalter (Purdue Diving), 604.14;12. Elliot Cecil (Mizzou Diving) / Kyle Goodwin (Mizzou Diving), 587.46;13. Austin Rettingho use (Unattached) / Ian O’Rourke (RipFest), 277.50;14. Samuel Smith (Unattached) / Zach Hernandez (Unattached), 257.58
Synchronized women’s 10-meter final
- Jessica Parratto (TriSynerG Diving Academy) / Amy Cozad (TriSynerG Diving Academy), 596.04;2. Samantha Bromberg (Longhorn Aquatics) / Delaney Schnell (Tucson Diving Team), 560.64;3. Tarrin Gilliland (City of Midland) / Lisa Faulkner (YCF Diving Team), 545.88;4. Christy Cutshaw (North Carolina Diving) / Emily Bretscher (Tennessee Diving), 418.20
Swimming news courtesy of USA Diving.