USA Diving’s 2017 World Championships roster is set after the final eight spots on the team were determined Sunday at the World Championships Trials.
Olympians Michael Hixon (Amherst, Mass./Bloomington, Ind.), Steele Johnson (Carmel, Ind./West Lafayette, Ind.) and Jessica Parratto (Dover, N.H./Bloomington, Ind.) each added another event to their World Championships schedule, having previously qualified on other events. Hixon and Johnson qualified for men’s 3-meter and Parratto secured a women’s 10-meter spot on Sunday.
Also qualifying for the World Championships on Sunday were Delaney Schnell (Tucson, Ariz.) in women’s 10-meter, David Dinsmore (New Albany, Ohio/Miami, Fla.) and Jordan Windle (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) in men’s 10-meter, and Brooke Schultz (Fayetteville, Ark.) and Krysta Palmer (Carson City, Nev./Reno, Nev.) in women’s 3-meter.
In all, 17 divers will represent the U.S. at the FINA World Championships, which will be held July 14-22 in Budapest, Hungary.
Women’s 10-meter
Parratto finished with 1003.35 points on three lists of dives to win the women’s 10-meter contest. She led by 29.75 points heading into the finals, but said she approached Sunday’s competition as if she was starting at zero.
“It wasn’t a huge lead, and even if I do have a lead going into a final, I like to think of it as a clean slate starting from scratch so I can try to get five solid dives in. It was another consistent day,” Parratto said. “I didn’t really hit anything, but I was consistent and vertical. Looking ahead to worlds, I need to focus on getting cleaner entries and hitting dives a little better.”
Schnell came from behind to qualify for worlds by five-hundredths of a point, finishing with 963.70 points to edge Tarrin Gilliland (Liberty Hill, Texas/Midland, Texas) for a spot on the team. Schnell entered the finals trailing Gilliland by 8.55 points. Heading into the final round, the margin had been narrowed to 1.55 points. Schnell dove first and put down 81.60 points on an inward 3 ½ tuck, while Gilliland followed with 80 points on a back 2 ½ with 1 ½ twists to push Schnell into second place.
“I came into this meet with no expectations, just to dive how I dive in practice and see how I do. Before the last dive, I saw the score and I was like, ‘I’m going to go for it. I’m either going to hit the dive really well or I’m going to miss it and know that I tried my hardest,’ so that’s kind of how I went into my last dive. When I hit the water, I knew it. It was there,” Schnell said.
Men’s 3-meter
Hixon won the men’s 3-meter contest with 1317.55 points, with Johnson finishing just behind him with 1314.00 points. The two Olympic medalists went back and forth in the final. Johnson took the lead after round three but Hixon came through with 80 or more points on his final three dive, including 91.80 on his inward 3 ½ tuck in round five, to end up with the narrow victory.
“I think with the dives we’re doing now and the caliber we’re doing them at, we can be contenders (internationally),” said Hixon, who finished 10th on 3-meter at the 2016 Olympic Games.
Johnson will be competing at his second World Championships, but will be diving on 3-meter for the first time. Johnson competed in individual and synchronized 10-meter at the 2016 Olympic Games and hasn’t competed much on 10-meter since then to give his body a break.
“Since the Olympics, I’ve mostly been doing 1-meter and 3-meter just to give my body a break from 10-meter. To come in and put down a 480 list in the finals is encouraging knowing there’s still room to grow,” Johnson said. “Ten-meter synchro is still my main focus and what I enjoy the most. I didn’t have any expectations for myself (on springboard) and I don’t think many people had expectations for me because this was my first time trying out for 3-meter.”
Women’s 3-meter
Schultz won the women’s 3-meter contest with 976.30 points, maintaining the lead she had coming into the finals as she clinched her first trip to the World Championships.
“I’m super excited. I’ve been working hard. I wasn’t quite sure how it would work out, but now that it’s over, I’m so excited. I was actually really nervous, to be honest, but I just had to remind myself that I can only control my dives and that’s all that I can do,” Schultz said.
Palmer, who went into the finals in second but just 3.85 points from third, pulled away from the rest of the field in the finals to finish second with 927.60 points, 61.1 points ahead of third place.
“This is surreal. Coming into it, I didn’t expect this so I’m very, very excited. I really didn’t pay attention to the scores at all. I tried hard not to look at them because it’s really just one dive at a time. Going into it, I just treated it like a practice. I think that really helped me relax,” Palmer said.
Palmer had the highest scoring dive of any diver in the 3-meter final with 78 points on a reverse 2 ½ pike and she also competed a front 2 ½ with two twists, a dive that few women compete. She scored 71 points on the dive, which carries a 3.4 degree of difficulty. Most women perform the dive with just one twist, for a degree of difficulty of 3.0.
“I’ve been training that dive and working hard to get it consistent. I’ve really been in the weight room a lot to get strong enough to do it here. I thought I’d give it a shot. I might as well go for it, and my coach was on the same page,” Palmer said.
Men’s 10-meter
Dinsmore and Windle led the rest of the men’s 10-meter field by more than 100 points heading into the finals, and the duo maintained their advantage through Sunday’s competition. Dinsmore finished with 1428.75 points, while Windle picked up the second spot with 1415.00 points over his three lists of dives.
“I love when everyone’s diving well. I loved having Jordan in front of me. When I saw him do a good dive, I wanted to do a good dive. We both pushed each other to do our best. Coming into it, I didn’t think too much about the lead. I just wanted to dive my best on all three lists,” said Dinsmore, who also competed at the 2015 World Championships.
Windle will be making his first appearance at World Championships in an individual event after having competed at the 2015 worlds in mixed synchronized 3-meter.
“I’m at a loss for words. I’m super excited to go to worlds and represent the USA and hopefully I put on a good show,” Windle said. “I think the way I handled this competition was just like any other event, giving it my all and putting up a good fight.”
USA Diving roster for 2017 FINA World Championships
Men’s 3-meter
Michael Hixon (Amherst, Mass./Bloomington, Ind.)
Steele Johnson (Carmel, Ind./West Lafayette, Ind.)
Women’s 3-meter
Brooke Schultz (Fayetteville, Ark.)
Krysta Palmer (Carson City, Nev./Reno, Nev.)
Men’s 10-meter
David Dinsmore (New Albany, Ohio/Miami, Fla.)
Jordan Windle (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
Women’s 10-meter
Jessica Parratto (Dover, N.H./Bloomington, Ind.)
Delaney Schnell (Tucson, Ariz.)
Previously selected
Men’s 1-meter
Michael Hixon (Amherst, Mass./Bloomington, Ind.)
Steele Johnson (Carmel, Ind./West Lafayette, Ind.)
Women’s 1-meter
Maria Coburn (Round Rock, Texas)
Alison Gibson (Austin, Texas)
Men’s synchronized 3-meter
Sam Dorman (Tempe, Ariz./Miami, Fla.)
Michael Hixon (Amherst, Mass./Bloomington, Ind.)
Women’s synchronized 3-meter
Maria Coburn (Round Rock, Texas)
Kassidy Cook (The Woodlands, Texas/Stanford, Calif.)
Men’s synchronized 10- meter
Steele Johnson (Carmel, Ind./West Lafayette, Ind.)
Brandon Loschiavo (Huntington Beach, Calif./West Lafayette, Ind.)
Women’s synchronized 10-meter
Tarrin Gilliland (Liberty Hill, Texas/Midland, Texas)
Jessica Parratto (Dover, N.H./Bloomington, Ind.)
Mixed synchronized 3-meter
Briadam Herrera (Miami, Fla.)
Lauren Reedy (Rochester Hills, Mich./Columbia, Mo.)
Mixed synchronized 10-meter
Andrew Capobianco (Holly Springs, N.C.)
Tarrin Gilliland (Liberty Hill, Texas/Midland, Texas)
World Championships Trials Results
Women 10-meter final
- Jessica Parratto (TriSynerG Diving Academy), 1003.35;2. Delaney Schnell (Unattached), 963.70;3. Tarrin Gilliland (City of Midland), 963.65;4. Olivia Rosendahl (Unattached), 868.95;5. Amy Magana (The Indiana International School of Diving), 832.15;6. Johanna Holloway (Moss Farms Diving), 672.45;7. Daria Lenz (Unattached), 644.75;8. Alexis Vincent (Purdue University), 614.35;9. Alessandra Murphy (Club Wolverine Diving), 602.10;
Men’s 3-meter final
1. Michael Hixon (TriSynerG Diving Academy), 1317.55;2. Steele Johnson (Purdue University), 1314.00;3. Briadam Herrera (University of Miami), 1235.95;4. Joseph Cifelli (Purdue University), 1154.55;5. Mark Anderson (Longhorn Aquatics), 1093.90;6. Grayson Campbell (Longhorn Aquatics), 1093.80;7. Andrew Capobianco (Duke Diving), 997.70;8. Gregory Duncan (Dominion Dive Club), 969.70;9. Cody Coldren (TriSynerG Diving Academy), 958.20;10. Travis Wright (Unattached), 850.65;11. Samuel Dorman (University of Miami), 742.80;
Women’s 3-meter final
- Brooke Schultz (Unattached), 976.30;2. Krysta Palmer (Nevada Diving Club), 927.60;3. Alison Gibson (Longhorn Aquatics), 866.50;4. Sarah Bacon (Unattached), 857.45;5. Maria Coburn (Longhorn Aquatics), 856.55;6. Lauren Reedy (Mizzou Diving), 803.25;7. Emma Ivory-Ganja (Longhorn Aquatics), 781.60;8. Hailey Hernandez (GC Diving), 756.90;9. Bridget O’Neil (GC Diving), 730.20;10. Samantha Reese (Purdue University), 727.60;11. Daria Lenz (Unattached), 714.20;12. Kristen Hayden (Club Wolverine Diving), 703.25;
Men’s 10-meter final
- David Dinsmore (University of Miami), 1428.75;2. Jordan Windle (Ft Lauderdale Diving Team), 1415.00;3. Brandon Loschiavo (Purdue University), 1253.15;4. Zach Cooper (RipFest), 1228.65;5. Maxwell Flory (Dominion Dive Club), 1159.55;6. Theodore Miclau (Stanford Diving), 1048.40;7. Benjamin Bramley (Unattached), 1045.50;8. Jacob Cornish (The University of Texas), 952.90;9. Tarek Abdelghany (Stanford Diving), 813.40;10. Colten Young (Unattached), 724.40;11. Anton Hoherz (Woodlands Diving Academy), 681.50.
News courtesy of USA Diving.