Courtesy: USA Diving
INDIANAPOLIS – Two Olympians won national titles in synchronized events Monday at the USA Diving Senior National Championships. Olympian Katrina Young (Shoreline, Wash./Tallahassee, Fla.) paired with Samantha Bromberg (Bexley, Ohio/Austin, Texas) for the win in women’s synchronized 10-meter, and Olympic silver medalist Michael Hixon (Amherst, Mass./Bloomington, Ind.) dove with Andrew Capobianco (Holly Springs, N.C./Bloomington, Ind.) for a victory in men’s synchronized 3-meter. Both pairs also earned the opportunity to represent the U.S. in this summer’s FINA World Championships.
Bromberg and Young scored 294.42 points on their final list of dives to pick up the 10-meter synchro national title. Olympian Amy Magaña (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Daryn Wright (Plainfield, Ind.) were second at 281.40, and Olympian Jessica Parratto (Dover, N.H./Bloomington, Ind.) and Delaney Schnell (Tucson, Ariz.) took third with 280.38 points. Bromberg and Young scored a combined 577.68 points on their two lists of dives, earning them a berth to the World Championships in South Korea in July.
Bromberg and Young, who were second to Parratto and Schnell in the morning preliminaries, were the only team to score more than 60 points on all three of their optional dives in the finals. They scored 63.90 points on their front 3 ½ pike and then added 67.20 points on an inward 3 ½ tuck before closing out their list with 69.12 points on a front 2 ½ with 1 ½ twists.
“Today was about putting our best effort in and it went well for us. I was just trying to focus on my own performance and take it one dive at a time,” Young said. “I’m really excited to continue diving with Murphy. I feel really comfortable diving with her.”
Hixon and Capobianco finished with 406.44 points in the 3-meter synchro final to win a national title. Jacob Fielding (Los Angeles/Columbus, Ohio) and Lyle Yost (Shaker Heights, Ohio) scored 351.60 points to take second, and Jacob Cornish (Honolulu, Hawaii/Austin, Texas) and Tyler Downs (Ballwin, Mo./Indianapolis, Ind.) were third at 348.90. Hixon and Capobianco also had the highest cumulative score with 830.40 points over two lists to earn a spot on the World Championships team.
Hixon and Capobianco had two dives score more than 80 points in the finals, with a reverse 1 ½ with 3 ½ twists earning 84 points and an inward 3 ½ tuck scoring 83.64 points. They had a miss on their front 4 ½ tuck for just 62.70 points in the final, but the duo scored 90.06 points on that same dive in the preliminaries. The pair won their first international medal together with a bronze medal at the FINA World Series in Montreal last month.
“It was pretty good. In the prelims, we scored better than we did in Montreal, so it was good to build off that. The finals went pretty well, but we just missed our last dive a little bit and that’s usually our best dive. I’m pretty excited about what’s to come in South Korea,” Capobianco said.
The USA Diving Senior National Championships continue through May 26. Tuesday’s competition features preliminaries and finals in women’s synchronized 3-meter and men’s synchronized 10-meter. The 2019 USA Diving Senior National Championships is part of the 2019 Team USA Champions Series, presented by Xfinity. The champions series showcases numerous Olympic sports throughout the year, highlighting the year-round quest of Team USA athletes to compete at the Olympic Games.
Results
Synchronized Men 3m Springboard (Preliminary)
1. Andrew Capobianco (Unattached) / Michael Hixon (TriSynerG Diving Academy), 423.96;2. Jacob Cornish (The University of Texas) / Tyler Downs (RipFest), 344.82;3. Jacob Fielding (Unattached) / Lyle Yost (American Flyers Diving), 334.05;4. Ethan Foster (Carolina Diving Academy) / Luke Foster (Carolina Diving Academy), 283.38;
Synchronized Women Platform (Preliminary)
1. Jessica Parratto (TriSynerG Diving Academy) / Delaney Schnell (Unattached), 286.08;2. Samantha Bromberg (The University of Texas) / Katrina Young (Florida State University Diving Team), 283.26;3. Daryn Wright (The Indiana International School of Diving) / Amy Magana (The Indiana International School of Diving), 271.98;
Synchronized Men 3m Springboard (Final)
1. Andrew Capobianco (Unattached) / Michael Hixon (TriSynerG Diving Academy), 406.44;2. Jacob Fielding (Unattached) / Lyle Yost (American Flyers Diving), 351.60;3. Jacob Cornish (The University of Texas) / Tyler Downs (RipFest), 348.90;4. Ethan Foster (Carolina Diving Academy) / Luke Foster (Carolina Diving Academy), 232.02;
Synchronized Women Platform (Final)
1. Samantha Bromberg (The University of Texas) / Katrina Young (Florida State University Diving Team), 294.42;2. Daryn Wright (The Indiana International School of Diving) / Amy Magana (The Indiana International School of Diving), 281.40;3. Jessica Parratto (TriSynerG Diving Academy) / Delaney Schnell (Unattached), 280.38