Duke
Senior Nick McCrory earned a spot on the United States’ 2014 FINA World Cup team Saturday with a second-place finish on the 3-meter springboard at the USA Diving Winter National Championships, held at the University of Texas’ Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
McCrory totaled 1434.25 points over three lists of dives, including Wednesday’s preliminary and semifinals rounds, to finish second behind his Olympic 10-meter synchronized diving partner David Boudia (1442.80).
Boudia led the field by over 30 points through the semifinals, but McCrory netted more than 80 points on each of his first three dives. The Duke senior and Chapel Hill, N.C., native garnered an award of 91.80 on an inward 3 ½ somersault in the tuck position and took over the lead midway through the final. McCrory once again earned a score of 91.80 in the fifth round on a forward 2 ½ somersault with two twists in the pike position, but Boudia would regain the lead in the final round and hold on for the national title.
Four-time Olympian Troy Dumais was third with a cumulative score of 1325.20 points.
The 2014 FINA Diving World Cup is slated for July 15-20, 2014 in Shanghai, China.
McCrory and the Blue Devils return to action Saturday, Jan. 11 when they host South Carolina in a dual meet at Taishoff Aquatic Pavilion.
Iowa
Former University of Iowa diver Deidre Freeman is a national champion.
Freeman dove to the 3-meter synchronized diving title with Maren Taylor on Saturday morning at the 2013 USA Diving Winter National Championships. The competition was being held at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
After entering the finals in first place with 309.90 points, the duo finished with a total of 308.10 in the finals to accumulate a score of 618 points. Purdue’s Casey Matthews and Michelle Cabassol were the runners-up, finishing 38.46 points behind Freeman and Taylor with 579.54 points.
The synchro title concludes a successful week for Freeman. Individually, she finished fourth in the 1-meter springboard with 525.65 points and 26th in the 3-meter springboard competition with 226.50 points.
The victory qualifies the duo for a pair of Grand Prix events this spring. They will be determined at a later date.
Texas freshman Mark Anderson placed second in the platform synchronized diving event Saturday afternoon on day five of the USA Diving Winter National Championships.
Anderson teamed up with Toby Stanley to take second place in the finals with 715.59 points.
Current and former UT divers accounted for four of the top-11 finishers in the three-meter finals, where Texas-Ex Troy Dumais placed third with 1325.20 points. Freshman Michael Hixon, who will compete in Sunday’s three-meter synchro finals, placed sixth with 1197.55 points.
UT redshirt junior Will Chandler placed ninth with 1157.90 points while sophomore Cory Bowersox took 11th with 1140.75 points.
Sunday’s final day of competition feature the men’s platform final and three-meter synchro final in addition to the women’s platform synchro final and three-meter final.
Texas Women
Texas freshman Murphy Bromberg and UT senior Maren Taylor won the platform and three-meter synchronized diving events Saturday afternoon on day five of the USA Diving Winter National Championships at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
Bromberg (Bexley, Ohio) led from start-to-finish in the platform finals and took the win with a cumulative total of 1015.50 points. The win secures a berth for Bromberg on the U.S. roster in Shanghai, China for the FINA World Cup, the premier international diving event in 2014.
Bromberg earned high marks on all five dives and posted a meet-best 74.25 points on her second dive, a three-and-a-half somersault in the tuck position. Bromberg is slated to compete alongside former Ohio State diver Cheyenne Cousineau in Sunday’s platform synchro final at 10 a.m. CT.
Taylor joined former University of Iowa diver Deidre Freeman to win the three-meter synchro title Saturday with 618.00 points. UT sophomore Meghan Houston teamed up with Cousineau to placed fifth with 550.20 points.
Taylor and Freeman collected meet bests of 72.90 points on their back two-and-a-half somersault and their reverse two-and-a-half somersault. Taylor and Freeman are in contention to compete in the three-meter synchro event at next year’s FINA World Cup. The final selections will be announced next April.
Taylor is the top qualifier for Sunday’s women’s three-meter finals, which follow the women’s platform synchro final (10 a.m.) and the men’s three-meter synchro final. UT’s Emma Ivory-Ganja will join Taylor in the finals as the event’s third qualifier.
