National Diving Championships Come to Close

PASADENA, California, July 27. THREE more Olympians will head to Beijing with another national title, a 2004 Olympian closed out her career with her first individual title, and two 15-year-olds picked up their first senior title to close out the 2008 Kaiser Permanente National Diving Championships on Sunday at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center.

Troy Dumais (Ventura, Calif.) earned four 10s on his front 2 ½ with two twists to cruise to his 26th national title. He finished with 521.90 points, with Kristian Ipsen (Clayton, Calif.) in second at 482.70. Ipsen earned four 9s and a 9.5 on his final dive, a reverse 2 ½ with 1 ½ twists, to finish second behind Dumais for the second straight nationals, having also won the silver medal at the 2008 spring nationals. Terry Horner (Longwood, Fla.) won the bronze with 435.20 points, and Jonathan Wilcox (Bellevue, Wash.) scored 412.30 points for fourth.

Chris Colwill (Brandon, Fla.) and Jevon Tarantino (Boca Raton, Fla.) also head to Beijing with another national championship, winning their third 3-meter synchro title with 433.44 points. Matt Cooper (Bethesda, Md.) and Harrison Jones (Spring, Texas) were second at 399.33, and Cole Young (Overland Park, Kan.) and Drew Brown (Centennial, Colo.) were third with 351.57 points.

Cassandra Cardinell (Loudonville, N.Y.), a 2004 Olympian, capped off her career with her first individual national title, edging out three-time Olympian Laura Wilkinson (Spring, Texas), 335.45-328.40. Wilkinson was leading heading into the final round, with her difficult back 2 ½ with 2 ½ twists still to come. She scored mostly 6s and 6.5s, an improvement from the semifinals and then waited for Cardinell to finish out the contest. Cardinell hit her back 2 ½ with 1 ½ twists for 83.30 points, enough to push her past Wilkinson. Felicitas Lenz ( Altadena, Calif.) was third with 320.35 points, narrowly edging Lindsay Weigle (Bloomington, Ind.), who scored 320.30 points for fourth.

Kaylea Arnett (Spring, Texas) and Michelle Cabassol (Montgomery, Texas) won their first senior national title with 304.02 points in the women's 10-meter synchro contest, with Cardinell and Amy Korthauer ( Naperville, Ill.) taking second at 267.30.
Cardinell was awarded the Wendy Wyland award, presented annually to the diver who displays exceptional competitive ability, courage in dealing with adversity, a never-give-up attitude, respect for fellow competitors, and other qualities.

Indiana Diving was awarded the overall team award, with the Woodlands Diving Academy taking second and the Boilermaker Diving Academy finishing third. Weigle and Landon Marzullo ( Columbus, Ohio) were presented the high point awards.

Special thanks to USA Diving for contributing this report.

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