NCAA Men’s Championships: With ‘Nothing to Lose, Nothing to Prove,’ Lyle Yost Repeats on 1-Meter

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

NCAA Men’s Championships: With ‘Nothing to Lose, Nothing to Prove,’ Lyle Yost Repeats on 1-Meter

Ohio State diver Lyle Yost was a much different diver when he got on the boards Thursday at the 2024 NCAA Championships than when he won a title a year earlier.

The task was the same. But as a national champion, a student teacher and a well-traveled veteran, the diver was different.

The result stayed the same.

Yost repeated as the 1-meter champion at the 2024 NCAA Championships, scoring 433.55 points to win.

“It’s a different field, it’s a different year, it’s a different competition,” the Ohio State senior said. “Nothing’s the same. But at the same time, you’ve got to go out there and put six dives in the water from last year. That’s the same. Nothing to lose, nothing to prove.”

He was ahead of the Indiana duo of Quentin Henninger and Carson Tyler. Henninger scored 427.20, Tyler 412.95. Jack Ryan, last year’s bronze medalist, was fourth with 402.55.

Since his NCAA title, Yost has won a national title and represented the U.S. internationally at the Pan Am Games and the 2024 World Championships. He’s the first repeat champion since David Boudia, whose name is on the wall at IUPUI Natatorium as an Olympic qualifier.

Yost can’t help but see the differences in his abilities.

“Having the chance to compete on the biggest stage at World Championships and Pan American Games, I can’t overstate how valuable that is to high level competition, mindset and attitude toward improvement and attitude toward competition,” he said. “One hundred percent I’m a better diver than last year.”

Yost was third in prelims with 375.00 but took the early edge in finals. He went through the same program, just executed it better than last year, when he switched a dive for the sixth round to get a higher DD and stay ahead of the field.

He led Henninger by 15 points and Tyler by just shy of 24 entering the final round. Tyler put on a little pressure by scoring 73.50 points in the sixth and final round. But Yost was steady, hitting his 5154B for 70.20 points to put him too far out front. Henninger tallied 70.50 on his 5335D. Standford’s Ryan had the best dive of the final round, getting 78.40 points on his 5152B, but he was just shy of 100 points back of the lead.

Miami’s Mohamed Faouk leapt from 27th last year to fifth. Clayton Chaplin of OSU went from 31st to the A final, finishing seventh.

Texas’ title aspirations took a hit with neither of its top divers making the A final. Nick Harris won the B final in 384.20 with Noah Duperre 11th. Harris was seventh and Duperre 13th last year.

Florida got a diving boost for the team competition with Peyton Donald in 14th. He was 40th last year. Victor Povzner of Texas A&M, who was sixth last year, fell to 13th.

Yost is learning on the boards, but he’s teaching off it. He’s student-teaching full-time at a high school, doing a Spanish II class for advanced speakers. He’s looking forward to spring break next week so that he can, “get to go home and sit on my couch for a little bit, which I’m really looking forward to.”

Ever the gregarious personality, Yost was effusive in thanking his student teaching mentor in helping him strike the balance, which he bold-faced and underlined, in trying to meet his career and athletic aspirations.

“Thankfully I have an incredible mentor teacher who really understands that I have bigger goals than just becoming a teacher in a year, that I am also pursing my athletic goals at the same time as I’m trying to excel at all of them,” he said. “She’s really supported me and given me a lot of leeway and flexibility and a lot of help and support in terms of planning. She’s really been there for me in a way that’s above and beyond, and I cannot express enough how much I appreciate her.”

Event 6  Men 1 mtr Diving
=========================================================================
         Meet: M 473.75  3/28/2013 Kristian Ipsen, Stanford
    Name                 Year School            Prelims     Finals Points 
=========================================================================
                       === Championship Final ===                        
 
  1 Yost, Lyle             SR OSU                375.00     433.55   20  
  2 Henninger, Quentin     JR Indiana            386.85     427.20   17  
  3 Tyler, Carson          JR Indiana            367.05     412.95   16  
  4 Ryan, Jack             JR Stanford           384.45     402.55   15  
  5 Farouk, Mohamed        JR Miami (FL)         349.75     385.45   14  
  6 Dubois, Gage           SO Arizona            371.45     381.95   13  
  7 Chaplin, Clayton       JR OSU                355.35     369.20   12  
  8 Wang, Yutong           SO Minnesota          348.60     348.50   11

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