Abby Johnston, Laura Ryan Among Leaders at USA Diving Nationals

KNOXVILLE, TN - August 17, 2014: Laura Ryan during the 2014 USA Senior Diving National Event Finals at Allan Jones Aquatic Center in Knoxville, TN. Photo By Matthew S. DeMaria

COLUMBUS – Abby Johnston (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Durham, N.C.) and Laura Ryan will take a three-point lead into Saturday’s women’s synchronized 3-meter finals after finishing first in Friday’s preliminaries at the USA Diving Winter National Championships. Cory Bowersox (Burke, Va./Austin, Texas) and Zac Nees (Hatfield, Pa./State College, Pa.) are the leaders after the men’s 3-meter synchro prelim, with that final set for Sunday.

Johnston and Ryan finished with 291.90 on their preliminary list, three points ahead of the second-place team of Deidre Freeman (Grinnell, Iowa/Iowa City, Iowa) and Jessica Parratto (Dover, N.H./Bloomington, Ind.). Johnston and Ryan were in second after three rounds of dives and took the lead with 65.70 points on their fourth-round inward 2 ½ pike. Ariel Rittenhouse (Santa Cruz, Calif.) and Amanda Burke (Southampton, Pa./State College, Pa.) qualified third with 279.30 points.

Bowersox and Nees scored 406.29 points, highlighted by a 93.48-point front 4 ½ tuck that was the highest scoring dive by any team in the preliminaries. They closed out their list with 80.58 points on their inward 3 ½ tuck. Bryce Klein (Southlake, Texas/Dallas, Texas) and Bradley Christensen (Southlake, Texas/Stanford, Calif.) scored 381.87.87 to finish second, while Michael Hixon (Amherst, Mass./Bloomington, Ind.) and Darian Schmidt (Bloomington, Ind.) were third with 367.98 points.

The USA Diving Winter National Championships continue through Sunday, December 21. Saturday’s competition features finals in men’s synchronized 10-meter, women’s synchronized 3-meter, men’s individual 3-meter, and women’s individual 10-meter.

Results

Synchronized women’s 3-meter preliminary (top 12 teams advance to December 20 final)
1. Abby Johnston, Unattached / Laura Ryan, Georgia Diving Club, 291.90;2. Deidre Freeman, Unattached / Jessica Parratto, Unattached, 288.90;3. Ariel Rittenhouse, Stanford Diving / Amanda Burke, Penn State Diving, 279.30;4. Haley Allen, City of Midland / Olivia Rosendahl, Trojan Dive Club, 262.32;5. Emma Ivory-ganja, Longhorn Aquatics / Maren Taylor, Longhorn Aquatics, 260.70;6. Mackenzie Willborn, GC Diving / Emily Grund, GC Diving, 249.99;7. Brooke Schultz, RipFest / Sarah Bacon, RipFest, 247.20;8. Taylor Pamplin, Mission Viejo / Eszter Pryor, Ohio State Diving Club, 245.04;9. Meghan Houston, Longhorn Aquatics / Michole Timm, North Carolina Diving, 243.60;10. Maria Lohman, Pitt Aquatic Club / Meme Sharp, Unattached, 234.96;11. Lauren Callin, Mizzou Diving / Kendra Kieser, Mustangs in the Sun, Inc., 224.58;12. Kelly Markle, Stanford Diving / Alexandra Clay, Stanford Diving, 223.29;

Eliminated after prelimaries
13. Lauren Reedy, Mizzou Diving / Elissa Dawson, North Carolina Diving, 223.11;14. Alexa Beckwith, Unattached / Katie Russ, Mile High Dive Club, 221.67;15. Alison Gibson, Team A and M Diving / Mya Kraeger, Team A and M Diving, 212.46;16. Madeline Mckernan, Mizzou Diving / Payton Conrad, Nebraska Diving Club, 199.68;17. Amy Stevens, RipFest / Brooke Schultz, RipFest, 194.10;

Synchronized men’s 3-meter preliminary (top 12 teams advance to December 20 final)
1. Cory Bowersox, Longhorn Aquatics / Zachary Nees, Unattached, 406.29;2. Bryce Klein, Unattached / Bradley Christensen, Stanford Diving, 381.87;3. Michael Hixon, Unattached / Darian Schmidt, Unattached, 367.98;4. Samuel Dorman, University of Miami / Kristian Ipsen, Stanford Diving, 360.99;5. Michael Mosca, Harvard Diving / Jack Nyquist, North Carolina Diving, 354.30;6. Dwight Dumais, Longhorn Aquatics / Troy Dumais, Longhorn Aquatics, 353.67;7. Clark Thomas, Mizzou Diving / Ryan Hawkins, H2okie Aquatics, 344.31;8. Jakob (jb) Kolod, Unattached / Ryan Hawkins, H2okie Aquatics, 326.82;9. Cameron Thatcher, Ohio State Diving Club / Grayson Campbell, Dominion Dive Club, 323.34;10. Ian Forlini, Unattached / Crawford Berry, Unattached, 297.57;11. Joseph Cifelli, Windy City Diving / Kyle Goodwin, Mile High Dive Club, 283.17;12. Elliot Cecil, Mizzou Diving / Hunter Fritter, Mizzou Diving, 273.60;

Eliminated after prelimaries
13. Giovanni Villanueva, Unattached / James Perryman, Pitt Aquatic Club, 239.28.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World. To reach our audience, contact us at newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com.

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