Ariel Rittenhouse, Jordan Windle Win Titles on Final Day of USA Diving Nationals

KNOXVILLE, TN - August 5, 2014: Synchro Thatcher/Windle during the 2014 USA Diving Age Group and Junior National Event at Allan Jones Aquatic Center in Knoxville, TN. Photo By Matthew S. DeMaria

Photo by Matthew DeMaria/Tennessee Athletics

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee, August 17. 2008 Olympian Ariel Rittenhouse (Santa Cruz, Calif.) won the women’s 3-meter title, while Jordan Windle (Morrisville, N.C.) took gold in men’s 10-meter as the AT&T National Diving Championships came to a close Sunday. Other winners on the final day of competition were Samantha “Murphy” Bromberg (Bexley, Ohio/Austin, Texas) and Emma Ivory-Ganja (The Woodlands, Texas) won women’s synchronized 10-meter, and Cory Bowersox (Burke, Va./Austin, Texas) and Zac Nees (Hatfield, Pa.) won men’s synchronized 3-meter.

Windle, who won four gold medals at the junior national championships, scored 527.80 points to win his first senior national title. He opened the contest with 103.60 points on a front 4 ½ tuck and followed up with 92.40 points on a back 3 ½ tuck and 91.80 points on a reverse 3 ½ tuck. He scored more than 80 points on two of his other three dives en route to the 10-meter victory.

“That first dive really boosted my confidence. After that, my coach just told me to have fun and I did,” Windle said. “I really didn’t think I’d be a national champion before I was 16, but I had a lot of people telling me I could do it.”

Mark Anderson (Lake Forest, Calif./Austin, Texas) was second with 527.80 points, and Zach Cooper (Trafalgar, Ind.) was third with 442.90 points.

Rittenhouse scored 350.45 points to won the women’s 3-meter gold with a consistent performance. She scored no lower than 66 points on any dive, with 75.95 points on a front 3 ½ pike and 72 points on her front 2 ½ with a twist.

“I’m happy with how I dove. I was really consistent. I knew I had to hit all of my dives like I know I can. The other divers really put the pressure on me being last in the lineup, and it was a fight all the way through,” Rittenhouse said.

Laura Ryan (Elk River, Minn./Athens, Ga.) won silver with 336.75 points, while Elissa Dawson (Durham, N.C.) took bronze with 328.50 points.

Bowersox and Nees came from behind to win their first title together, scoring 407.13 points to edge Bryce Klein (Southlake, Texas) and Bradley Christensen (Southlake, Texas/Stanford, Calif.) by 1.35 points. In second place heading into the fifth of six rounds, Bowersox and Nees jumped ahead with 88.92 points on their front 4 ½ tuck to head into the final round with a 1.35-point lead over Christensen and Klein. Both pairs scored 75.48 points on their final dives, with Bowersox and Nees performing an inward 3 ½ tuck and Klein and Christensen a front 2 ½ with two twists. Ryan Hawkins (Charlotte, N.C.) and JB Kolod (Pittsburgh, Pa.) were third at 388.29.

“We knew we needed to go big on our 4 ½ to stay in the contest. I knew we needed about 87 points, and I was pretty nervous. That was the contest right there, and we just had to stay calm and do the dive,” Bowersox said.

A day after Bromberg won the individual 10-meter title, she and Ivory-Ganja paired together for 305.16 points to win their first national title together as a synchro team. They scored more than 68 points on all three optionals, closing out their list with 75.84 points on their back 2 ½ with 1 ½ twists.

“We were really happy with our three optionals, but we need to work on our voluntaries a little more,” Bromberg said.

Rachel Rubadue (Columbus, Ohio) and Olivia Rosendahl (Los Angeles) scored 258.33 for second, while Brooke Pospichal (Plano, Texas/Indianapolis, Ind.) and Annie Wiese (Carmel, Ind.) were third at 241.50.

Rittenhouse also won the women’s high point award, while Klein took the men’s high point award. Longhorn Aquatics won the overall team title, the women’s team title and the men’s team title.

2014 AT&T National Diving Championships – August 17, 2014

Synchronized Women’s 10-Meter
1. Samantha Bromberg (Longhorn Aquatics) / Emma Ivory-Ganja (Longhorn Aquatics), 305.16;2. Rachel Rubadue (Ohio State Diving Club) / Olivia Rosendahl (Trojan Dive Club), 258.33;3. Brooke Pospichal (Indiana Diving) / Annie Wiese (Indiana Diving), 241.50;4. Christa Cabot (Kentucky Diving Club) / Lindsay Keahey (Kentucky Diving Club), 229.26;5. Katrina Young (Florida State University Diving Team) / Amy Cozad (Unattached), 267.30

Synchronized Men’s 3-Meter

1. Cory Bowersox (Longhorn Aquatics) / Zachary Nees (Unattached), 407.13;2. Bryce Klein (GC Diving) / Bradley Christensen (Stanford Diving), 405.78;3. Ryan Hawkins (H2okie Aquatics) / Jakob (jb) Kolod (Unattached), 388.29;4. Michael Mosca (Unattached) / Jack Nyquist (North Carolina Diving), 362.94;5. Henry Fusaro (Clavadistas del Sol) / Tanner Wilfong (Unattached), 344.16;6. Max Showalter (Duke Diving) / Andrew Capobianco (Duke Diving), 324.27

Women’s 3-Meter

1. Ariel Rittenhouse (Stanford Diving), 350.45;2. Laura Ryan (Georgia Diving Club), 336.75;3. Elisabeth Dawson (North Carolina Diving), 328.50;4. Lauren Reedy (Mizzou Diving), 318.40;5. Amanda Burke (Unattached), 313.70;6. Lacey Houser (Indiana University Dive Club), 313.30;7. Maren Taylor (Longhorn Aquatics), 308.30;8. Cassie Weil (Unattached), 295.50;9. Mackenzie Willborn (GC Diving), 293.30;10. Emma Ivory-Ganja (Longhorn Aquatics), 292.95;11. Michole Timm (North Carolina Diving), 273.15;12. Maria Lohman (Pitt Aquatic Club), 255.00

Men’s 10-Meter

1. Jordan Windle (Duke Diving), 527.80;2. Mark Anderson (Longhorn Aquatics), 442.90;3. Zachary Cooper (Indiana Diving), 426.55;4. Dominic Giordano (Unattached), 426.00;5. Manny Pollard (Unattached), 414.50;6. Ryan Hawkins (H2okie Aquatics), 414.40;7. Toby Stanley (Indiana Diving), 408.35;8. Brandon Loschiavo (Mission Viejo), 400.15;9. Tarek Abdelghany (Mission Viejo), 389.35;10. Theodore Miclau (Stanford Diving), 380.60;11. Nathan Cox (Boiler Diving Academy), 365.25;12. Andrew Hull (Indiana University Dive Club), 363.60

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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