Samantha Pickens Takes Bronze in 3-Meter at FINA Puerto Rico Grand Prix

SAN JUAN – Samantha Pickens (Murrysville, Pa./Tucson, Ariz.) won the bronze medal in the women’s 3-meter individual final Saturday at the FINA Puerto Rico Grand Prix.

Pickens finished with 290.70 points in a close 3-meter contest in which just 1.70 points separated third from fifth. Japan’s Minami Itahashi took the gold with 297.60 points, and Brazil’s Juliana Veloso was second with 293.70 points.

Pickens was in fourth place with one round to go and jumped into the third spot after closing out her list with 58.50 points on a front 2 ½ with one twist. Her best score came in round three when she earned 63 points on her back 2 ½ pike, and she added 61.50 points on her fourth-round reverse 2 ½ pike.

“I felt pretty good. I didn’t really have a good warmup, so it felt good to go to out there and do the things my coach was trying to tell me to do and hit my dives. It’s been a fun week,” Pickens said.

Deidre Freeman (Grinnell, Iowa/Iowa City, Iowa) scored 277.10 points for sixth. She was in first place after round three but then scored just 34.10 points on a front 3 ½ pike in round four to drop out of the medal hunt. She had performed a front 2 ½ pike in her preliminary and semifinal lists before attempting the 3 ½ in the finals.

Also on Saturday, Amy Cozad (Indianapolis, Ind./Bloomington, Ind.) and Jessica Parratto (Dover, N.H./Bloomington, Ind.) finished fourth in the women’s synchronized 10-meter final. They scored 270.18 points, including 65.28 points on their back 2 ½ with 1 ½ twists in the last round.

“We just tried to be consistent. We have a lot of work to do for Worlds coming up this summer, but I think we’re in a good place right now. We know what we need to focus on to get better, so it’s just up from here,” Parratto said.

Before coming to Puerto Rico, Parratto and Cozad won the 10-meter synchro title at last week’s USA Diving Synchronized National Championships to earn the opportunity to compete on the event at this summer’s World Championships.

“The good thing is our synchro was pretty good today. I think we’re both mentally and physically a bit tired from last weekend,” Cozad said.

China’s Ji Siyu and Ding Yaying won the gold with 307.50 points, with Brazil’s Giovanna Pedroso and Ingrid Oliveira taking silver with 284.52 points. Mexico rounded out the medalists as Paola Pineda and Carolina Mendoza scored 280.02 points for bronze.

The Puerto Rico Grand Prix comes to a close Sunday when Freeman and Parratto will represent the U.S. in the women’s synchronized 3-meter final.

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

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