USA Diving Winter Championships: Gilliland-Schnell, Downs-Duncan Earn Synchro Victories

The third day of competition at the 2021 USA Diving Winter National Championship saw Olympian Tyler Downs pair up with Purdue teammate, Greg Duncan earn their spots on the 2022 World Championship roster after winning the Men’s 3-Meter Synchronized event. Delaney Schnell (University of Arizona) and Tarrin Gilliland (Indiana) earning their second berths each in the Women’s Synchronized Platform.

Downs and Duncan won the preliminary round of the event with 2020 Olympic Silver Medalist, Andrew Capobianco and new Indiana teammate and synchro partner, Quinn Henninger 15 points back. Their lead was threatened in the third round of dives when Capobianco and Henninger nailed their Forward 3 1/2 Somersault Pike for 79.98 points but Downs and Duncan stayed calm and collected scoring no lower than 74 on their final three dives. They saved their highest scoring dive for last, a Reverse 1 1/2 Somersault 3 1/2 Twist Free, in which they scored 76.65 points. They ended the competition with a cumulative score of 784.98 throughout the two rounds with Capobianco and Henninger 18 points back. 2021 Pan American Champion, Maxwell Weinrich (Dominion Dive Club) and Manuel Borowski (Texas) rounded out the men’s podium.

Olympic Silver medalist, Schnell paired up with 2021 NCAA Champion Gilliland for the Women’s Synchronized Platform event, repeating their 2019 victory. The duo were slated to compete together at Olympic Trials prior to Gilliland withdrawing to recover from injury. Schnell went on to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games with Jessica Parratto where they took home the Silver Medal.

It was apparent from the first dive that Schnell and Gilliland had no difficulty falling back into sync, ending the preliminary round 39 points ahead of second place competitors Abigail Knapton and Janie Boyle. Schnell and Gilliland ended the day with a cool 89 points to spare with USC’s Madison Huitt and Nike Agunbiade slotting into the silver medal position behind them and Knapton and Boyle earning bronze.

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The day ended with the successful debut of a High Dive Exhibition. Six athletes, Sophie McAfee, Markie Hopkins, James Lichtenstein, Jack Ryan, Jacob Siler and Joseph Canova competed in the event which consisted of three dives, feet-first only, performed from the 10-meter platform. This event was added to the 2021 Winter Nationals to encourage athletes interested in a future in high diving.

1.     Tyler Downs / Gregory Duncan                     784.98

2.     Quentin Henninger / Andrew Capobianco     766.26

3.     Manuel Borowski / Maxwell Weinrich          675.15

4.     Lyle Yost / Jacob Fielding                             666.45

5.     Noah Duperre / Jack Ryan                             663.54

6.     George Callanan / Anastasios Callanan         621.27

7.     Zachary Welsh / Jacob Welsh                        604.92

8.     Joshua Sollenberger / Dominic Roberto         585.54

9.     Sam Oelerich / Braylon Goodno                    417.06

1.     Delaney Schnell / Tarrin Gilliland                 573.60

2.     Madison Huitt / Nike Agunbiade                   484.86

3.     Janie Boyle / Abigail Knapton                      462.84

Competition will resume tomorrow at 10:00 am EST with the qualifying round of the Women’s 1-Meter Individual followed by the Men’s 3-Meter events at 12:50. The Women’s 1-Meter finals will be held at 5:00 pm EST with the Men’s finals beginning at 6:15. All events will be streamed live on USA Diving’s Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch Channels as well as on USA Diving’s website.

For a complete list of entries, visit: here.

— The above press release was posted by Swimming World in conjunction with USA Diving. For press releases and advertising inquiries please contact Advertising@SwimmingWorld.com.