Courtesy: USA Diving
MORGANTOWN, W.V. – Delaney Schnell (Tucson, Ariz./Unattached) and Nick Harris (Chester Springs, Pa./University of Texas) closed out the 2022 USA Diving Winter National Championships with national titles in women’s 10-meter and men’s 1-meter Sunday at the Aquatic Center at Mylan Park.
Schnell, an Olympic silver medalist, scored 646.40 points to win her first individual senior national title and fourth overall. Jordan Skilken (Columbus, Ohio/University of Texas) scored 557.30 points for silver, while Daryn Wright (Plainfield, Ind./Purdue Diving) picked up bronze at 554.90.
Schnell was consistent throughout the final and scored between 67.20 points or higher on all five dives, capping off the contest 72 points on her inward 3 ½ tuck in the final round.
“I really just wanted to take it one dive at a time and try to learn from prelims because it was a little bit of a tough go. It was just putting five dives on my head,” Schnell said. “It felt really good to get back on the individual stage and show people what I’m made of.”
Skilken was fourth after the preliminaries and climbed into bronze medal position with 67.20 points on her third round armstand and then scored 67.20 points on her back 2 ½ with 1 ½ twists in the final round to overtake Wright for silver.
In men’s 1-meter, Harris scored 699.00 points over two lists of dives to edge Jack Ryan (Denver, Colo./Unattached) by 2.60 points for the gold. Clayton Chaplin (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Unattached) finished third at 648.05.
Harris led by 11.7 points after the preliminaries, but Ryan came on strong in the final three rounds to put the pressure on. Ryan had the two highest scoring dives of the contest with 73.50 points on a back 2 ½ tuck in round four and 76.50 points on a reverse 2 ½ tuck in round five. Ryan closed out his list with 67.50 points on a reverse 1 ½ with 2 ½ twists, but Harris came through with 59.20 points on his front 2 ½ with one twist – enough to clinch his first senior national title by 2.60 points.
“Some people don’t like looking at the scores, but personally, I like looking at the scores in between every dive. It helps me know if I need a really good dive, if I need to focus more,” Harris said. “I knew on that last dive that I needed over 55 points. It made me a little more nervous to be honest, but it also gave me a little more adrenaline. I’d say it gave me a little more energy on that last dive.”
Harris scored 64.50 points or higher on three of his six dives in the final, highlighted by 69.75 points on an inward 2 ½ tuck in the second round and 67.50 points on a reverse 2 ½ tuck in round four.
“I’ve improved a lot since last year when I was 12th in the final, so it means a lot to be able to come out on top,” Harris said.
