Courtesy: USA Diving
ATLANTA – The 2018 USA Diving Winter Trials continued Tuesday with synchro competitions in the men’s platform and the women’s 3-meter. Tyler Downs (Ballwin, Mo.) and Jordan Rzepka (Solon, Ohio) clinched titles after earning 721.26 overall points in the men’s platform synchro. Murphy Bromberg (Bexley, Ohio/Austin, Texas) and Brooke Schultz (Fayetteville, Ark.) were also crowned Trials Champions after scoring 555.00 total points in the women’s platform synchro.
Downs and Rzepka entered finals Tuesday afternoon with a 44.19 lead at first place following a successful morning in the preliminaries, where the pair scored 366.00 points that carried into the finals. The junior divers continued to prosper throughout the finals with strong, consistent dives, including a back 2 ½ somersaults with 1 ½ twists in the final round that scored 68.16 points. With 721.26 points, the pair secured their titles, finishing 33.00 points ahead of Jacob Cornish (Honolulu, Hawaii/Austin, Texas) and Zach Cooper (Greenwood, Ind./Miami, Fla.), who wrapped up competition at second place. Jacob Fielding (Los Angeles, Calif./Columbus, Ohio) and Jacob Siler (Knoxville, Tenn./Columbus, Ohio) finished with 624.96 points at third place. Downs will look to win his second 2018 Winter Trials title Wednesday when he competes in the men’s 1-meter springboard event, as will Rzepka, who will dive in the men’s platform Friday.
A day after clinching the women’s platform synchro title, Bromberg returned to the women’s 3-meter springboard synchro event with her 2018 World Cup synchro partner to win her second title thus far in this week’s competition. The pair entered finals 5.28 points ahead of Alison Gibson (Austin, Texas) and Krysta Palmer (Carson City, Nev./Reno, Nev.), but briefly slid into second place in the second round. In the following round Bromberg and Schultz executed a front 2 ½ somersaults with a twist that earned 72.90 points and returned the pair to first place, where they remained for the rest of competition and earned their spots as Winter Trials Champions. Gibson and Palmer finished 13.11 points behind to place second, while Daria Lenz (Altadena, Calif./Stanford, Calif.) and Carolina Sculti (Rye, N.Y./Stanford, Calif.) placed third with 505.47 points. Bromberg will contend for her third Winter Trials title Wednesday in the women’s platform event, while Schultz will contend for additional titles on Thursday and Friday when she competes in the women’s 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events.
The Winter Trials continue Wednesday, December 19 with preliminaries in the men’s 1-meter and the women’s platform at 10 a.m. ET. Finals in both the men’s 1-meter and the women’s platform will begin at 4 p.m. ET. Wednesday’s competitions will be streamed on Facebook Live through USA Diving’s Facebook page.
