Courtesy: USA Diving
Brandon Loschiavo (Huntington Beach, Calif./West Lafayette, Ind.) and Brooke Schultz (Fayetteville, Ark.) wrapped up the 2019 USA Diving Senior National Championships with men’s 10-meter and women’s 3-meter victories on Sunday. The two divers also qualified for the 2019 FINA World Championships.
David Dinsmore (New Albany, Ohio/Miami, Fla.) and Sarah Bacon (Indianapolis, Ind./Minneapolis, Minn.) also qualified for the World Championships. Dinsmore was second in the 10-meter final and had the highest cumulative score on three 10-meter lists this week. Bacon was third in the 3-meter final but finished second in the cumulative rankings to earn a spot on the world team. National championship results were determined by the scores in the finals, while World Championships spots were based on cumulative scoring from throughout the week.
Loschiavo scored 464.00 points in the 10-meter final to edge Dinsmore by 2.75 points for his first individual national title. Steele Johnson (Carmel, Ind./West Lafayette, Ind.) finished third with 425.35 points.
Loschiavo earned more than 70 points on each of his six dives, including 86.70 on a reverse 3 ½ tuck that allowed him to move ahead of Dinsmore after the third round. Loschiavo led by 15.35 points heading into the last round, when both divers were to perform a back 2 ½ with 2 ½ twists. Loschiavo dove first and scored 73.80 points. Dinsmore’s 86.40 points narrowed the gap but wasn’t enough to overtake Loschiavo in the final standings.
“I saw how close it was, but honestly, first or second, I was just shooting to make it to worlds. It was really stressful from the prelims and the semis because it was so close between me and Steele. I was happy to get the result that I did,” said Loschiavo, who entered the final 3.3 points ahead of Johnson for second place in cumulative scoring.
Dinsmore ended up with 1381.35 points on his three lists, with Loschiavo finishing second with 1334.35 points. Johnson scored 1292.40 points on his three lists.
Schultz finished with 315.60 points in the 3-meter final to win the title by just .15 points over Maria Coburn (Austin, Texas/Tucson, Ariz.). Bacon was third at 307.90.
Schultz was in third place after three rounds and took the lead after scoring 67.50 points on her back 2 ½ pike in round four. She led Coburn by 2.10 points with one round to go. Schultz scored 58.50 points on her inward 2 ½ pike and then waited to see if her score would hold up for the win. Coburn ended with 60.45 points on a front 3 ½ pike, giving Schultz the narrow victory.
“It’s been a long week, but I just wanted to stay calm. I was just trying to focus on myself and not get caught up in what everyone else was doing, because then I’d start rethinking things. I just wanted to focus on me and be consistent and hit all my dives,” Schultz said.
Bacon was in sixth place after the first two rounds but a 75-point reverse 2 ½ in round three put her in medal position.
Schultz finished 926.55 points on her three lists throughout the week to lead in cumulative scoring. Bacon was second with 912.10 points, 10.45 points ahead of Coburn.
The 2019 USA Diving Senior National Championships is part of the 2019 Team USA Champions Series, presented by Xfinity. The champions series showcases numerous Olympic sports throughout the year, highlighting the year-round quest of Team USA athletes to compete at the Olympic Games.
