INDIANAPOLIS (June 20, 2016) – Kristian Ipsen (Clayton, Calif./Stanford, Calif.) and Michael Hixon (Amherst,Mass./Bloomington, Ind.) are separated by just 7.05 points atop the men’s 3-meter field, and Jessica Parratto (Dover, N.H./Bloomington, Ind.) is in first in the women’s 10-meter individual event after Monday’s preliminaries and semifinals at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Diving.
Hixon had the lead after the preliminary round on Monday afternoon, finishing with a personal best score of 523.80, but missed a reverse 3 ½ tuck on his fourth dive of the semifinals and surrendered the lead to Ipsen. Ipsen secured his spot atop the leaderboard with a 94.50 on his final dive, a reverse 1 ½ somersaults with 3 ½ twists, to head into the finals with a total of 973.20 points.
“I felt really confident with my last dive. I’ve been doing a reverse 3 ½ twist for a really long time now. It just feels like something that I can do in a high pressure situation,” said Ipsen. “If I am shaky, or if I am a little bit back on the board I can pretty much do it from any situation, so that’s why I save it for last. But I actually didn’t know where I was going into that last dive. I was trying not to watch Mike or anyone else’s scores. I was thinking about it as if I was starting with a clean slate.”
Ipsen said he would rest on Tuesday, then build to the finals events in 3-meter synchro on Wednesday and the individual competition on Saturday.
“Honestly, I’m just excited. I think I’m coming into this competition a little bit differently because I have been to an Olympics before and I’m not really that nervous. I just don’t know when my diving career is going to be over, so I’m just trying to enjoy every moment,” said Ipsen.
Hixon said he will stick with what’s worked for him.
“All of the divers are very capable,” he said. “No one is safe. I’m not going to take it for granted. I’m going to go out there and dive the best I can.”
Mark Anderson (Lake Forest, Calif./Austin, Texas) is in third with a cumulative score of 856.95, Troy Dumais (Ventura, Calif./Austin, Texas) is fourth (856.10) and Sam Dorman (Tempe, Ariz./Miami, Fla.), scored a 102.60 on his final dive of the night, a front 4 ½ tuck, to make his way into fifth with 840.40 points
Parratto has a 69-point lead following Monday night’s semifinals. Samantha Bromberg (Bexley, Ohio/Austin, Texas) is in second place (645.95) and Amy Cozad (Indianapolis, Ind./Bloomington, Ind.) is only .15 points behind in third place.
Parratto completed dives with the most consistency among the top three throughout the two sessions.
“I want to improve on my entries. I feel like I always need to. So that’s one of my biggest goals, just to get my inward down, and just make everything as consistent as I can,” said Parratto.
Twelve divers in each event move on to the finals on Saturday afternoon.
The U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Diving continue through Sunday. Tuesday’s competition features women’s 3-meter springboard followed by men’s 10-meter individual preliminaries at 10 a.m., with an evening semifinals session at 7 p.m.
Courtesy USA Diving.
