STANFORD, California, August 5. OLYMPIANS Laura Wilkinson and Troy Dumais each won a pair of national titles Saturday at the Kaiser Permanente National Diving Championships at the Maas Diving Center.
Wilkinson grabbed the women's 10-meter title with 422.30 points, while Dumais scored 453.20 points for the men's 3-meter title. They also won titles in synchronized diving, with Wilkinson and Jessica Livingston taking the 10-meter synchro title and Dumais and Mitch Richeson winning the 3-meter synchro contest.
For Wilkinson, her individual win came in dominating fashion, winning the title by nearly 80 points over silver medalist and 2004 Olympian Cassandra Cardinell, who was second at 342.65. Haley Ishimatsu, who won a silver at last week's Pan Am Games, was third at 340.85.
Wilkinson received 10s on two of her dives, highlighted by six 10s on her front 3 ½ pike in the third round. She also received two 10s on her final dive, a back dive with 2 ½ somersaults and 1 ½ twists.
"I've been trying to break 400 for so long, and I knew I could do it if I tweaked a few things," Wilkinson said. "I just had to take a step back and take it one dive at a time instead of thinking about trying to hit that score."
While Wilkinson's victory was dominating, Dumais picked up his title in more dramatic fashion. He was leading by 10 points after the fourth round but didn't hit his dive in the fifth round. He dropped from the lead and needed a solid final dive to pick up the win.
He responded by scoring between 8s and 9.5s on his last dive, a reverse 2 ½ with 1 ½ twists, to clinch the title by less than four points. 2004 Olympian Justin Wilcock took the silver with 449.45 points, and Jevon Tarantino was third at 444.85.
"I had nothing to lose. I did that to myself. Every top athlete has dealt with it before. I was either going to come through or I wasn't. I knew I was capable," Dumais said. "I put myself in that situation, but I had one last dive. I was going to give it all I had. I gave it a little more juice, and it worked out well."
Dumais and Richeson scored 421.98 points for their second synchro national title, this one coming a week after winning gold at the Pan American Games. David Boudia and Thomas Finchum were second at 403.950, and Wilcock and Burkley Showe scored 382.320 points for third.
Livingston and Wilkinson finished with 324.00 points to take their second 10-meter synchro title after winning their first in 2005. Cardinell and Heather Bounds won silver with 291.66 points, and Michelle Cabassol and Kaylea Arnett were third at 286.50.
Special thanks to USA Diving for contributing this report.