Photo by Matthew DeMaria/Tennessee Athletics
KNOXVILLE, Tennessee, August 14. A week after winning a pair of junior national titles, Sarah Bacon (Indianapolis, Ind.) won her first senior national title with a win on 1-meter at the AT&T National Diving Championships on Wednesday, while Aaron Fleshner (Spring, Texas/Tuscaloosa, Ala.) won the men’s 1-meter title for the third time in his career.
Fleshner scored 452.40 points to lead the men’s 1-meter field, with Michael Hixon (Amherst, Mass./Bloomington, Ind.) scoring 427.05 points for silver. Bryce Klein (Southlake, Texas) was third with 415.95 points.
Fleshner led the entire contest and capitalized on his degree of difficulty, with 79.20 points on a front 3 ½ pike and 83.30 points on an inward 2 ½ pike – the two most difficult dives performed in the contest. He scored no lower than 69 points on any of his dives.
“This was a fun event. One-meter is usually a really close event and there aren’t a lot of points separating the top eight. I felt great in finals. I was a lot better than I was in prelims, and I wanted to come back in the finals and show what I can do,” said Fleshner, who scored 407.75 points to finish second to Hixon in the morning preliminaries.
Bacon also led throughout the entire women’s contest, finishing with 287.15 points for the gold. She scored 64.80 points on her opening round dive, an inward 1 ½ pike and scored 58.80 points on two other dives – a reverse 1 ½ pike and a front 2 ½ pike – to claim the win after finishing second in the preliminaries. 2008 Olympian Ariel Rittenhouse (Santa Cruz, Calif.) took the silver with 277.85 points, while Kassidy Cook (The Woodlands, Texas) was third with 275.75 points.
“I just wanted to hit my dives the best I could. This was my first senior meet since the 2012 Olympic Trials. I thought there was always a possibility I could win, but I really just wanted to go out and hit all of my dives,” Bacon said.
The AT&T National Diving Championships continue through Sunday, August 17. Thursday’s competition features quarterfinals and semifinals in women’s 10-meter and men’s 3-meter.
2014 AT&T National Diving Championships – August 13, 2014
Women’s 1-meter
1. Sarah Bacon, Indiana Diving, 287.15;2. Ariel Rittenhouse, Stanford Diving, 277.85;3. Kassidy Cook, Unattached, 275.75;4. Ashlynn Peters, Woodlands Diving Academy, 257.10;5. Rachel Mumma, Pack Diving, 254.75;6. Elisabeth Dawson, North Carolina Diving, 248.60;7. Lauren Reedy, Unattached, 246.50;8. Phoebe Lamay, Cougar Diving Club, 244.65;
Cut after preliminaries
9. Katie Carter, Akron Rippers, 254.95;10. Lacey Houser, Indiana Diving, 253.40;11. Michole Timm, North Carolina Diving, 253.10;12. Emma Ivory-Ganja, Longhorn Aquatics, 247.40;13. Haley Farnsworth, Mission Viejo, 245.35;14. Sine Scribbick, San Antonio Divers, 243.65;15. Annika Lenz, UCLA Diving, 238.25;16. Brooke Schultz, Indiana Diving, 237.35;17. Danielle Hulvey, Legacy Diving, 236.80;18. Meghan Houston, Longhorn Aquatics, 236.25;19. Meme Sharp, The Indiana International School of Diving, 233.50;20. Morgan Meixner, The Indiana International School of Diving, 233.05;21. Anna Filipcic, Unattached, 228.20;22. Kaylea Arnett, H2okie Aquatics, 2 27.55;23. Mackenzie Willborn, GC Diving, 220.30;24. Haley Allen, City of Midland, 219.60;25. Alisha Mah, Arrow Dive Club, 206.00
Men’s 1-meter
1. Aaron Fleshner, Alabama Diving, 452.40;2. Michael Hixon, Unattached, 427.05;3. Bryce Klein, GC Diving, 415.95;4. Darian Schmidt, Indiana University Dive Club, 407.20;5. Devin Burnett, Unattached, 376.10;6. Bradley Christensen, Stanford Diving, 375.50;7. Connor Kuremsky, Stanford Diving, 375.25;8. Cory Bowersox, Longhorn Aquatics, 316.90;
Cut after preliminaries
9. Henry Fusaro, Clavadistas del Sol, 356.60;10. Jack Nyquist, North Carolina Diving, 335.45;11. Jakob (jb) Kolod, Unattached, 327.90;12. Joshua Arndt, Indiana Diving, 325.80;13. Brandon Loschiavo, Mission Viejo, 319.50;14. Joseph Cifelli, Windy City Diving, 316.20;15. Clark Thomas, Unattached, 314.95;16. Michael Mosca, Unattached, 312.70;17. Connor Callahan, Duke Diving, 307.95;18. Matthew Casillas, Mission Viejo, 296.45;19. Kalonji Cole, Unattached, 291.10;20. Lester Wright, UCSB Dive Club (CALCODIV), 287.00;21. Theodore Miclau, Stanford Diving, 284.35;22. Jordan Gotro, Unattached, 283.65;23. Corey Cowger, Kentucky Diving Club, 279.10;24. Nathaniel Hernandez, GC Diving, 277.70;25. Zachary Stockton, Unattached, 269.35;26. Zachary Nees, Unattached, 264.70;27. Andrew Capobianco, Duke Diving, 254.30