MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, April 19. TROY Dumais (Ventura, Calif.) won his 25th national title and Laura Wilkinson (Spring, Texas) won her 19th as the two Olympians finished atop the standings Saturday at the Speedo USA Diving Spring National Championships.
Wilkinson scored 391.50 points for the women's 10-meter title, and Dumais took the men's 3-meter title with 476.75 points.
Wilkinson, who was fourth in Thursday's semifinals, turned in a consistent effort and hit some dives that had given her trouble earlier in the year. She earned 8s on her reverse three and a half, a dive she struggled with at the World Cup in Februrary, and she was also solid on her back three and a half, a dive she missed in the semifinals after having not competed it in nearly a year.
"I wanted to see if (the back dive) might be usable again, and it's definitely possible. We'll keep playing with it and see how it goes," Wilkinson said. "This meet definitely helped reaffirm some things. I've had some difficulties, but I feel like I'm on track for the summer."
Haley Ishimatsu (Seal Beach, Calif.), last year's champion, was second with 372.05 points, and Brittany Viola (Orlando, Fla.) was third at 360.45. Michelle Cabassol (Montgomery, Texas) took fourth at 342.55.
Dumais came from behind to pick up 3-meter title. After scoring 6s and 7s on his opening dive to sit in 12th place after the first round, he followed up with five 9.5 marks on his front three and a half in the second round to begin his climb up the standings. After fifth round, Dumais trailed leader Jevon Tarantino (Boca Raton, Fla.) by just 9.35 points.
Tarantino went over on his reverse three and a half in the final round, opening the door for Dumais, who then earned 87.50 points on his reverse two and a half with one and a half twists to secure the victory. Kristian Ipsen (Clayton, Calif.) took second at 451.05, and Tarantino slipped to third with 449.35 points. Chris Colwill (Brandon, Fla.) scored 447.65 points for fourth, and 2000 Olympian Justin Wilcock (Smithfield, Utah) finished fifth at 442.40.
"This is probably the deepest competition we've had at senior nationals in a long time. This was a great group of divers, and I look forward to another competition like this," Dumais said.
He'll get that chance for a rematch at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Diving in Indianapolis from June 18-22, as the top eight finishers on 3-meter and 10-meter qualified for the Trials.
Special thanks to USA Diving for contributing this report.