Courtesy: USA Diving
MORGANTOWN, W.V. – Tyler Downs (Ballwin, Mo./RipFest) and Greg Duncan (Oakton, Va./Purdue Diving) won the men’s synchronized 3-meter gold medal for the second year in a row Thursday at the 2022 USA Diving Winter National Championships at the Aquatic Center at Mylan Park.
Downs and Duncan also won gold together at the 2021 winter nationals. Thursday’s win marked Duncan’s fourth career national title in 3-meter synchro, having also secured titles with another partner in 2017 and 2018.
This time, Downs and Duncan scored 792.84 points over their two lists of dives for their second gold together. Andrew Capobianco (Holly Springs, N.C./Johansen Diving Academy) and Quinn Henninger (Denver, Colo./Johansen Diving Academy) were second at 721.74, and Nick Harris (Chester Springs, Pa./University of Texas) and Max Fowler (Burke, Va./Montgomery Dive Club) scored 650.25 points for bronze.
“It was consistency, more than anything, and trying to do the dives the best we could for 12 rounds today. That was the key for me at least,” Duncan said.
Downs and Duncan were certainly consistent, with their front 2 ½ with two twists scoring 80.58 points and three other optional dives earning 72 points or higher in the finals.
“There was a lot of pressure, especially being at the end of the round. We had to stay composed to do our dives,” Downs said.
Capobianco and Henninger debuted their front 2 ½ with three twists in the prelims and scored 76.05 points on the dive in the finals. With a degree of difficulty of 3.9, the dive was the most difficult performed by any team in the contest.
“It’s impressive. I’m glad the field is progressing. We’re trying to keep up with them,” Duncan said.
“Especially going into international meets, you see a lot of guys doing the biggest dives, so it’s good to be diving against them to see how we do,” Downs said.
The USA Diving Winter National Championships continue through Sunday, December 18. Friday marks the start of individual competition, with women’s 1-meter and men’s 3-meter preliminaries and finals on the schedule. Competition begins at 10 a.m., with finals set to start at 4 p.m.