Watson Wins USA Diving 1-meter Title

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Brandon Watson (Riverton, Utah/Provo, Utah) and Kelci Bryant (Chatham, Ill./Minneapolis, Minn.) won 1-meter titles Wednesday at the USA Diving Winter National Championships.

Bryant, a 2008 Olympian who also won the 1-meter at the 2010 winter nationals, scored 283.90 points to win her eighth career national title. She was in fourth place after three rounds but jumped to third with one round to go. Less than four points separated third from first heading into the fifth round, and she secured her win with 62.40 points on her last dive, a reverse 1 with 1 twists, for her highest-scoring dive in the finals.

“My first dive went pretty well but then I missed two in a row, so I knew the pressure was on,” Bryant said. “I could hear in the background that all the girls going before me were doing great dives in the last round, so I knew I had to go for it and do a great last dive myself and it worked.”

Loren Figueroa (Kingwood, Texas/Columbia, Mo.) picked up the silver medal with 281.40 points, edging bronze medalist Meili Carpenter (Lafayette, Colo./Buffalo, N.Y.) by just .35 points.

Watson won his second career 1-meter national title with 443.20 points in a come-from-behind win, narrowing edging Aaron Fleshner (Spring, Texas/Tuscaloosa, Ala.), who picked up the silver with 442.95 points.

Fleshner led by more than 40 points with two rounds to go, but Watson rallied with 91.20 points – including 10s from two judges – on his front 2 with a twist in the fifth round to close within 10 points with one dive to go. Fleshner scored 73.60 points on his last dive, while Watson earned three 9.5s and 82.50 points on his reverse 1 with 2 twists to move into the gold medal position.

“I can’t be happier. It was an intense competition, and God really blessed me to do well today,” said Watson, who also won the 1-meter title at the 2010 AT&T National Championships. “My diving’s been a lot stronger, but my competition is getting a lot stronger and I feel like there was a little pressure on me having won a title before.”

Harrison Jones (Spring, Texas/Los Angeles, Calif.) won the bronze medal with 407.25 points.

The USA Diving Winter National Championships continue through Sunday, February 6. Thursday’s competition starts at 10 a.m. and features women’s 10-meter and men’s 3-meter quarterfinals and semifinals.