Sophie Verzyl, Quinn Henninger Double Champs at USA Winter Nationals
Sophie Verzyl and Quinn Henninger each picked up two titles at USA Winter Nationals in Midland, Texas.
Both divers won their respective 3-meter competition, then teamed up to win synchro – Verzyl with Anna Kwong, Henninger with Jack Ryan.
Verzyl, a senior at South Carolina, led all the way in 3-meter. Her score of 593.30 put her 24.70 points up on Margo O’Meara. O’Meara had been fourth after quarterfinals but jumped up in finals, less than four points ahead of Kyndal Knight. Kwong finished fourth.
In synchro, Verzyl and Kwong were second after prelims, less than two points back of Lilly Witte and Bailee Sturgill. They surged in the final, though, to finish with 559.14 points, best of the four-team field. Witte and Sturgill scored 528.12.
Verzyl finished with 54 points to win the high-point award on the women’s side, 10 points up on O’Meara, the 1-meter champ.
The men’s synchro competition put the top two finishers on 3-meter together. Henninger won the individual event by a clean 30 points, the Indiana veteran scoring 836.35. Ryan was second in 806.35, less than six points up on Luke Sitz, who also topped 800 points. Maxwell Flory, who led after a score of 413.15 in quarterfinals, slid to fourth.
The duo of Ryan and Henninger, though, sat second after quarters of synchro. Sitz and Joshua Sollenberger had led the way with a score of 394.50. But Ryan and Henninger were sharper in finals to tally 802.98, a winning margin of 10.77 points. A 90-point reverse 3.5 tuck in the fourth round did the trick.
The meet started with the latest step from 13-year-old ElliReese Niday. She dominated women’s platform, scoring 754.85 points, more than 100 points up on the field. It’s the third major title for Niday this year, who won at Nationals in May and then won Junior Pan Pacs.
Second was Ella Roselli with a score of 649.50. She was less than six points ahead of Bayleigh Cranford, the only other dive to crack 600 points. Sophia McAfee finished fourth.
Roselli and Cranford teamed up to win platform synchro with a score of 582.66. Sturgill and Katerina Hoffman teamed to finish second in the three-team field, 0.09 points ahead of Sophia McAfee and Katrina Young.
O’Meara won 1-meter diving. The Miami grad transfer scored 536.80, leading after quarterfinals and sealing the title with a third-round reverse 1.5 that scored 61.20 points.
Avery Worobel finished second in 494.05. Emma Rhines was third with a score of 476.25, followed by Verzyl and Lily Witte.
On the men’s side, Sitz nabbed a third podium position on 1-meter, but he couldn’t quite get the win. Bennett Greene came out on top with a score of 754.30, 9.2 points up on Sitz. The Tennessee diver weathered the 11th-best dive of the fourth round to finish strong. Only his first-round inward 2.5 won a round, but he tallied four dives of 67.5 points or more to outpace the field.
Sitz kept the pressure on, all six of his finals dives between 63 and 69 points. He finished with 745.10 points. His consolation was finishing as the high individual scorer of the meet with 49 points, one ahead of Carson Tyler.
Nick Harris was third on 1-meter, followed by Sollenberger.
Veteran Jordan Rzepka won his second national title on men’s platform, the first coming in 2022. He scored 866.45, his final winning margin 86 points. He punctuated his list with 95 points on a forward 2.5 twister that earned him 95 points in the sixth round of finals.
Andrew Bennett finished second with 780.40 points. Tyler was third in 755.45, followed by fellow Indiana divers Joshua Hedberg and Maxwell Weinrich.
On platform synchro, Hedberg and Tyler dominated with a score of 827.07. That was 94 points clear of Tyler Wills and Rzepka, who scored 732.66. Weinrich was third in a pairing with Dash Glasberg.
