Olympian Dumais adds to national diving titles with 3-meter win
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Troy Dumais says a change in his workout approach helped the four-time Olympian roll to his latest national championship.
Dumais won the 3-meter competition Saturday at the U.S. diving championships for his 15th national title in a 3-meter event and his 36th national crown overall. As the oldest diver in this week's championships, the 34-year-old from Ventura, California, is learning he must make some concessions to age.
"I took yesterday off because my knee was a little sore," said Dumais, who posted 492.3 points. "Normally I wouldn't do that. I would fight through the pain. And I'll tell you right now, my legs felt great today. It's just one of those things. I'm 34 years old. You don't recover as fast as these young bucks. You have to take your own training into your own hands."
Samantha Bromberg, a Texas sophomore from Bexley, Ohio, won the women's 10-meter with 368.15 points to continue her recent success in that event. Bromberg also won the 10-meter in last year's national championships and winter national championships.
Bromberg wasn't sure whether she'd compete in the 10-meter after spraining her right ankle last week. After testing out the ankle in the preliminary rounds for the women's synchronized 10-meter, Bromberg decided to give it a shot. She also will be in Sunday's synchronized 10-meter final.
"I wouldn't have been very happy just watching," Bromberg said. "I'm one of those people who want to be in the meet and be in the event, so I tried it. It's gotten a ton better."
Annika Lenz, a UCLA diver from Altadena, California, finished second in the women's 10-meter with 312.6 points. Olivia Rosendahl of Los Angeles was third with 301.70.
In the men's 3-meter, Aaron Fleshner was second with 449.25 points after winning the 1-meter title Wednesday. Darian Schmidt had 446.5 points to edge 15-year-old Jordan Windle for third by one-tenth of a point.
Toby Stanley of Noblesville, Indiana, and Mark Anderson of Lake Forest, California, won the men's 10-meter synchronized title with 383.40 points. Zachary Cooper and Tanner Wilfong were second with 352.86. Brandon Loschavio and Tarek Abdelghany were third with 313.95.
Stanley initially was planning to enter this competition with another diver. When those plans fell through, Stanley connected with Anderson, a Texas sophomore who had teamed up with him before.
"We're so much alike," Stanley said. "We have the same diving technique, so it really wasn't hard to match up."
Ariel Rittenhouse of Santa Cruz, California, and Amanda Burke of Southampton, Pennsylvania, won the women's 3-meter synchronized championship with 311.70 points. Maren Taylor and Deidre Freeman were second with 284.40. Brooke Schultz and Sarah Bacon finished third with 279.96
Rittenhouse and Burke just started diving together the last couple of weeks.
"It's exciting that with only two weeks of training together we've done so well," said Rittenhouse, a 2008 Olympian. "We knew we could do well, but it's all happening very fast."
