Friday Results / Dive-by-Dive Scoring / ESPN3 Replay / Meet Central
MINNEAPOLIS - A gutsy final-round dive change followed by a big score set the stage for Purdue's Steele Johnson to repeat as the 3-meter NCAA champion, winning his fifth career national title.
Johnson won the 12th NCAA title by a Purdue diver, dating to 2009. He joined Texas' Troy Dumais (7 from 1999-02) and fellow Boilermaker David Boudia (6 from 2009-11) as the only men to win at least five NCAA diving titles since platform was added to the national championship meet in 1990.
Johnson has now won multiple NCAA titles in both springboard events during his career. Friday was his seventh career top-two finish in a championship final at NCAAs. He's the first man to repeat on 3-meter at NCAAs since fellow Olympian Kristian Ipsen (Stanford) in 2012 and 2013.
Johnson was third entering the sixth and final round of the championship final. Of the top three divers entering the final round, he was set to dive second of the three. He changed his dive from a 3 ½ somersault pike to a 4 ½ somersault tuck, which was accompanied by a degree of difficulty increase from 3.1 to 3.8. Johnson earned all 8s and 9s on the final dive, good for a score of 96.9.
Johnson won with a list score of 499.35 after having the the best scores among the eight-diver field in rounds two (85), five (89.25) and six (96.9). He trailed the leader Colin Zeng of Tennessee by 8.85 points entering the final round. But the dive change helped Johnson outscore Zeng by 13.2 points in the sixth round. Zeng's final-round score was 83.7. Texas' Jordan Windle was in second place, .15 hundredths of a point ahead of Johnson, but fell out of contention with a missed dive that produced a score of 39.1 in the final round.
.@Steele_Johnson discusses overcoming injury this season & changing his final dive to set the stage for a memorable finish Friday at NCAAs. Won his 5th career national title tonight. #BoilerUp pic.twitter.com/tn6yWKE3CO
-- Purdue Swim-Dive (@PurdueMSwimDive) March 24, 2018
Johnson's sixth-round score was the best of all 48 dives performed in the championship final. It was also one of only three 90-plus scores. Zeng's 92.75 in round four allowed him to move atop the leaderboard after Johnson was in front after both the second and third rounds.
Johnson improved on his prelim score by 54.5 points. He advanced to his seventh career championship final at NCAAs with a prelim score of 444.85, finishing third. Zeng was tops in the prelim with a list score of 460.7.
With Johnson accounting for 20 team points Friday, the Boilermakers remained in 18th place with 38 points. Marat Amaltdinov, Brandon Loschiavo and Johnson are all scheduled to compete Saturday on the final day of the NCAA Championships.
Joe Cifelli closed out his junior season by also competing on 3-meter Friday, but four consecutive sub-50 scores did not allow him to advance out of the prelim. He was an honorable mention All-American on 1-meter Thursday, scoring at NCAAs for the third year in a row.
Amaltdinov raced in the 100 breaststroke Friday, posting a personal season-best time of 53.92 in the prelims. He'll close out his collegiate career by racing in the 200 breast Saturday. He's a two-time Big Ten champion and 2017 All-American in his premier event.
Saturday at NCAAs, swimming prelims begin at 11 a.m. ET, platform diving prelims follow at 1 p.m. and the finals session is set for 7 p.m.
2018 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
March 21 to 24 / Minneapolis
Purdue's Friday Results
^ -- Personal Season-Best Time/Score
3-Meter Diving
Steele Johnson, 499.35 -- NCAA CHAMPION (20 pts); ALL-AMERICA
Joe Cifelli, 310.7 (Prelim Score) -- 41st in Prelims
100 Breast
Marat Amaltdinov, 53.92^ (Prelim Time) -- 40th in Prelims
my nephew went into his final dive of the NCAA 3m final in 3rd place, 9 points back...please just watch this pic.twitter.com/WfFdfnUuqC
-- Fred Boynton (@SingleFileEyes) March 24, 2018