BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – On a landmark day for a program that has enjoyed many under coach Adam Soldati, Purdue divers present and future teamed up to win five medals and earn three more event berths at the FINA World Championships as the USA Diving Winter Nationals came to a close Saturday.
Tyler Downs was victorious on 1-meter by 25 points, becoming the first man to sweep the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events since the Winter Nationals meet was introduced in February 2010. The Olympian will represent USA Diving in three events when he returns to Japan in May for the World Championships.
Update: Downs elected to decline his 1-meter bid at the World Championships to focus on his 3-meter events. As the third-place finisher on 1-meter, Jordan Rzepka joins the USA Diving roster for the World Championships. The Boilermakers will have five divers on the U.S. roster.
Including National Letter of Intent signee Daryn Wright (Plainfield, Indiana) as the women's champion on 10-meter, the Boilermakers produced three of the top four finishers in both men's 1-meter and women's 10-meter. Maycey Vieta (silver on 10-meter), Jordan Rzepka (bronze on 1-meter) and Maggie Merriman (bronze on 1-meter) all won their first career individual medals at a USA Diving national meet.
Wright and Merriman also earned the right to go to Japan for the World Championships. This year, Downs and Wright have both won events on a national USA Diving stage to clinch bids for their countries at the most prestigious international meets. Each has accomplished the feat before enrolling at Purdue.
Greg Duncan finished fourth on 1-meter Saturday for his third top-five showing of the week. On Wednesday, Downs and Duncan were victorious on 3-meter synchro to clinch a World Championships bid. Rzepka is likely to go to the World University Games in China this summer.
Vieta competed for Puerto Rico at the FINA Diving World Cup in May. The Ohio native was eligible to medal this week at Winter Nationals but cannot represent USA Diving at the 2022 World Championships. However, she may return to Japan to compete for Puerto Rico, or the World University Games could be a backup plan.
Merriman finished fourth on 10-meter but claimed the bronze medal after Irishwoman Ciara Mcging, a sophomore at Ohio State, placed third.
Since February 2020, Vieta has now medaled on the tower at the Big Ten Championships (silver), NCAA Championships (bronze) and USA Diving Winter Nationals (silver). Merriman added a USA Diving medal to her platform medals from the last two Big Ten Championships – winning bronze in 2020 and silver in 2021.
Including Wright, who will enroll at Purdue in August, the Boilermakers finished the weeklong Winter Nationals with 10 medals and 13 top-10 finishes. Divers that have competed for Purdue at some point have combined to win 63 medals – 24 individual, 39 synchro – at Winter Nationals since 2010, claiming at least one medal every year the meet has been held.
Downs moved into fifth place in program history with a list score of 425.30 in the final. He also posted a career-best mark on 3-meter (477.40) Thursday and now ranks among the top five in program history in all three events. He improved on his prelim score (385.95) by 39.35 Saturday. Including two scores of 81, three of Downs' six dives in the final were earned the top marks in those rounds among the 12-diver field.
Wright's list score of 330.25 in the final was a 54-point improvement on her prelim showing (275.30). That allowed her to overcome a 21-point deficit in the cumulative scoring while moving up from sixth place. Vieta (+23.60) and Merriman (+43.63) also improved on their prelim scores in a big way while posting near identical lists of 308.50 and 308.38 in the final. Vieta moved up from fourth to second and Merriman from ninth to fourth.
Meanwhile, Rzepka enjoyed the most significant score improvement of the day – raising his score by 68.40 points in the final to claim his second medal of the week. That's a much more unique accomplishment in a lower-scoring event like 1-meter. The freshman ripped four 70-point dives in the final and overcame a poor effort that produced a score of 45 in round 4. Rzepka entered the final 23.5 points behind third place in the cumulative scoring.
In Friday's action, Rzepka finished fifth on 10-meter and Emily (Bretscher) Pfeiffer was ninth on 3-meter. As fifth-year seniors and the most experienced divers on Purdue's young roster this season, Pfeiffer posted her sixth career top-10 showing at Winter Nationals on Friday and Duncan registered his seventh career top-five finish at Winter Nationals on Saturday.
Purdue Swimming & Diving's NCAA schedules resume with dual meet action on Friday, Jan. 7 as the men host Wabash and the women host Indiana State.
FINAL 2 DAYS OF USA DIVING WINTER NATIONALS
SATURDAY
Men's 1-Meter (6 Dives)
Tyler Downs, 811.25 (385.95 Prelim, 425.30 Final) – Event Winner
Jordan Rzepka, 735.00 (333.30 Prelim, 401.70 Final) – Finished 3rd
Greg Duncan, 724.05 (341.50 Prelim, 382.55 Final) – Finished 4th
Sam Bennett, 290.05 – Finished 18th in Prelim
Women's 10-Meter (5 Dives)
Daryn Wright (NLI Signee), 605.55 (275.3 Prelim, 330.25 Final) – Event Winner
Maycey Vieta, 593.40 (284.9 Prelim, 308.50 Final) – Finished 2nd
Maggie Merriman, 573.13 (264.75 Prelim, 308.38 Final) – Finished 4th (Bronze Medalist)
Sophie McAfee, 205.30 – Finished 20th in Prelim
FRIDAY
Women's 3-Meter (5 Dives)
Emily Pfeiffer, 499.20 (255.30 Prelim, 243.90 Final) – Finished 9th
Jenna Sonnenberg, 181.15 – Finished 37th in Prelim
Men's 10-Meter (6 Dives)
Jordan Rzepka, 761.80 (373.85 Prelim, 387.95 Final) – Finished 5th
Tyler Downs was victorious on 1-meter by 25 points, becoming the first man to sweep the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events since the Winter Nationals meet was introduced in February 2010. The Olympian will represent USA Diving in three events when he returns to Japan in May for the World Championships.
Update: Downs elected to decline his 1-meter bid at the World Championships to focus on his 3-meter events. As the third-place finisher on 1-meter, Jordan Rzepka joins the USA Diving roster for the World Championships. The Boilermakers will have five divers on the U.S. roster.
Including National Letter of Intent signee Daryn Wright (Plainfield, Indiana) as the women's champion on 10-meter, the Boilermakers produced three of the top four finishers in both men's 1-meter and women's 10-meter. Maycey Vieta (silver on 10-meter), Jordan Rzepka (bronze on 1-meter) and Maggie Merriman (bronze on 1-meter) all won their first career individual medals at a USA Diving national meet.
Wright and Merriman also earned the right to go to Japan for the World Championships. This year, Downs and Wright have both won events on a national USA Diving stage to clinch bids for their countries at the most prestigious international meets. Each has accomplished the feat before enrolling at Purdue.
Greg Duncan finished fourth on 1-meter Saturday for his third top-five showing of the week. On Wednesday, Downs and Duncan were victorious on 3-meter synchro to clinch a World Championships bid. Rzepka is likely to go to the World University Games in China this summer.
Vieta competed for Puerto Rico at the FINA Diving World Cup in May. The Ohio native was eligible to medal this week at Winter Nationals but cannot represent USA Diving at the 2022 World Championships. However, she may return to Japan to compete for Puerto Rico, or the World University Games could be a backup plan.
Merriman finished fourth on 10-meter but claimed the bronze medal after Irishwoman Ciara Mcging, a sophomore at Ohio State, placed third.
Since February 2020, Vieta has now medaled on the tower at the Big Ten Championships (silver), NCAA Championships (bronze) and USA Diving Winter Nationals (silver). Merriman added a USA Diving medal to her platform medals from the last two Big Ten Championships – winning bronze in 2020 and silver in 2021.
Including Wright, who will enroll at Purdue in August, the Boilermakers finished the weeklong Winter Nationals with 10 medals and 13 top-10 finishes. Divers that have competed for Purdue at some point have combined to win 63 medals – 24 individual, 39 synchro – at Winter Nationals since 2010, claiming at least one medal every year the meet has been held.
Downs moved into fifth place in program history with a list score of 425.30 in the final. He also posted a career-best mark on 3-meter (477.40) Thursday and now ranks among the top five in program history in all three events. He improved on his prelim score (385.95) by 39.35 Saturday. Including two scores of 81, three of Downs' six dives in the final were earned the top marks in those rounds among the 12-diver field.
Wright's list score of 330.25 in the final was a 54-point improvement on her prelim showing (275.30). That allowed her to overcome a 21-point deficit in the cumulative scoring while moving up from sixth place. Vieta (+23.60) and Merriman (+43.63) also improved on their prelim scores in a big way while posting near identical lists of 308.50 and 308.38 in the final. Vieta moved up from fourth to second and Merriman from ninth to fourth.
Meanwhile, Rzepka enjoyed the most significant score improvement of the day – raising his score by 68.40 points in the final to claim his second medal of the week. That's a much more unique accomplishment in a lower-scoring event like 1-meter. The freshman ripped four 70-point dives in the final and overcame a poor effort that produced a score of 45 in round 4. Rzepka entered the final 23.5 points behind third place in the cumulative scoring.
In Friday's action, Rzepka finished fifth on 10-meter and Emily (Bretscher) Pfeiffer was ninth on 3-meter. As fifth-year seniors and the most experienced divers on Purdue's young roster this season, Pfeiffer posted her sixth career top-10 showing at Winter Nationals on Friday and Duncan registered his seventh career top-five finish at Winter Nationals on Saturday.
Purdue Swimming & Diving's NCAA schedules resume with dual meet action on Friday, Jan. 7 as the men host Wabash and the women host Indiana State.
FINAL 2 DAYS OF USA DIVING WINTER NATIONALS
SATURDAY
Men's 1-Meter (6 Dives)
Tyler Downs, 811.25 (385.95 Prelim, 425.30 Final) – Event Winner
Jordan Rzepka, 735.00 (333.30 Prelim, 401.70 Final) – Finished 3rd
Greg Duncan, 724.05 (341.50 Prelim, 382.55 Final) – Finished 4th
Sam Bennett, 290.05 – Finished 18th in Prelim
Women's 10-Meter (5 Dives)
Daryn Wright (NLI Signee), 605.55 (275.3 Prelim, 330.25 Final) – Event Winner
Maycey Vieta, 593.40 (284.9 Prelim, 308.50 Final) – Finished 2nd
Maggie Merriman, 573.13 (264.75 Prelim, 308.38 Final) – Finished 4th (Bronze Medalist)
Sophie McAfee, 205.30 – Finished 20th in Prelim
FRIDAY
Women's 3-Meter (5 Dives)
Emily Pfeiffer, 499.20 (255.30 Prelim, 243.90 Final) – Finished 9th
Jenna Sonnenberg, 181.15 – Finished 37th in Prelim
Men's 10-Meter (6 Dives)
Jordan Rzepka, 761.80 (373.85 Prelim, 387.95 Final) – Finished 5th