Dive-by-Dive Scoring at Winter Nationals
ROSEMONT, Ill. -- After helping the Purdue divers win the men's and combined team scoring titles at the USA Diving Winter Nationals, Steele Johnson and Brandon Loschiavo were honored with weekly awards from the Big Ten Conference.
Johnson won his league-high fifth Big Ten Diver of the Week honor of the season and 11th career. Loschiavo was recognized as the Big Ten Freshman of the Week for the first time, joining Nick McDowell as Boilermakers to claim the award this season.
Johnson and Loschiavo joined teammate Joe Cifelli as finalists in both springboard events at the Winter Nationals. Johnson was victorious on 3-meter and finished as the runner-up on 1-meter, leading the way as the Purdue men racked up 118.5 points to win the team scoring title.
Coincidentally, Johnson and Loschiavo both are at their best on 10-meter, finishing 1-2 in the event the last time the Winter Nationals were held in Columbus, Ohio (2014). They're projected to resume competing on 10-meter next month.
Loschiavo was sixth on 1-meter and 13th on 3-meter this week. He posted a career-best score of 370.35 in the 1-meter preliminary round, moving into ninth place in program history.
Johnson was the only diver in the 3-meter field to exceed 400 points on all three of his lists, winning his 11th career USA Diving senior national title. However, it was his first in a springboard event. He won the event by 157.65 points and posted a Purdue season-best list score of 465.8 in the final.
The runner-up finish on 1-meter clinched Johnson a berth in the event at the 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. He also surpassed the 400-point mark in both of his 1-meter lists, rallying to take second after entering the final in fourth place.
Johnson continues his pursuit of David Boudia's conference-record 20 Big Ten Diver of the Week awards, which the four-time Olympic medalist earned from October 2008 through February 2011. Boudia's seventh consecutive and eighth career USA Diving Athlete of the Year honor was another big part of the Boilermakers' memorable week at the Winter Nationals. He and Johnson won silver together in synchronized 10-meter at the 2016 Olympics.
Led by Johnson (6 times in 2014-15) and Cifelli (6 times in 2015-16), the Purdue men have won 16 Big Ten Freshman of the Week awards since October 2014. Their teammates Erik Juliusson, Max Showalter, Loschiavo and McDowell have also been recognized during that span.
What once filled me with crippling anxiety now is a story of redemption and grace. These rings remind me of the grace God CONSTANTLY gives. pic.twitter.com/TkqhNT1Ka0
-- Steele Johnson (@Steele_Johnson) December 21, 2016