Friday Results / Dive-by-Dive Scoring / Meet Central / NCAA Record Book
INDIANAPOLIS - Purdue's Steele Johnson emerged as a national champion for the second day in a row, winning his fourth career NCAA title but his first on the 3-meter springboard.
Johnson has now won NCAA titles in all three diving events during his career, joining Purdue alumnus David Boudia as the only divers to accomplish the feat since platform diving was added to the NCAA Championships in 1990.
Platform remains Johnson's best event, giving him an opportunity to make history Saturday. Since 1990, no diver has ever swept all three diving events in the same year at NCAAs. Boudia nearly did it in 2009 and 2011, finishing second in the only event he did not win both years.
Johnson joined Troy Dumais and Boudia as the only divers to win a pair of national championships multiple times in their careers. Dumais won an NCAA-record seven titles from 1999 to 2002, sweeping the springboard events three years in a row. Boudia (2009-11) won twice in each of the three NCAA Championships in which he competed.
Johnson also joined Boudia (2010, 2011), Kristian Ipsen (2013) and Michael Hixon (2014) as divers to sweep the springboard events at NCAAs since 2006. Johnson bested Hixon in both springboard events this week after Hixon, a 2016 Olympian on 3-meter, had swept the events at the Big Ten Championships last month.
Purdue's Brandon Loschiavo and Marat Amaltdinov also competed Friday at the national championship meet. Loschiavo finished fifth in the consolation final (13th overall) to earn honorable mention All-America accolades. Including the women, Loschiavo is the fourth Purdue diver to earn his or her first career All-America honor this month.
Amaltdinov posted a career-best time in the prelims of the 100 breaststroke, improving on his second-fastest mark in program history with a time of 53.09. Seeded 38th in the event, he finished 31st in the prelims. He'll race again Saturday in the 200 breast, an event in which he's seeded seventh.
With Johnson and Loschiavo scoring on 3-meter Friday, the Boilermakers remained in 15th place in the team scoring with 33 points. Saturday should be Purdue's top-scoring event at NCAAs.
Johnson was seventh in the 3-meter prelims to clinch his fifth career All-America award. He had to dive second of the eight competitors in the championship final, but won handily nonetheless after improving on his list score by 92.45 points in the final. Johnson was victorious by 24.9 points after only one of his six dives was outside of the top three in the individual round-by-round scoring. He took control of the event with a 91.8 in round three and 94.5 in round five, both scores being the best among the eight-diver field.
Loschiavo was in contention to advance to the championship final via a top-eight finish in the prelims. But after posting the second-best score in the entire field in round four (71.4), he had poor showings in the final two rounds. His scores in the final two rounds were both outside the top 30. The freshman posted a list score of 384.45 in the consolation final, improving on his prelim score by 29.4 points.
Johnson has now won all four championship finals at NCAAs in which he has competed. As a freshman in 2015, he won the NCAA titles on 1-meter and platform as well as the consolation final of 3-meter.
Max Showalter joins Johnson and Loschiavo in the platform competition Saturday. Swimming prelims begins at 10 a.m. ET and diving prelims get underway at noon.
With this high-scoring final dive, @PurdueMSwimDive's Steele Johnson wins the 3-meter diving finals -- his second title at #NCAASwimDive. pic.twitter.com/MNs4QgrdTK
-- Jordan J. Wilson (@Wilsonable07) March 25, 2017
PURDUE RESULTS ON FRIDAY AT NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
3-Meter Diving
Steele Johnson, 502.20 -- NCAA CHAMPION (20 Points)
Brandon Loschiavo, 384.45 -- Finished 5th in Consolation Final (4 Points)
100 Breast
Marat Amaltdinov, 53.09 -- Finished 31st in Prelims; Improved on 2nd-Fastest Time in Team History
DIVERS TO WIN MULTIPLE NCAA TITLES IN SAME YEAR (SINCE 1990)
2017 -- Steele Johnson (Purdue), 1-Meter & 3-Meter
2015 -- Steele Johnson (Purdue), 1-Meter & Platform
2014 -- Michael Hixon (Texas), 1-Meter & 3-Meter
2013 -- Kristian Ipsen (Stanford), 1-Meter & 3-Meter
2011 -- David Boudia (Purdue), 1-Meter & 3-Meter
2010 -- David Boudia (Purdue), 1-Meter & 3-Meter
2009 -- David Boudia (Purdue), 3-Meter & Platform
2007 -- Steve Segerlin (Auburn), 3-Meter & Platform
2005 -- Joona Puhakka (Arizona State), 1-Meter & 3-Meter
2002 -- Troy Dumais (Texas), 1-Meter & 3-Meter
2001 -- Troy Dumais (Texas), 1-Meter & 3-Meter
2000 -- Troy Dumais (Texas), 1-Meter & 3-Meter
1999 -- Rio Ramirez (Univ. of Miami), 1-Meter & Platform
1997 -- Tyce Rouston (Univ. of Miami), 3-Meter & Platform
1993 -- Dean Panaro (Univ. of Miami), 1-Meter & 3-Meter
1990 -- Scott Donie (SMU), 3-Meter & Platform