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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Four Purdue divers are competing at the USA Diving Synchronized National Championships this week at Georgia Tech's McAuley Aquatic Center.
Platform All-Americans Steele Johnson and Brandon Loschiavo will make their debut as a synchronized 10-meter team. Along with competing for the USA Diving national title in the event, Team's USA berth at the FINA World Championships (in Budapest, Hungary) is also on the line. Johnson already qualified for Worlds with his runner-up finish on 1-meter at the USA Diving Winter Nationals in December.
Max Showalter is also in the synchronized 10-meter event, teaming with Greenwood, Indiana, native Zach Cooper. They also competed together at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials and 2016 USA Diving Winter Nationals.
Joe Cifelli and Showalter are entered in the mixed synchronized 3-meter event as well. Cifelli is slated to compete with 2016 Olympian Kassidy Cook, a Stanford alumna and the sister of Purdue alumna Kara Cook (2008-11). Showalter's partner is Nevada alumna Krysta Palmer.
Before winning silver together in synchronized 10-meter at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janerio, David Boudia and Johnson won national titles at the 2015 USA Diving Synchronized National Championships and Winter Nationals. They took fifth together in the event at the 2015 FINA World Championships. Boudia has not competed since winning two medals at the 2016 Olympics.
Johnson is an 11-time senior national champion with USA Diving and has now won four career NCAA titles after sweeping the springboard events last month. Loschiavo qualified for the NCAA Championships in all three diving events as a freshman this season. Due in part to injuries, he has not competed in a synchronized event at a prominent national meet since the 2014 Winter Nationals. However, he had top-three finishes in 10-meter synchro events at both the USA Diving AT&T Senior Nationals Championships and Winter Nationals that year.
As NCAA Championships qualifiers as freshmen in 2016, Cifelli and Showalter competed at Georgia Tech's McAuley Aquatic Center. The natatorium in Atlanta hosted both the Men's and Women's NCAA Championships that season.
Cook and Johnson are among the seven members of the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team scheduled to compete at the Synchronized National Championships this week. The U.S. diving team held its 2016 pre-Olympic training camp in Atlanta before traveling to Rio de Janeiro.
Competition will be conducted on 10-meter platform and 3-meter springboard in the "open" (men's, women's and mixed events) division, and those divers will be looking to earn spots on Team USA for the 2017 FINA World Championships.
USA DIVING SYNCHRO NATIONALS SCHEDULE
Thursday, April 13 -- Events begin at 9 a.m. ET (Finals begin at 1:30 p.m. ET)
Women's synchronized 3-meter prelim
Men's synchronized 10-meter prelim
...For Purdue: Steele Johnson & Brandon Loschiavo; Max Showalter (with Zach Cooper)
13-and-under boys synchronized 3-meter prelim
13-and-under girls synchronized 1-meter prelim
Women's synchronized 3-meter final
Men's synchronized 10-meter final
...For Purdue: Steele Johnson & Brandon Loschiavo; Max Showalter (with Zach Cooper)
13-and-under boys synchronized 3-meter final
13-and-under girls synchronized 1-meter final
Friday, April 14 -- Events begin at 9 a.m.
Mixed synchronized 3-meter final
...For Purdue: Joe Cifelli (with Kassidy Cook), Max Showalter (with Krysta Palmer)
.@Steele_Johnson & @BrandoLoschiavo putting in the reps on 10m. 🚂#SynchroNats17 pic.twitter.com/DiUnh7YofO
- USA Diving (@USADiving) April 11, 2017
What do you get when you mix a 🌲 and a 🚂? @KassidyCook1 and @Joey_Cifelli doing mixed synchro!#SynchroNats17 pic.twitter.com/ZLu5B9n6xO
- USA Diving (@USADiving) April 11, 2017