INDIANAPOLIS – Even with a pair of new partners this week, Purdue's Brandon Loschiavo won a third straight national title in synchronized 10-meter at the USA Diving Senior National Championships.
However, it was fellow Boilermakers Ben Bramley and Steele Johnson that earned the USA's berth in the event at the FINA World Championships (July 12-28 in Gwangju, South Korea). National titles are determined by scores in the finals, while World Championships qualification is based on cumulative scoring.
Loschiavo teamed with David Dinsmore to win with a list score of 414.39 in the final. They improved on their prelim score by 36.51. Bramley and Johnson's combined score of 800.49 points over two lists earned them the spot on the World Championships team, edging out Dinsmore and Loschiavo by 8.22 points.
Bramley and Johnson (404.91 in the final) won silver while competing together for the first time. It was Johnson's first competition since the FINA Diving World Cup in June 2018. He returned from the foot injury that required multiple surgeries and sidelined him during the 2018-19 college season.
"My only goal was to put on the best showing I can, because I've only been doing my competitive list for two weeks now and Ben and I have only been training together for two weeks. It's hard to have high expectations when you've been out of the sport for 11 months now," said Johnson, who won Olympic silver in 10-meter synchro with David Boudia in 2016. "I came in here with the mindset that I'm just going to do the dives as best I can and hope Ben does the best he can and we'll see where we land. Fortunately that landed us on the World Championships team, and I am ecstatic to be going back to Worlds and I'm ecstatic to be diving with Ben."
Johnson and Loschiavo had won the last two synchronized 10-meter titles together at the 2017 USA Diving Synchronized National Championships and 2018 USA Diving Senior Nationals. They represented Team USA as a synchro team at the 2017 World Championships and 2018 Diving World Cup.
Loschiavo also competed with Jordan Windle on Tuesday, placing third (369.57) in the same 10-meter synchro event after winning the morning prelim (396.36).
Loschiavo (Big Ten), Dinsmore (ACC) and Windle (Big 12) were all NCAA conference champions individually on 10-meter this year. Windle and Dinsmore went on to finish 1-2 in the event at the NCAA Championships. Bramley was also a finalist in the event as a freshman at the national championship meet.
Bramley, Dinsmore, Johnson, and Loschiavo are all slated to compete again individually on the tower this week. Prelims and semifinals are set for Friday, with the final Sunday at noon ET.
PURDUE'S REMAINING SCHEDULE AT USA DIVING SENIOR NATIONALS
All Times ET
Wednesday, May 22 at 12:45 & 7 p.m.
Women's 1-Meter Prelim & Final – Emily Bretscher
Thursday, May 23 at 10 a.m. & 4/5:30 p.m.
Women's 10-Meter Prelim & Semifinal – Maggie Merriman
Men's 3-Meter Prelim & Semifinal – David Boudia
Friday, May 24 at 10 a.m. & 4/5:15 p.m.
Women's 3-Meter Prelim & Semifinal – Emily Bretscher
Men's 10-Meter Prelim & Semifinal – Ben Bramley, Brandon Loschiavo, Steele Johnson
Saturday, May 25 at 12:30 p.m. & 2 p.m.
Men's 3-Meter Final (Live on NBCSN)
Women's 10-Meter Final (Live on NBC)
Sunday, May 26 at Noon & 1:40 p.m.
Men's 10-Meter Final
Women's 3-Meter Final