Viola Wins USA Diving Winter National Championship Title
Feb. 9, 2011
Iowa City, Iowa – University of Miami senior diver Brittany Viola added to her growing list of accolades over the weekend, taking home the women’s 10-meter platform national title at the USA Diving Winter National Championships in Iowa City, Iowa.
Viola, a 2008 NCAA platform national champion, claimed her first USA Winter National Championship on Saturday, Feb. 5, turning in a final round score of 357.70. Saturday’s event marked the first platform event for the Orlando native since the 2009 World Championships.
“This was a little unexpected,” said Viola. “I’ve been recovering from two surgeries, so I was just excited to be here. It was pretty awesome to be back up there. This puts me one step closer to the Olympics, which has been my goal since I was eight years-old.”
University of Miami teammate Carrie Dragland (Woodinville, Wash.) finished in the top five of the 10-meter platform, recording a fifth place score of 316.80. Dragland, a junior transfer from the University of Alabama, leads the `Canes top five performance lists in all three diving events on the year, and has qualified for all three events of the NCAA Zone Diving Qualifier in March.
Viola began the finals in second place after the semifinals, trailing Jessica Parratto (680.70) by just 10 points, earning a score of 670.15 in the semis. Dragland sat in ninth place after the semifinals with a score of 576.50.
In the finals, Viola began her final five dives with a score of 70.50, landing a Forward 3 1/2 Somersault Pike. She followed that up with her second-highest score of the finals, completing an Inward 3 1/2 Somersault Tuck for a judge’s score of 73.60. The best score of the finals by any one diver was turned in by Viola on her third dive, an Armstand Back 2 Somersault 1 1/2 Twist Free, giving her a score of 76.80.
The fourth and fifth dives for Viola were a Back 2 1/2 Somersault Pike, and a Back 2 1/2 Somersault 1 1/2 Twist Pike, respectively.
In the two individual events, the four divers with the highest cumulative scores from the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals who also meet the degree of difficulty requirements will be named to the AT&T Grand Prix team and go on to phase two of the selection process for the 2011 World Championships team.
The top four based on cumulative scores on 10-meter dives were Viola, Parratto (Dover, N.H. / Indianapolis, Ind.), Katie Bell (Columbus, Ohio) and Anna James (Midland, Texas).
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