16-year-olds Ipsen, Cabassol win national titles at Speedo USA Diving Spring Nationals

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Kristian Ipsen (Clayton, Calif.) and Michelle Cabassol (Montgomery, Texas), both 16, won a pair of national titles Saturday at the Speedo USA Diving Spring National Championships. Ipsen won titles on 3-meter and synchronized 3-meter, and Cabassol took first on 10-meter and synchronized 10-meter.

Ipsen, a 13-time junior national champion who placed second on 3-meter at both the 2008 spring and summer nationals, picked up his first senior national title with 435.20 points on 3-meter. He was in 10th place after the first round but bounced back with 8.5s and 9s on his next two dives to move back in the hunt.

"I was in a little different position for this event. Usually I'm used to chasing down the favorites. In this event, I felt like the one being hunted," said Ipsen, who was the top finisher in Thursday's 3-meter semifinal. "I'm not used to this position, and I was a little nervous ... I was pumped in the beginning and went over on my first dive, but I calmed down after that and the rest of my dives were good."

Two Stanford divers claimed silver and bronze, with Dwight Dumais (Ventura, Calif.) winning his second silver of the week with 421.30 points and Brent Eichenseer (New Albany, Ohio) placing third with 401.70 points.

Ipsen later won a second national title when he paired up with three-time Olympian Troy Dumais (Ventura, Calif./Austin, Texas), who competed for the U.S. in the FINA World Series in Mexico City on Friday morning and then flew to Fort Lauderdale that night for Saturday's national finals. It was the first competition together for the youngster and the veteran, who combined for 439.32 points to give Dumais his 27th career senior national title and Ipsen his second. The win earned the pair a spot in the synchro event for the upcoming AT&T USA Diving Grand Prix, set for May 7-9 in Fort Lauderdale.

"Our young and upcoming divers need the experience in the international realm. Kristian is a great, phenomenal diver and anything I can do to get here (from the World Series in Mexico) and help him reach that goal is great," Dumais said. "It was fun."

Cabassol had a personal best score to win the women's platform title with 378.60 points - an improvement of 71 points from her score in Thursday's semifinals and nearly 50 points higher than her previous personal best. Cabassol scored 89.10 points on her back 3 ½ tuck and scored more than 75 points on two other dives. It was her first individual senior title. She also teamed with Kaylea Arnett (Spring, Texas), also 16, to win the 10-meter synchro title with 286.68 points.

"It's kind of overwhelming. It feels great. It hasn't quite sunk in yet that I'm a three-time senior national champion," said Cabassol, who also won a synchro title with Arnett in 2008. "I stayed calm and focused on corrections. I wanted to dive well."

Victoria Lamp (Knoxville, Tenn.), a 2008 junior national champion, placed second with 332.10 points, and Audra Egenolf (Indianapolis, Ind./Dallas, Texas), an All-American out of SMU, came in third with 317.65 points. Cabassol and Lamp will represent the U.S. in Montreal at next week's FINA Canada Cup.

The Speedo USA Diving Spring National Championships wrap up Sunday with national titles awarded in women's 3-meter, men's platform, women's synchronized 3-meter and men's synchronized platform. Competition begins at noon.

Speedo USA Diving Spring National Championships Results
April 25, 2009

Men's 3-meter final
1. Kristian Ipsen, Diablo Divers, 435.20;2. Dwight Dumais, Stanford Diving, 421.30;3. Brent Eichenseer, Stanford Diving, 401.70;4. Kelly Marx, Auburn Diving, 396.70;5. Hugh Showe III, Unattached, 365.15;6. Terry Horner, Florida State University, 361.80;7. Ford McLiney, Jayhawk Diving Club, 358.00;8. Cole Young, Twin City Divers, 349.80;9. Jonathan Wilcox, Unattached, 342.70;10. Kyle Mitrione, Purdue University / Boilers Diving Academy, 331.00;11. Matt Culbertson, Unattached, 313.65;12. Michael Hixon, Unattached, 312.30.

Women's platform final
1. Michelle Cabassol, The Woodlands Diving Academy, 378.60;2. Victoria Lamp, Tennessee Diving, 332.10;3. Audra Egenolf, Unattached, 317.65;4. Katherine Bell, Unattached, 302.50;5. Kaylea Arnett, The Woodlands Diving Academy, 294..85;6. Amy Korthauer, Indiana University / Indiana Diving, 281.95;7. Laura Ryan, Twin City Divers, 267.20;8. Sara Mokhtari, Cougar Diving Club, 261.35;9. Aleia Monden, Florida State University, 261.30;10. Cheyenne Cousineau, Legacy Diving Assoc., 255.80;11. Katrina Young, Pacific N.W. Diving, 232.10;12. Kara Cook, Purdue University / Boilers Diving Academy, 223.30.

Synchronized men's 3-meter final
1. Kristian Ipsen, Diablo Divers/Troy Dumais, Longhorn Aquatics, 439.32;2. Daniel Mazzaferro, Auburn Diving/Kelly Marx, Auburn Diving, 379.47;3. David Colturi, Purdue University / Boilers Diving Academy/ Sean Moore, Unattached, 349.68;4. Andrew Brown, Twin City Divers/Cole Young, Twin City Divers, 332.58;5. Robert Dohring, Indiana University / Indiana Diving/ Jonathan Dohring, Indiana University / Indiana Diving, 308.10;6. Jake Kinzbach, The Woodlands Diving Academy/Nicholas Klein, Duke Aquatics Diving, 290.94;7. David Piercy, Indiana University / Indiana Diving/ Ford McLiney, Jayhawk Diving Club, 288.57.

Synchronized women's platform final
1. Michelle Cabassol, The Woodlands Diving Academy/Kaylea Arnett, The Woodlands Diving Academy, 286.68;2. Kara Cook, Purdue University / Boilers Diving Academy/Audra Egenolf, Unattached, 257.37;3. Victoria Lamp, Tennessee Diving/Amy Korthauer, Indiana University / Indiana Diving, 237.57.


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