Bryant, Livingston, Cook/Figueroa, Brown/Young close out with national titles

Tallahassee, Fla. - Kelci Bryant (Chatham, Ill.) and Drew Livingston (The Woodlands, Texas) won individual titles, and Kassidy Cook (The Woodlands, Texas), Loren Figueroa (Kingwood, Texas), Drew Brown (Centennial, Colo.) and Cole Young (Overland Park, Kan.) captured synchronized diving titles Sunday to close out the AT&T National Diving Championships.

With Tropical Storm Claudette approaching the Florida panhandle, officials decided to hold Sunday's two synchronized diving events - the final contests of the six-day competition -- simultaneously to try to beat the rain, which began to pour down on Florida State's Morcom Aquatics Center just minutes after the final awards were handed out.

In the first contest of the day, Bryant scored 347.25 points in the women's 3-meter competition for her fifth national title and second on 3-meter. Her best dive came in the third round with 72 points on her back 2 ½.

"I've been working hard this summer, and my coach told me yesterday to just go out there and do what I'm capable of," Bryant said.

Christina Loukas (Riverwoods, Ill.) came away with the silver with 333.50 points, and Summer Allman (Lansing, Mich.) picked up bronze at 333.

Livingston captured his first national title with 509.55 points in the men's platform final, edging Olympian Thomas Finchum (Indianapolis, Ind.), who scored 495.25 points for second in a close contest that came down to the final dive.

Finchum led by nine-tenths of a point heading into the final round, with Finchum and Livingston both performing a back 2 ½ with 2 ½ twists. Finchum went first and scored 81.70 points, and Livingston followed up with 96.90 points for the national title.

"There was no pressure. I didn't have anything to lose - I'm not a national champion or anything ... well, I am now," said Livingston, who received four 10s on his back 3 ½ in the third round. "I've put in a lot of work this year, and hopefully it will lead to more success in the future."

Cook and Figueroa, who won three junior national titles last week, won their first senior national title with 308.40 points in the women's 3-meter synchro final. Loukas and Brittney Feldman (Indianapolis, Ind.) were second with 302.40 points, and Bryant and Candice Minette (Glendale, Ariz.) scored 289.50 points for bronze.

"I'm so happy. We both got gold at juniors and it's exciting to come here and break our personal record by 30 points. We just keep getting better," Cook said.

Brown and Young claimed their first national title with 354.15 points in the men's synchronized 10-meter contest, with Dashiell Enos (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Steele Johnson (Carmel, Ind.) winning silver at 346.86. Robert Dohring (Glendale, Calif.) and Jonathan Dohring (Glendale, Calif.) scored 305.79 points for third.

"Synchro is a way for me to relax. Sometimes individual events get too serious. With synchro I just have fun, and that's what we did today," said Brown, who finished 10th in the individual 10-meter contest.

About USA Diving: Featuring America's best divers, USA Diving is the national governing body for the sport of diving. Headquartered in Indianapolis, USA Diving offers diversified programs geared toward the broadest number of diving enthusiasts, from the novice to the world champion. USA Diving conducts approximately 40 regional and national events annually and is responsible for training and selecting teams that represent the United States at international events such as the Olympic Games, World Championships and World Cup. For additional information please call Jennifer Lowery at (317) 237-5252 or visit www.usadiving.org <http://www.usadiving.org/> .