First individual medals awarded at U.S. Open Championships

U.S. Open individual events began Friday at the 2022 USA Diving U.S. Open Championships presented by Rocket Fizz at COM Aquatics in Midland, Texas.

Samantha Pickens (COM Aquatics) won the women’s 3-meter, and Lyle Yost (Unattached) claimed the men’s 1-meter title.

In the women’s 3-meter, it was a battle for the title from start to finish between Pickens, Carolina Sculti (Mission Viejo) and Julia Vincent (Kentucky Diving Club). Going into the fifth round, Vincent was in first place by 1.5 points, but Pickens pulled off a solid dive on her forward 2 ½ somersaults with one twist pike to put her into the top spot. The highest scoring dive of the 3-meter competition came from Sculti with her reverse 2 ½ somersault pike scoring 66.00 points. Pickens narrowly won the title with a score of 288.50, with Sculti just five-hundredths of a point behind at 288.45 for silver. Vincent took third with a score of 271.55.

Yost and his college teammate Clayton Chaplin (Unattached) finished first and second in the 1-meter competition. Yost won the title with a score of 370.20, and Chaplin earned silver with a score of 361.35. Dylan Reed (Pitt Aquatic Club) placed third with a score of 324.00. Yost scored 68.00 points on his inward 2 ½ somersault pike in the final round for the highest scoring dive of the competition. 

Saturday’s competition features the men’s 3-meter and women’s platform final.