Three Champions Decided on Opening Day of 2024 Junior National Championships

The 2024 USA Diving Junior National Championships kicked off Monday at the Peak Health Aquatic Center in Morgantown, West Virginia.  More than 600 athletes are competing during the 10-day event.

Nathaniel Salomon from Germantown Academy Dive Club won the boys’ group C (12-13 years) 1-meter junior national title, edging out Amir Owens (Montgomery Dive Club), who took the silver medal.  Nathan Piotrowski of West Florida Lightning Aquatics rounded out the podium in third place.

Three Mission Viejo athletes made finals in the girls’ group D (11-and-under) 3-meter competition but Riane Rutter from Santa Clara Dive Club earned the gold with a score of 237.95 points.  Sawyer Watts of Mission Viejo was second with 213.15 and Aliyana Martin of Mansfield Diving just one-tenth behind with 213.05 for bronze. 

The boys’ group D (11-and-under) platform competition was a great kick-off for the Trojan Diving Academy with Frank Li taking top spot with a score of 199.30.  Brady Voloshin of Knight Diving Academy took silver with 184.35, and Charles Torrione of Duke Diving rounded out the podium for bronze with 179.65 points.

The boys’ platform competition also had notable finishes by two international athletes. Ivan Kliminov of Mission Viejo had the top score of 214.40 points and Zeming Lu of Trojan Diving had the third best performance with a score of 194.15.  They received separate awards recognizing their achievement in this competition.

Tuesday marks the second day of competition with three championships to be determined: Girls’ platform for group D athletes (11 and Under), girls 1-meter for group D athletes (11 and Under) and boys’ 3-meter for group C athletes (12-13 years).