U.S. Wins Gold and Bronze in Mixed Team Event at American Cup

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The U.S. team of Josh Hedberg, Sophie McAfee, Jack Ryan and Sophie Verzyl took gold in the mixed 3-meter and 10-meter team event Friday at the American Cup.

Team France won silver, and the U.S. team of Zara Ayazi, Drew Bennett, Leyton Dean and Margo O’Meara took the bronze.

Also on Friday, eight U.S. divers – including Bennett, Hedberg, O’Meara and Verzyl – punched their tickets to the individual finals with their performances in the preliminary and repechage rounds. In all, the U.S qualified five divers into the men’s 10-meter final and three into the women’s 3-meter final.

The U.S. won the team event gold with 415.90 points. France finished with 352.10 points, and the second U.S. team scored 317.70 for the bronze.

Earlier in the day Verzyl placed second in the women’s 3-meter preliminaries, while Kyndal Knight placed third. Max Weinrich took sixth and Bennett finished seventh in the men’s 10-meter preliminary standings. All four divers earned direct qualification into Sunday's finals.

Hedberg, Nathaniel Grannis and Misha Andriyuk also qualified for the men’s 10-meter final after placing in the top four in the repechage later in the day. O’Meara advanced out of the women’s 3-meter repechage.

The top eight divers, with a maximum of two per country, advance from the preliminary directly to the final. Places nine through 20 – including any divers in the top eight who finish behind two others from the same federation – dive again in the repechage, with the top four earning a spot in the final.

Anna Kwong finished fifth in the women’s 3-meter repechage, with Lily Witte taking sixth and Bailee Sturgill finishing seventh. Dean finished fifth in the men’s 10-meter repechage.

The American Cup runs through Sunday. Saturday’s competition features finals in men’s 10-meter synchro, women’s 3-meter synchro, women’s individual 10-meter and  men’s individual 3-meter. High diving competition will also begin Saturday.