Ryan, Cranford Win Gold on Day One of 2026 National Championships
2026 National Championships Men's 3-Meter Medalists: Gold, Jack Ryan; Silver, Luke Sitz; Bronze, Carson Tyler
MORGANTOWN, W.V. -- Jack Ryan (Stanford Diving) won men's 3-meter and Bayleigh Cranford (Longhorn Aquatics) won women's 10-meter as the 2026 USA Diving National Championships kicked off Friday.
Ryan scored 877.10 points to win the 3-meter title. Luke Sitz (Dallas Metroplex Diving) took silver with 854.80 points, and Carson Tyler (Johansen Diving Academy) scored 829.10 points for bronze.
Sitz led by less than a point heading into the evening finals after edging Ryan by .65 points in the preliminaries. Scores carried over into the final. Just five points separated first from third after the prelims, with others in the field not far from a position on the podium.
Ryan took the lead in the first round of the finals after scoring 89.25 on his reverse 1 ½ with 3 ½ twists and led for the duration of the contest.
"(That dive) was really important. I keep that dive first, so that I can start strong. It's a good dive for me, typically. Getting it down like that on the first dive, it definitely does set the tone for the rest of the competition,” Ryan said. "When it's tight like that, in a cumulative event, it just means you get to start over. It's not even cumulative, right? Everyone is starting from around the same spot. So it's like just any other final."
Ryan later added 87.75 points on a front 2 ½ with 3 twists later in the final as he won his second individual 3-meter national title.
Meanwhile, Sitz, Tyler, and Lyle Yost (Unattached) went back and forth for the final two spots on the podium. Sitz dropped to fourth after round two but moved back up to second on his fourth-round reverse 3 ½ tuck, which scored 82.25 points. Yost, who was third in the prelim, spent two rounds in second place. Tyler, who was fourth after the prelim, moved into the bronze medal position after round two, then dropped back to fourth before ultimately finishing third.
Cranford won her first individual 10-meter title with 659.15 points. Ella Roselli (Johansen Diving Academy) scored 623.80 for silver, and Sophie McAfee (Purdue Diving) finished with 572.00 points for bronze.
"I feel very confident. I didn't really have a placement idea going in. I just wanted to put together five pretty good dives, and I feel like I did that. I'm really happy about that,
Cranford said. “It definitely boosts my confidence knowing I was able to deliver under pressure.”
Cranford led by 17.25 points after the prelim and maintained the lead after a strong performance in the final, highlighted by 86.70 points on her reverse 3 ½ tuck in the last round to secure the national title.
"I save that for my last dive for a reason. I have a lot of confidence in it. I do kind of look at scores, so I knew what I needed to do," Cranford said. "I just let my training take the lead on that one, and it paid off."
Roselli scored 72.80 points or higher on two dives in the final – including 78.40 on her back 2 ½ with 1 ½ twists – to come away with the silver.
The USA Diving National Championships continue through Tuesday, August 11. Saturday's competition features preliminaries and finals for men's 1-meter and women's 3-meter. The finals will be streamed live on ESPN+ at 4:40 p.m. ET (men's 1-meter) and 6:30 p.m. ET (women's 3-meter).
