Verzyl, Greene Claim Titles on Day Two of 2026 National Championships
Women's 3-meter medalists at the 2026 USA Diving National Championships: Gold, Sophie Verzyl; Silver, Kristen Hayden; Bronze, Molly Gray
MORGANTOWN, W.V. -- Sophie Verzyl (RipFest) won women's 3-meter and Bennett Greene (Tennessee Aquatics Diving) won men's 1-meter Saturday at the 2026 USA Diving National Championships.
Verzyl clinched her third straight national title on 3-meter, this time scoring 614.40 points on her two lists of dives. She won her first title at the 2025 USA Diving National Championships and followed up with a win at the 2025 USA Diving Winter National Championships.
Greene won his second 1-meter title with 770.85 points after also claiming gold on the same event at the 2025 winter nationals.
Joining Verzyl on the 3-meter podium were Kristen Hayden (RipFest), who scored 591.20 points for silver, and Molly Gray (Stanford Diving), who took bronze at 554.40. Nathaniel Grannis (Purdue Diving) came away with the men’s 1-meter silver at 743.15, and Andrew Bell (RipFest) scored 690.70 for the bronze.
Verzyl took an 8.9-point into the 3-meter final, and less than nine points separated second through sixth after a close 3-meter preliminary. Scores carried over into the final.
"Scores were cumulative, so I tried to treat the prelims like a final, and really make every dive count. I had some mistakes here and there, as we all do, but just taking one dive at a time, forgetting any good or bad dives and just focusing on the next one is what kept me grounded throughout the competition," Verzyl said.
Verzyl maintained her lead in the final. She started off with 58.90 points on a front 3 ½ pike and put forth a higher score in each of the remaining rounds, finishing out the finals with 67.50 points on a back 2 ½ pike and 76.50 points on a front 2 ½ with two twists.
She noted the experience she’s gained since winning her first title a year ago has made a difference. Verzyl won an NCAA title and claimed three individual medals on the international stage earlier this year.
"One thing that's really helped me is all the experience I've had over the past year. I've been to a few countries and competed a lot through the NCAA season, so knowing that I have time and time again executed under pressure, I think it's helped me a lot to gain confidence," Verzyl said.
Hayden scored 63 points or higher on all five of her dives in the final to jump from sixth in the preliminary to a silver medal in her first competition since the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Gray was fifth in the prelim and moved into the bronze medal spot on her final dive, a front 2 ½ with one twist that scored 54 points.
Greene also found himself in a close 1-meter contest. Just nine-tenths of a point separated him and Grannis after the preliminaries, with Greene holding the slight edge.
Grannis took over the top spot in round one of the finals and held the lead after round two, but Greene responded with 75.20 points on a front 2 ½ with one twist in round three to reclaim the lead.
And it was right around then that Greene started paying attention to the scores.
"I like to start out with just me, myself, kind of just dive, and then once it gets closer to the end, I like looking at the scoreboard and seeing what I need to get. That helps me most of the time. I like that competition,” Greene said. “OK, where am I sitting? So then on the last three dives, it’s like you know what you need to do.”
He led for the duration of the contest. He added 64.50 points on a back 2 ½ tuck and finished his list with back-to-back scores of 76.50 on a reverse 2 ½ tuck and a reverse 1 ½ with 2 ½ twists.
"Like I told my coach earlier, I need to be comfortable with leading, because I like to chase other people. If I'm down, I like to have that competition to come back. So I need to get used to being a couple points ahead and maintaining and even pushing past that. So that was key, along with really trying my best to get my back 2 ½ today, which ended well. So that really helped,” Greene said.
The USA Diving National Championships continue through Tuesday, August 11. Sunday's competition features preliminaries and finals for women's 1-meter and men's 10-meter. The finals will be streamed live on ESPN+ at 4:45 p.m. ET (men's 1-meter) and 6:35 p.m. ET (women's 1-meter).
