USA Wins Three Medals at World Junior High Diving Championships

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.  -- The U.S. won three medals – one of each color – at the World Aquatics Junior High Diving Championships on Sunday. All junior high divers dove from 15 meters. 

USA got gold from Grace Yeomans in the 15-16 girls age group, and Tanner Lange picked up silver in the 15-16 boys age group. 
 
James Boardman, the veteran of the U.S. junior high divers, won bronze in the 17-19 boys age group.  

"This was my second Junior Worlds, and it was kind of a roller coaster of emotions for me because it was my last junior high diving meet, but I'm glad that I got to compete with the best of the best in my age group,” Boardman said. “And I'm super glad that I got to share this last junior worlds with my teammates on Team USA.” 
 
Boardman scored 267.35 points on his four dives to take home the bronze. China took gold and silver, with Tao Baijing finishing first at 352.95 and teammate Wang Zile scoring 348.20 for second.  
 
The competition was held in conjunction with the World Aquatics High Diving World Cup, which concluded Saturday, and the junior high divers enjoyed the opportunity to be alongside the older high divers.  

“It was a pretty surreal experience. It was my first time being at worlds. It was super cool getting to meet all of the older senior divers, and it was a really cool experience getting to dive with all the juniors. I loved it,” Lange said.  

Lange scored 261.10 points on his four dives, finishing 11.10 points behind gold medalist Dmytro Vyshyvanov of Ukraine. 

Yeomans scored 151.35 points on her four dives.  

"I’m super excited to be here. It's such a great opportunity, and I'm so glad I got to meet all these divers and have this experience. I'm super excited for the future,” Yeomans said.  

The U.S. did not have an entry in the 17-19 girls’ age group. Canada took the top three spots in that event.