Winter Nationals Recap -- Women's Synchro Platform

The day started with some interesting news -- two teams scratched the event, leaving the remaining eight to qualify for the Olympic Trials as long as they completed a dive.  This news was, no doubt, a release of a certain kind of stress and pressure on the competitors who had yet to qualify for the Trials.

Lydia and Cierra used the morning list as a "warmup" and got their bearings -- they earned a "nationals" PB of 186 despite not really being "on" for any particular dive, then came alive in the evening with an all-time PB of 221.  It was great to see them improve 35 points on their second list :)

They opened the finals with a 301B -- Lydia was solid for 7s, Cierra started well and went a bit long for 5s -- that was pretty well-synched for 6.5s.  They followed up with the best 5231D I've ever seen either of them do -- Cierra for 8.5-9s and Lydia for 7-7.5s, and 7s for synchro.   Their voluntaries were quite successful.

Their first optional, 405B, was a very solid effort that showed what they are capable of, with both earning 6-6.5s individually and 7-7.5s for synchro.  Their next op, 107B, was well synched, but Lydia went way short for 2-3s while Cierra was a little archy over for 4.5-5s (I expected 5.5-6s) -- this was one of those dives that seemed hard to judge for the synchro because the dives ended so differently, as they earned from 3-6.  They ended with a 205B, which Lydia fully NAILED for 7.5-8s, while Cierra started well, but came out early and dropped in short for 3-4s, with Cierra's dive affecting the synchro judges' perspective, resulting in 4.5s for a dive that was well-synched until the entry.

The pair is now officially qualified for the Olympic Trials, but the Olympic Trials are not officially set for this event -- the US needs to earn one of the four remaining Women's Platform synchro spots at the upcoming World Cup Championships in February.  The experience has clearly energized both Lydia and Cierra, who are excited to get their dives down pat, and to learn new dives, so they are really ready to compete this summer!