Riley McCormick lands perfect 10 en route to tower crown at diving Winter Nationals

January 31st, 2010

Riley McCormick

ETOBICOKE - Riley McCormick of Victoria earned a perfect 10 en route to successfully defending his men’s 10-metre tower title at the Winter Nationals diving competition which concluded on Sunday at the Etobicoke Olympium.

McCormick, 18, earned 472.55 points with Eric Sehn of Edmonton second at 445.05 and Kevin Geyson of Winnipeg third at 413.55. McCormick received one 10, two 9.5`s and four 9.0`s for his reverse three and half which he executed in the fifth of six rounds. He had botched the dive in the morning semis.

‘’It’s always been one of my best dives,’’ said McCormick. ‘’I was pretty frustrated to have missed it in the semis and I came back very focused. I knew Kevin had just hit it for 8.0’s I knew I needed a good one to get back in first place. Overall it was consistent performance.’’

On women’s three-metre, world championship silver medallist Émilie Heymans of Pointe-Claire, Que., was the victor tabulating 340.20 points. Mandy Moran of Calgary was second at 328.50 and Jennifer Abel of Montreal third at 309.70.

‘’It’s fun to have a strong start to the year,’’ said Heymans, a three-time Olympic medallist. ‘’There’s still a lot of room for improvement but I’m very satisfied with my weekend. I improved through the prelims, semis and final.’’

In women’s 10-metre synchro, Pamela Ware and Carol-Ann Ware of Montreal were the only entries but earned enough points to qualify for the FINA Grand Prix events later this year as well.

Marc Sabourin-Germain and Pamela Ware, both of Montreal, won the trial event for the Youth Olympic Games regional qualifier placing first on men’s tower and women’s three-metre respectively. They will head to Mexico to try and qualify for the inaugural Youth Olympics this August in Singapore.

Also Diving Canada announced the recipients of the Sport Performance Recognition Program, a new program launched by Diving Canada and Speedo Canada, a longtime major sponsor of Canadian diving. It recognizes Canada’s top international medal-winning athletes and their coaches and is based on Diving Canada’s international performance points system.

The athlete recipients are Jennifer Abel, Meaghan Benfeito, Alexandre Despatie and Roseline Filion, all from Montreal’s Club CAMO; Émilie Heymans, from the Pointe-Claire Diving Club and Reuben Ross of Regina.

The coaching recipients are Cesar Henderson, Aaron Dziver, Yihua Li and Arturo Miranda.

For more information visit: www.diving.ca

Sunday’s leading results at the Winter Nationals diving competition in Etobicoke, Ont.

MEN

10-metre final: 1. Riley McCormick, Victoria, 472.55; 2. Eric Sehn, Edmonton, 445.05; 3. Kevin Geyson, Winnipeg, 413.55; 4. Marc Sabourin-Germain, Montreal, 410.75; 5. Shane Miszkiel, Victoria, 342.05; 6. Keith Tidey, Surrey, B.C., 328.30; 7. Nicholas Beaupré, Montreal, 326.55; 8. Julien Cousineau, Edmonton, 325.25.

WOMEN

Three-metre final: 1. Émilie Heymans, Pointe-Claire, Que., 340.20; 2. Mandy Moran, Calgary, 328.50; 3. Jennifer Abel, Montreal, 309. 70; 4. Morgan Weller, Victoria, 289.75; 5. Taryn Zack, Stony Plain, Alta., 288.45; 6. Rachel Kemp, Victoria, 270.15; 7. Pamela Ware, Montreal, 264.45; 8. Jo-Annie Dubois, Quebec City, 262.20.

10-metre synchro final: 1. Carol-Ann Ware, Montreal and Pamela Ware, Montreal, 290.97.

Trials for Youth Olympic Games, August 14-26 in Singapore

MEN

10-metre: 1. Marc Sabourin-Germain, Montreal, 450.60; 2. Nicholas Beaupré, Montreal, 422.60; 3. Matthew Fyfe, Montreal, 416.60.

WOMEN

Three-metre: 1. Pamela Ware, Montreal, 439.95; 2. Rachel Kemp, Victoria, 416.35; 3. Carey Chen, Vancouver, 315.20.

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