13-year-old ElliReese Niday wins 10-meter title at USA Diving national championships
AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — ElliReese Niday became one of the youngest champions ever when she won the women's 10-meter title Thursday at the USA Diving national championships.
The 13-year-old from Moultrie, Georgia, scored 721.40 points to beat Texas sophomore Bayleigh Cranford by 10 points.
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'It doesn't feel real," Niday said. "I just tried to stay focused on my own dives and celebrate after.'
She's the youngest American diver to win a senior national title in an individual event since 2016, when former Olympian Hailey Hernandez won a 3-meter title at the same age.
'It's really crazy," Niday said. "Maybe one day when I grow up, I'll make the Olympic team possibly.'
She led after the semifinals, when she had three dives score over 80 points. Her inward 2 1/2 pike earned perfect 10s from three judges at the meet in Auburn, Alabama. Semifinal scores carried over to the final.
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On Thursday, Niday scored over 80 points on two of her five dives.
Niday finished fifth at last year's winter nationals. She's a seven-time junior national champion and won three gold medals at the 2023 Junior Pan American Championships.
Niday's mother, Lauryn McCalley Niday, was a standout diver at Tennessee and won national titles in 2000 and 2001 on 3-meter springboard.
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AP Olympics at https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
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