Sophie Verzyl, Anna Kwong win gold at American Cup

Dominion Post

11 hours ago

Down seven points, Divers Sophie Verzyl and Anna Kwong knew they had to make up some ground on the Australians on this last dive to take the gold medal.
As she always does, Verzyl looked at Kwong and asked if she was ready. She nodded, Verzyl counted down, and they started their routine three meters above the ground.
They flipped and perfectly landed in the water with minimal splash. Verzyl and Kwong scored a 72.42, the highest score of the five rounds. With their last dive, Kwong and Verzyl beat the Australians 277.56-274.71 to take gold in the women's 3-meter synchronized dive at the American Cup held at Peak Health Aquatic Center in Morgantown on Saturday morning.
'We were pretty happy,' Kwong said. 'We had a couple slips… I'm really, really happy with that last dive in particular, putting it together in a competition.'
The winning dive was the first time the two had ever performed it in competition, so it was a bit of a risk, especially relying on it to give them the win.
The duo wasn't stressed from what they learned from their coaches and were going out to have fun no matter the outcome.
'Not stressing about the dive because my coach tells me technique is power,' Kwong said. 'You don't have to force power to give you good technique.'
The dive was new, but everything was new for the two of them. The two had only been diving together for a month. In May, at the World Cup in Beijing, China, Kwong's synchronized partner backed out because of over exhaustion. Kwong knew Verzyl was going for individual diving, so she asked Verzyl to be her partner.
After the World Cup, the two went to the National Championship, where they tied for first. The American Cup was their third competition diving together.
From there, the two have developed a connection, sending each other Instagram reels and Facetiming each other regularly, even going to two different schools.
'This is my bestie,' Verzyl said. 'We are good friends.'
Kwong actually looked up to Verzyl quite a bit before the two became partners. Verzyl's a decorated individual diver. She won 1st in the 2025 National Championships and first at the SEC Championships for South Carolina.
Verzyl also said she looked up to Kwong, who was a World-level trampolinist before diving. Since starting diving, Kwong's won three national-level competitions, and first in the Big 12 Championships for TCU.
The relationship propelled the two to collect first place at the American Cup despite their lowest score in a single round, where they slipped off the platform.
In diving, having a strong relationship is important because the more in sync, the better the score. Even after just diving for a month, Kwong and Verzyl's bond is strong, which helped them get the win.
'I like having someone to do it with,' Kwong said. 'You're not all on your own. It's nice to be up on the boards with your friend. Being able to bounce positivity off of each other. There have been partnerships where people don't like each other, and that makes diving together really hard. We enjoy each other's company.'
The synchronized duo weren't the only winners from Saturday's finals. USA secured first and second in the men's 10-meter synchronized diving. The duo of Joshua Hedberg and Carson Tyler rolled the rest of the competition and scored 430.29 after six dives. In second, Dash Glasberg and Max Weinrich edged out Australia with a score of 322.56.
Later Saturday night was the men's 3-meter finals. USA went one-two again. Max Weinrich won first with former Olympian, Tyler, finishing second.