McCrory repeats on platform dive

It’s been quite the year for Duke’s diving teams.

One week after Abby Johnston became the first Blue Devil female diver to take top honors in the NCAA Tournament’s three-meter springboard competition, Nick McCrory won the national championship Sunday in platform diving. The sophomore won a title in the same event last year.

Competing in Minneapolis, Minn., McCrory began his championship run Saturday with a score of 439.05, good for second place. Purdue’s David Boudia, a member of the 2008 U.S. Olympic team and a winner of two national titles in Minneapolis already, stood in first.

Back-to-back dives that collected McCrory over 100 points, though, would prevent Boudia from capturing a third win. McCrory followed up the high-difficulty dives with a 91.20 on his third dive to take the lead after Boudia scored just 46.80. McCrory ended with a 548.90 in the finals, besting Boudia by almost 80 points and giving the Blue Devil his second straight national title in the event.

McCrory’s dominant performance also gave him a new Duke record, with the sophomore besting his mark from last season by 18.45 points.

McCrory’s 2011 year ended with an undefeated regular season, two ACC titles and an ACC Diver of the Year award, in addition to the national title.