• 13-year-old ElliReese Niday from Georgia won a 10-meter event at the USA Diving National Championships this week, making her one of the youngest national champions in diving history
• “It’s really crazy. Maybe one day when I grow up, I’ll make the Olympic team possibly,” Niday said to USA Diving
• She's not the first successful diver in her family — her mother also won national titles in 2000 and 2001

13-year-old ElliReese Niday won the women’s 10-meter diving event during a competition this week in Alabama, becoming one of the youngest national champions in the history of the sport. 

Niday, from Moultrie, Georgia, finished with 721.40 points, besting Texas sophomore Bayleigh Cranford — who is six years older — by 10 points. She's the youngest to win a senior national diving championship in an individual event since 2016, when Hailey Hernandez — who went on to compete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics — nabbed the 3-meter title at age 13.

“It doesn’t feel real. I just tried to stay focused on my own dives and celebrate after,” Niday told USADiving on Thursday, May 15. 

Niday, who turns 14 next February, is already turning her attention to a larger stage.

“It’s really crazy. Maybe one day when I grow up, I’ll make the Olympic team possibly,” Niday said.

According to NBC Sports, the top two winners in each individual event at nationals would typically qualify for World Championships set for this summer, but Niday is too young because she won’t turn 14 by the end of this year. 

This is Niday's best finish at a senior championship event. The seven-time junior national champion finished in fifth place at the 2024 Winter National Championships, per USA Diving. She has also won three gold medals at the 2023 Junior Pan American Championships.

Read the original article on People

#ElliReese #Niday #Years #YoungestEver #U.S #Diving #Champions