MONONGALIA COUNTY, W.Va. – The Aquatic Center at Mylan Park has been selected to host the USA Diving Junior Nationals in July 2024. USA Diving President Lee Michaud made the announcement as divers practiced at the facility for the 2023 USA Diving Spring National Championships.
The July 2024 event is expected to draw about 600 competitors, officials, families, and support staff to the area for ten days. This weekend, about 150 competitors, officials, families, and support staff are using the facility.
“It’s about 50 in each age group for the boys and the girls, and those are really our up-and-comers,” Michaud said. “Those are the ones you’re going to see perhaps in Los Angeles or in Australia in the Olympics and beyond.”
President and CEO of Visit Mountaineer Country Convention and Visitor’s Bureau Susan Riddle is excited to host a third major USA Diving event and is already working toward her goal of “one more day, one more dollar.”
“We’re going to be working with USA Diving and their followers, participants, families, and extended families to come in one day early and stay one extra day,” Riddle said. “In the summertime, there are a lot more things for people to do.”
Last year, the USA Diving Junior Nationals were held in Mission Viejo, Calif., a city of about 93,000 people in southern California. Michaud said when the group of 600 competitors arrives, they “take over the town” to a degree for the ten-day competition.
“We couldn’t think of a better place to come because they’re so great here. We get treated really well, the people are amazing, and there are all kinds of great amenities—the food and the stuff to do,” Michaud said. “Really, for a family event like the USA Diving Junior Nationals, this is a perfect place for it because there is so much for families here.”
The Aquatic Center at Mylan Park has hosted major USA Diving events the last two years, and now the third major event is locked in. Not only does that meet Riddle’s goal of making Morgantown an annual stop for USA Diving, but the facility is also attracting athletes to the West Virginia University swimming and diving programs.
“They’re getting recruits now because people are seeing this facility throughout the ultimate competitive swimming and diving community,” Riddle said. “So, this is a really big deal.”
National champions will be determined at the Aquatic Center at Mylan Park this weekend. The event will also serve as the USA diving trials for the 2023 World Aquatics Championships and the 2023 Pan American Games.
“We’re going to bid again on the Olympic Trials,” Riddle said. “Those are the kinds of things that help us establish that relationship and that reputation as a destination where nationally and internationally competitive divers want to come.”