MORGANTOWN — You don’t get a lot of celebratory woo-woos in your average Morgantown City Council meeting.
But Visit Mountaineer Country CVB Executive Director Susan Riddle had to break one out earlier this week.
Riddle was on hand to give council a preview of the CVB’s forthcoming annual report, but the majority of her visit revolved around this week’s announcement that the Aquatic Center at Mylan Park will host the 2023 USA Diving National Championships.
The event will serve as a qualifier for the 2023 World Aquatics Championships and the 2023 Pan American Games. It’s expected to bring about 150 of the country’s top divers to Morgantown May 17-24.
It comes on the heels of a successful 2022 USA Diving Winter National Championships, held in Mylan Park in December, and a near miss at hosting the upcoming Olympic trials. Morgantown was edged out by Knoxville, Tenn., for that event.
“We couldn’t have put our best foot forward any better than we did going through the Winter Nationals. It’s pretty cool when you have somebody that’s the president of a national organization like USA Diving that compliments on the things in our community, and they were not things that we prepped, planned or planted — none of that. It was all organic,” Riddle said.
Morgantown Mayor Jenny Selin said she walked away from the winter competition encouraged about the professionalism of the event, the CVB’s effort to showcase both the city and surrounding community and the glowing manner in which the participants spoke about the facility and the overall experience.
Riddle followed up on the mayor’s comment.
“There was a post today after the announcement that was made and it was by somebody who had attended the [Winter Nationals] … When they made the announcement that we’re getting Spring Nationals, someone commented, ‘This is awesome. This was my favorite place to go for a diving competition,’ ” Riddle said. “And we were like woo-woo! You can’t buy that. That’s exactly what we’re going for.”
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