BY Indianapolis Star
David Boudia and Thomas Finchum are bidding to make the U.S. team in as many as three of the four men's diving events for the Beijing Olympics.
The local 18-year-olds have been specialists on 10-meter platform and synchro 10-meter. Now they are becoming a contending team on 3-meter springboard.
In last week's international meet at Montreal, they were third in synchro 3-meter. World silver medalists Alexandre Despatie and Arturo Miranda, Canada, scored 422.76 points for first. Americans Chris Colwill and Jevon Tarantino were second, 407.19, followed by Boudia/Finchum, 399.75.
The Olympic program permits just one synchro team per nation.
Colwill and Tarantino won last year's U.S. spring national title and medaled in three Grand Prix meets before Colwill broke his foot in June.
Boudia and Finchum were also third on synchro 10-meter.
Boudia scored 500.05 on individual 10-meter to finish second to Pan American Games champion Jose Guerra, Mexico, 517.75. Boudia scored 102.60, the highest one-dive score of the event, on his back 31/2 pike somersault. Finchum was eighth.
Elsewhere, Kelci Bryant, Carmel, and Ariel Rittenhouse, Indianapolis, won women's synchro 3-meter. On individual 3-meter, Christina Loukas, who is redshirting at Indiana University, was second and Bryant fifth.
American divers are preparing for a January camp at Columbus, Ohio. Those selected to the U.S. team will compete Feb. 19-24 in the World Cup at Beijing in a test event for the 2008 Olympics.
Sports of all sorts
Cross country: ZAP Fitness, led by Franklin native Ryan Warrenburg, repeated as men's team champion in the national club championships Saturday at West Chester, Ohio. Warrenburg, 23, an Arizona State graduate, finished first on the 10,000-meter course in 31 minutes, 47 seconds. "This is my first championship of any kind at any level, so it's a special day," he said in a news release. Forest Braden, Bloomington, was fourth and Chris Swisher, Fishers, sixth. ZAP Fitness beat runner-up Team Indiana Elite 45-77.
Gymnastics: Pittsboro's Bridget Sloan, 15, won bronze medals on uneven bars and floor exercise in the Toyota Cup at Toyota City, Japan. Chellsie Memmel, West Allis, Wis., won the gold medal on floor exercise, scoring 15.55 to Sloan's 15.05. Sloan's bars score was 15.30. She was fourth on balance beam at 15.45.
Soccer: UCLA sophomore Lauren Cheney (Ben Davis) scored the Bruins' goal in a 2-1 loss to eventual champion USC in the women's NCAA semifinals at College Station, Texas. Cheney, a national Player of the Year candidate, scored 23 goals in 23 games. . . . Evansville freshman Robby Lynch (Carmel) was selected to the men's All-Missouri Valley Conference second team. He and Evansville's Mike Luttrull (Avon) made the all-freshman team. Xavier freshman Elhadji Dieng (Pike) was selected to the Atlantic 10 Conference all-rookie team.
Swimming: Olympic hopeful Jayme Cramer, Westfield, produced strong results in the recent short course national championships at Atlanta. He was second in the 200-yard butterfly, third in the 100 fly and fourth in the 200 and 400 freestyles. Hamilton Southeastern High School's Lindsay Rogers was 10th in the women's 100 breaststroke. Ryan Lochte and Natalie Coughlin each set two American records. In the 200 individual medley, Lochte beat Michael Phelps, who was racing for the first time since breaking a bone in his wrist.
Track and field: The National Track and Field Hall of Fame has five new inductees. They are sprinter Calvin Smith, heptathlete Jane Frederick, decathlete Glenn Morris, shot putter George Woods and former UCLA coach "Ducky" Drake.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
|