BY CSTV.com,

As the University of Hawai'i Rainbow Warrior men's swimming and diving team heads to today's Conference USA Invitational in Houston, one of its own may have more than college competitions to think about. Senior diver Magnus Frick earned a qualifying spot Monday for the Olympic games while competing for his native country, Sweden, at the 2008 FINA World Diving Cup in Beijing.

Frick was surrounded by some of the most talented divers in the world, who were also competing for a spot on their own country's Olympic teams.

The divers placing in the top 18 automatically qualified for the Beijing Olympics, a goal of which Frick fell short when he placed 21st of 58. However, he did manage to pick up a 396.95 score in the 3-meter springboard event.

Frick had a second opportunity to qualify on Monday while competing in the 3-meter springboard "B Final" competition, where he finished seventh out of 37 divers with a final score of 409.6.

"This is a great day for Hawai'i diving. Having a Rainbow diver qualify for the Olympics is wonderful," UH diving coach Mike Brown said. "Magnus just performed his two best lists ever at the world level and showed that he deserves to be among the world's best divers at the Olympic games."

He now awaits a final decision from the Swedish Swimming Federation and the Swedish Olympic Committee on whether he will join the 2008 Olympic team.

Meanwhile, Frick and his fellow divers must concentrate on the Conference USA Invitational and the upcoming NCAA Championships. Frick placed third overall in the 3-meter springboard event in last year's championships.

"Magnus has worked very hard, has learned a lot from assistant coach Anita Rossing, and made a lot of improvements. He should be in great shape for the upcoming conference and NCAA Championships," Brown said.

Frick is a business major from Stockholm, Sweden. He earned NCAA first-team All-American status in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events last year after taking second place in the 1-meter event and third place in the 3-meter event. Frick's second place finish in the championships is the highest ever finish for a male UH swimmer or diver in the NCAAs. He was also named the team's most outstanding diver in 2007.

----------------------------------------------------------------------