July 4, 2008

WEST LAFYETTE, Ind. - Former Boilermaker Amanda Miller and partner Christina Loukas twice placed third of four teams in the synchronized 3-meter event Thursday at the USA Diving Olympic Team Selection Camp in Knoxville, Tenn.

Miller and Loukas scored 299.70 points on their first list and 302.10 points for list two.

"It's going to be tough at this point for them to make the Olympic team in this event, but we have two more lists to go through on Saturday and they have a chance to dominate," said Purdue head diving coach Adam Soldati.

Kelci Bryant and Ariel Rittenhouse, who train under former Boilermaker diving coach Wenbo Chen at the National Training Center in Indianapolis, won both their lists with scores of 327.00 and 331.20 points.

"These two girls are the favorites to make the team since they've been solid so far this week and won the bronze medal at the World Cup," Soldati said.

Selection to the Olympic team, however, is not solely based on the outcome of events. Following the camp, a group of USA Diving representatives meet to discuss a variety of factors, including average scores, competitive scores, past performances and the highest list a team or individual has accomplished.

The U.S. Olympic Diving Team's final roster should be known by the end of the weekend.

Incoming Boilermaker freshman David Boudia, already on the Olympic team for winning platform at last week's Trials, won all three synchronized platform lists with partner Thomas Finchum.

The Boudia/Finchum combo scored 431.76 on list one, 451.92 on list two amd 446.46 on list three. Their margin of victory over each of the runner-ups was 50 points or better on each list.

Men's Swimming News From Olympic Trials
Boilermaker Aquatics' Scott Usher won't be going back to the Olympic Games in 2008.

The former Olympian and Wyoming All-American beat American record holder Brendan Hansen and was .10 seconds off his lifetime best in the 200-meter breaststroke Thursday night at Olympic Trials but it wasn't enough as Scott Spann and Eric Shanteau claimed the top-two spots and the honor of representing their country at the Summer Olympics.

Usher placed third in 2:11.00, losing out to Shanteau - a first-time Olympian - for the coveted second and final spot on the U.S. National Team by .64 seconds.

Spann, a 20-year-old native of Austin, Texas, finished the course in 2:09.97 and his victory is being considered by many as the biggest upset of the meet.

Hansen had gone undefeated at the National level in this event since he set the world record at the last Olympic Trials in 2004. His American record of 2:08.50, set in 2006, is more than a second faster than Spann's performance Thursday, which marks Spann as the second-fastest American of all time.

Hansen will still be making the trip to Beijing, however, after qualifying in the men's 100 breast earlier in the week.

Former Boilermaker All-American Giordan Pogioli placed eighth in finals at 2:15.07. Pogioli qualified for the championship after posting a lifetime best of 2:11.63 during Wednesday night's semifinals.

Elsewhere at Trials, Purdue senior Andrew Langenfeld competes in the 100 fly prelims Friday afternoon. He is the last Boilermaker slated to race this week.