April 11, 2008

Johnston and Yarrison place third in Moscow

MOSCOW – Abby Johnston (Upper Arlington, Ohio) and Mary Yarrison (Springfield, Va.) took third in women's synchronized 3-meter Friday at the FINA Grand Prix Spring Swallows meet.

The 2006 U.S. national champions scored 296.70 points in their international debut, finishing behind China's Dong Jun and Lin Na (310.20) and Germany's Katja Dieckow and Nora Subschinski (303.00).

In individual events, two-time Olympian Mark Ruiz (Orlando, Fla.) and first-time national team member Bianca Alvarez (Miami, Fla.) each placed eighth in 3-meter competition.

On Thursday, Ruiz was fourth in the preliminaries but missed a spot in Saturday’s finals by just half a point when he finished fourth with 398.55 points in semifinal A. Only three divers from each semifinal advance. Russia’s Alexander Dobroskok led the field of divers advancing with 453.25 points in semifinal B.

Alvarez was 10th in the preliminaries and scored 265.70 points in semifinal B (fifth) to finish eighth in the final standings on Friday.

Johnston also competed in the women's 3-meter event and finished 11th with 226.65 points.

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