May 8, 2008

Colwill and Tarantino take second on 3-meter synchro at AT&T USA Diving Grand Prix

FORT LAUDERDALE , Fla. – Chris Colwil (Brandon, Fla.) and Jevon Tarantino (Boca Raton, Fla.) claimed a silver medal in men’s synchronized 3-meter Thursday evening at the AT&T USA Diving Grand Prix.

Colwill and Tarantino scored 416.37 points, highlighted by 87.15 points on their reverse 3 ½, a dive that gave Colwill trouble in the individual semifinals earlier in the day but proved big for the duo in the evening synchronized finals.

China ’s Luo Yutong and Xinhua Zhang were first at 441.39, and Ukraine’s Anton Zakharov and Dmytro Lysenko were third at 409.62.

“This gives us confidence. At the World Cup, we were sixth, but only about 10 points out of second. We know we can be there – gold, silver or bronze. We know we can do it and fight for those spots,” Tarantino said.

David Boudia (Noblesville, Ind.) and Thomas Finchum (Indianapolis, Ind.) were seventh at 381.75.

Troy Dumais (Ventura, Calif.) led the divers advancing to Saturday’s men’s 3-meter finals after turning in a top score of 479.40 points in the semifinals. Xinhua and Luo also advanced, as did Italy’s Nicola Marconi, Japan’s Ken Terauchi and Ukraine’s Illya Kvasha. Colwillfinished 12 th in the semifinals with 395.90 points after finishing second in the preliminaries. Tarantinoscored 437.05 points for seventh in the preliminaries but did not advance to the semifinals because only two divers per country can advance. Kristian Ipsen (Clayton, Calif.) was 15th at 383.70.

Laura Wilkinson (Spring, Texas) heads into Saturday’s women’s 10-meter finals after placing second with 317.70 points in semifinal B, which was won by China’s Hao Wang with 384.00 points. Also advancing are Great Britain’s Tonia Couch, Mexico’s Tatiana Ortiz, Canada’s Roseline Filion and Japan’s Mai Nakagawa.

Haley Ishimatsu (Seal Beach, Calif.), who was fourth in the prelims, ended up ninth overall with 295.90 points in the semifinals. Brittany Viola (Orlando, Fla.) finished 16 th with 278.35 points, and Michelle Cabassol (Montgomery, Texas) was 17th at 277.90.

The AT&T USA Diving Grand Prix runs through Sunday, May 11. Friday’s competition features women’s 3-meter and men’s 10-meter preliminaries and semifinals and women’s synchronized 3-meter finals.

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