May 11, 2007

FORT LAUDERDALE , Fla. – Russia ’s Anastassia Posdniakova and Yulia Pakhalina took top honors in the women’s 3-meter synchro finals at the AT&T USA Diving Grand Prix at the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Complex on Friday night.

In individual competition, USA’s Thomas Finchum (Indianapolis) and Nancilea Foster (Spring, Texas) were among the divers who advanced to this weekend’s finals.

Posdniakova and Pakhalina took the only gold awarded Friday by scoring 327.810 points to top the eight-team women's 3-meter synchro field. China’s He Zi and Li Ting were second at 312.30, and Australia’s Sharleen Stratton and Briony Cole were third at 299.040. USA’s Ariel Rittenhouse ( Santa Cruz, Calif.) and Kelci Bryant ( Chatham, Ill.) were fifth with 291.00 points, and Foster and Cassidy Krug ( Coraopolis, Pa.) were sixth at 284.730.

Individually, Foster will represent the U.S. in Sunday’s women’s 3-meter finals after taking second with 321.75 points in Friday's semifinal B. Bryant also advanced to the semifinals, where she scored 309.15 points to finish fourth in her semi and seventh overall. Christina Loukas (Riverwoods, Ill.) finished 11th in the prelims with 279.30 points but could not advance to the semis as only two divers per country can move on. Krug was 14 th at 266.90.

Other divers advancing to the women’s 3-meter final are China’s Guo Jingjing (363.70) and He Zi (351.90), Canada’s Emilie Heymans (315.80), Italy’s Tania Cagnotto (311.70) and Russia’s Pakhalina (308.05).

All four U.S. divers participating in the men’s 10-meter contest finished in the top 10 in the prelims. Finchum was third in the prelims and took second with 459.60 points in semfinal B to advance to Sunday’s finals. Matt Bricker (Winter Park, Fla.) took fifth in semi B with 416.45 points after also finishing fifth in the prelims. David Boudia (Noblesville, Ind.) scored 418.10 points to place seventh in the prelims, and Drew Livingston (The Woodlands, Texas) was ninth at 388.70.

Joining Finchum in the finals will be China’s Zhou Luxin (500.15) and Yang Liguang (450.70), Mexico’s Rommel Pacheco (472.10), Great Britain’s Peter Waterfield (466.90) and Brazil’s Cassius Duran (443.30).

The AT&T USA Diving Grand Prix runs through Sunday, May 13. Saturday’s competition features men’s 3-meter finals, women’s 10-meter finals and women’s10-meter synchro finals. The AT&T blue room will feature a live webcast of the event starting at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 12, and Sunday, May 13, at www.attblueroom.com/teamusa.

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