May 12, 2007

FORT LAUDERDALE , Fla. – Troy Dumais claimed the gold medal in the men’s 3-meter contest and teammate Chris Colwill added a bronze on the same event at the AT&T USA Diving Grand Prix on Saturday.

Dumais (Austin, Texas) took the gold with 464.10 points, and Colwill (Brandon, Fla.) scored 459.20 points for bronze. He was just .75 points behind silver medalist Luo Yutong of China.

Just 4.60 points separated the top three heading into the final round, with Luo standing in first, Colwill in second and Dumais in third. All three divers performed dives with a 3.5 degree of difficulty in the last round. Dumais and Luo performed the same dive – a reverse dive with 2 1/2 somersaults and 1 ½ twists in a pike position - and Colwill did his reverse 3 1/2 tuck. Colwill and Luo each scored 80.50 points on their dives, but Dumais was the only one of the trio to receive 9’s (he earned two) from the judges in the final round to earn 89.25 points and finish atop the standings.

Dumais’ gold medal was his first international victory in an individual event since 2003, when he won the 3-meter title at the Canada Cup.

For Colwill, it was his third bronze medal in a span of a week. Earlier this week, he teamed up with Jevon Tarantino (Boca Raton, Fla.) to win the men’s 3-meter synchro bronze at the AT&T USA Diving Grand Prix. He also won a bronze on 3-meter on May 6 at the Canada Cup.

Saturday’s women’s 10-meter contest was dominated by the Chinese. Wang Xin won the women’s 10-meter competition with 408.65 points, and Chen Roulin was second at 402.95. The next closest competitor was Canada’s Emilie Heymans, who won bronze with 344.35 points. USA’s Cassandra Cardinell (Loudonville, N.Y.) scored 295.65 points to finish sixth.

Chen and Wang also won the gold in the women’s 10-meter synchronized diving contest with 338.10 points. Australia’s Briony Cole and Melissa Wu won a close battle for second with 316.20 points, narrowly edging out Canada’s Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion, who scored 315.75 points for bronze. USA’s Laura Wilkinson (Spring, Texas) and Jessica Livingston (The Woodlands, Texas) were fifth at 285.48, and Haley Ishimatsu (Seal Beach, Calif.) and Mary Beth Dunnichay (Elwood, Ind.) were seventh with 279.42 points.

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

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