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HILDEBRAND, RUIZ QUALIFY FOR U.S. OLYMPIC DIVING TEAM
Divers Earn Olympic Spots in Synchro Events with Cardinell and Prandi
June
10, 2004
ST. PETERS,
Mo. – It was deja vu for 2000 Olympians Sara Hildebrand (St.
Paul, Minn.) and Mark Ruiz (Orlando, Fla.) at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team
Trials – Diving as both divers qualified for their second U.S. Olympic
Team. But unlike the 2000 Trials, they had to depend on their synchronized
diving partner in order to make the team.
In the women’s synchronized platform event, Hildebrand (St. Paul,
Minn.) emerged out of the water after her last dive to see her coach erupt
in excitement and immediately turned to synchronized partner Cassandra
Cardinell (Loudonville, N.Y.) as she realized they won the women’s
synchronized platform.
“When I broke surface the crowd was quite loud and my first look
was to Jeff (Huber),” Hildebrand said. “It was a dead giveaway
because he would either be buried under his chair or out of his chair
and he was definitely out of his chair.”
The pair took the lead on their third dive of the 10-meter preliminary
round yesterday, and held it through all five dives today. Hildebrand
and Cardinell came into the finals leading over Laura Wilkinson (Spring,
Texas) and Kimiko Soldati (Magnolia,Texas) by almost 23 points. After
their final dive, a back 2 1⁄2 somersaults with 1 1⁄2 twists,
Hildebrand/Cardinell, both Indiana University graduates, scored 8’s
and 9’s and finished with a score of 634.29.
Wilkinson, the 2000 Olympic gold medallist in women’s platform,
and Soldati, the 2002 World Cup silver medallist, started off strong in
the finals with 8.5’s and 9’s on their forward 1 1⁄2
somersault. They climbed within eleven points of first place, but finished
with 600.42.
In the men’s synchronized platform event, Ruiz and Kyle Prandi (Strongsville,
Ohio), earned 23 scores of 9 or 9.5 to claim the top spot by 57 points
over runner-up Troy Dumais (Ventura, Calif.) and Justin Dumais (Ventura,
Calif.). Ruiz/Prandi finished with 703.98 points to 646.98 points
for the Dumais brothers.
Both teams held off a strong performance from 14-year-old Thomas Finchum
(Indianapolis, Ind.) and 15-year-old David Boudia (Noblesville, Ind.).
The pair started the finals in second place, only six points behind the
leaders Ruiz/Prandi. However, their inexperience may have hurt them
in the finals as they could not keep pace with the leaders, finishing
third with the score of 643.86 points.
Ruiz/Prandi and Hildebrand/Cardinell will be nominated to the U.S. Olympic
Team, subject to final approval by the U.S. Olympic Committee.
Women’s Synchro Platform Finals:
1. Cassandra Cardinell, Loudonville, N.Y/Sara Hildebrand, St. Paul, Minn.,
634.29; 2. Laura Wilkinson, Spring, Texas/Kimiko Soldati, Magnolia, Texas,
600.42; 3. Nicole Pohorenec, Winter Springs, Fla./Emily Bouck, Orlando,
Fla., 534.06; 4. Heather Chapman, Indianapolis, Ind./Jade Summerlin, Fishers,
Ind., 420.09; 5. Heather Bounds, Round Rock, Texas/Ashley Bourland, Conroe,
Texas, 417.69.
Men’s Synchro Platform Finals:
1. Mark Ruiz, Orlando, Fla,/Kyle Prandi, Strongsville, Ohio, 703.98; 2.
Justin Dumais, Ventura, Calif./Troy Dumais, Ventura, Calif., 646.98; 3.
David Boudia, Noblesville, Ind./Thomas Finchum, Indianapolis, Ind., 643.86;
4. Matt Bricker, Winter Park, Fla./Caesar Garcia, Baton Rouge, La., 620.94;
5. Daniel Croaston, Champlin, Minn./Jason Coben, Newtown Square, Pa.,
562.32; 6. Brian Mariano, Bloomington, Ind./Marc Carlton, Webster, N.Y.,
542.94; 7. Kent DeMond, Potomac, Md./Ray Vincent, Lake Forest, Calif.,
518.67; 8. Steven LoBue, Ewing, N.J./Kyle Mitrione, Hoddonfield, N.J.,
492.00; 9. Eric Warrick, Largo, Fla./Josh Karshen, Chicago, Ill., 239.10
TICKETS: Tickets are available to all sessions. Tickets can be purchased
by calling MetroTix at 314-534-1111, ordering online at www.metrotix.com,
or by visiting the Rec-Plex, 5200 Mexico Road, in St. Peters.
Tickets for the seven preliminary sessions cost $5, $10 and $15.
Tickets for the five finals sessions are $20, $25 and $30. All-session
tickets, which provide admission to all 12 sessions, are $95, $110, and
$130.
USA Diving is the national governing body for the sport of diving. Headquartered
in Indianapolis, USA Diving offers diversified programs geared toward
the broadest number of diving enthusiasts, from the novice to the world
champion. USA Diving conducts approximately 40 regional and national events
annually, sanctions hundreds of events managed by its 350 member clubs
and is responsible for training and selecting teams that represent the
United States at international events such as the Olympic Games, World
Championships and Pan American Games.
- USAD –
For additional information, please contact:
Jim Quinlivan, Director of Marketing, USA Diving - 317-709-5258 or jim.quinlivan@usadiving.org
Lisa Bedian, Director of Community Relations, City of St. Peters - 314-265-8555
or lbedian@stpetersmo.net
Doug Bray, Communications Manager, St. Louis Sports Commission - 314-852-3035
or dbray@stlouissports.org
Daily releases and results will be posted following each session on USA
Diving’s web site at www.usadiving.org and can also be found on
the United States Olympic Committee’s media-specific web site at
www.usocpressbox.org.
ATHLETE QUOTES:
CASSANDRA CARDINELL AND SARA HILDEBRAND:
ON FIRST DIVE JITTERS.
CC: “We just had to get them out and then we were ready to go.”
SH: “As much as you try to prepare for finals and the nerves that
go with finals, you know its finals and its hard to convince yourself
otherwise and its hard to do that first dive and then you get over it
and kind of get the relaxation and the tingling inside goes away a little
more.”
ON WHETHER THIS COMPETITION FELT DIFFERENT THAN WHEN SHE WON IN SEATTLE:
SH: “A little bit. I think I had a weird sensation before my last
dive in Seattle and I knew what would happen if I did a good dive and
my dive was just normal and consistent and I was energized afterward.
But, I didn’t know going into our last dive at all here in Syncro
what our standing was at all.”
ON WHEN SHE KNEW THEY HAD WON:
SH: “When I broke surface the crowd was quite loud and my first
look was to Jeff (Huber). It was a dead give away because he would either
be buried under his chair or out of his chair and he was definitely out
of his chair.”
TO CASSANDRA ON WHETHER IT WAS BENEFICIAL TO FORGO THE COLLEGIATE SEASON
AND CONCENTRATE ON PREPARATION FOR THIS COMPETITION:
CC: “Yes. I definitely think it was. I was able to focus on
this meet instead of having to worry about Big 10s and NCAAs. I could
focus more on drills and platform instead of having to worry about the
3 meter and 1 meter as much.”
ON WHETHER THEY FELT LIKE UNDERDOGS:
CC: Somewhat. We have not beat Laura (Wilkinson) and Kimiko (Soldati)
yet ourselves on 10 meter syncro, but I always knew we had potential.”
ON WHETHER SARA HAD TALKED TO CASSANDRA ABOUT THE OLYMPICS:
SH: “A little bit, but not really. I’m sure we’ll get
into it now. We didn’t want to get ahead of ourselves. We’ll
take it one step at a time.”
CC: “I’m sure we’ll have a lot of talking ahead of us.”
SH: “I had someone else ask me about it if I’ve given her
advice and I really tried not to. I feel like we are doing this together
and this is really new territory for both of us. Syncro is very different
than individuals and I don’t have the experience more than her with
synchronized diving. I don’t want to feel like the leader of this
team. It’s two together on an equal level. So now we have to work
together again and figure this out one more time.”
MARK RUIZ AND KYLE PRANDI:
HAVING THE LEAD GOING INTO THE LAST DIVE? TAKE PRESSURE OFF…
MR: I don’t know how many points we had, but I knew all we needed
to do was make a solid dive and get out of there. But you don’t
want to get too confident either.
REACTION TO FIRST OLYMPICS?
KP: Pure excitement and really absolute disbelief.
(When asked to elaborate) I’m really short of adjectives right
now. All of the work, all of the years you think about it so much. Not
a day goes by you don’t think about it. When you’re at the
pool this is what you’re training for. There were no incentives
for me to be at the pool. There was no money, no nothing. I was doing
it because I wanted to be there, and because I wanted to make the Olympic
team. All those feelings and emotions coming together, realizing this
dream is . . . indescribable.
LAST DIVE SAME ONE THEY PRACTICED THIS MORNING (AFTER PRELIMS)?
MR: Right after prelims went over and practice it. Trying to get used
to press a little bit. Harder to do on that particular dive. See it worked
in the finals. No added pressure. Knew if I had my legs under me and some
energy in my legs I’d make it easily.
REACTION TO SYNCRO NOW
KP: I didn’t embrace it at the start. Really started diving syncro
with Mark last year. Glad decided to, it’s turned out fruitful.
At first syncro was obscure, delving into the unknown and people were
really unsure how it was going to come out. Now it’s a pretty important
aspect in diving.
I did call Mark to get back together. The way these Trials are working
synchronized holds so much weight as to making the Olympic team, I think
it’s stupid to not go for it.
REACTION TO SELECTION PROCESS
KP: Don’t think it de-emphasizes (individual events). The thing
that’s hurting individual I think is the cap on the number of divers
allowed at Olympics, which is set by the IOC.
WHAT DID MARK WANT TO KNOW BEFORE AGREEING TO GOING
MP: We’re like Ice and Fire, y’know. I’m very
fiery. What convinced me to do the synchro with him. Obviously had the
ability to be great, but what really convinced me was the fact he said
he wanted to kick ass.
AGREE WITH THE FIRE AND ICE COMPARISON?
KP: Yeah, I think so. I’m pretty mellow . . .
THEN WERE YOU SURPRISED WHEN HE SAID HE WANTED TO KICK ASS?
MP: Yeah, I was surprised.
KP: (cuts in) I’m mellow on the outside . . . inside there’s
a lot of fervor and determination and boiling water on the inside.
WHEN DID YOU KNOW THIS WAS THE RIGHT DECISION?
KP: When we medaled at Pan Am Games last summer it was a big turning point
for us. It made us realize we could be at the top and we had what it takes.
It was an eye-opener and put a fire under our butts to do more.
MR: We always had the confidence, but that gave us an extra boost to know
we can medal internationally.
KP: We’re still not peaked. We have two more months and there are
a couple of things we can sharpen up. We have the degree of difficulty.
We have what it takes to bring home a medal. We have two months to get
a hair sharper.
SIGN OF THE CROSS?
MR: Something I’ve always done since I was a little kid. I remember
in ’94 Olympic Festival here I was doing it then . . . I was 15
. . . I was the Thomas Finchum size. Watching him dive reminds him of
me.
FINCHUM NOT GOING AWAY
MR: He’s a talented kid . . . he’s got many, many years to
go.
KP: And he’s not going to go away.
FEELING PRESSURE FROM THE KID?
KP: Just knew we could do it. We had higher Degree of Difficulty than
anybody else. All we had to do is be solid.
93.8 ON THE THIRD DIVE AS SOLID AS THEY CAN GET
MR: And we can do it better, that’s the scary part of it. I missed
mine, I was a hair short, but he did that.
TEAM’S CHANCES IN ATHENS:
MR: In Canada at Canada Cup, had everyone there and we got third . . .
we know we can beat the British, we can beat anybody. It’s a matter
of going to the Olympic Games and bring home a medal. That’s our
ultimate goal.
REACTION TO RETURNING TO OLYMPICS
MR: It’s been a very bumpy road these past four years. 2000 was
nice and smooth. Everything came so easy, and I remember a teammate of
mine told me the next four years were going to be so different. I didn’t
realize what he meant and I said ‘What? This is easy. I can just
go ahead and I’m ready for 2004. But I’ve said several injuries
and it’s just been a lot of adversity I’ve had to overcome
the past four years. It feels great to make team right now. I’m
so happy for Kyle really. I really wanted to do well and hope that we
did well because I wanted him to be on the Olympic team and share that
experience with him. So happy for Kyle and our coaching staff. I’m
happy for myself, but I’m more happy for everyone else.
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