David Boudia, Thomas Finchum Win Synchronized Platform Gold at AT&T USA Diving Grand Prix

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida, May 8. DAVID Boudia (Noblesville, Ind./West Lafayette, Ind.) and Thomas Finchum (Indianapolis, Ind.) won the gold medal in synchronized platform to open up the 2009 AT&T USA Diving Grand Prix on Thursday at the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Complex. Kelci Bryant (Chatham, Ill./Indianapolis, Ind.) and Ariel Rittenhouse (Santa Cruz, Calif./Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.) gave the U.S. a second medal with a silver in synchronized 3-meter.

Boudia and Finchum scored 457.26 points to top Great Britain's Thomas Daley and Max Brick, who were second at 423.48. Canada's Reuben Ross and Riley McCormick were third with 381.90 points.

"I'm very happy with our performance. This is up there as one of our top scores, and it's a great start to a long week," Finchum said. "Hopefully we can carry this over to the selection camp."

Following the Grand Prix, USA Diving will hold a selection camp on May 10-11 to choose its synchronized teams for this summer's World Championships.

Bryant and Rittenhouse scored 309.00 points for the women's 3-meter synchro silver, finishing behind China's Guo Jingjing and Wu Minxia. The Olympic gold medalists finished with 335.10 points for the win. Italy's Tania Cagnotto and Francesca Dallape were third at 300.90.

The U.S. also advanced three divers to Saturday's individual men's 3-meter and women's platform finals.

Chris Colwill (Brandon, Fla.) and Troy Dumais (Ventura, Calif.) turned in the top scores in the men's 3-meter semifinalists to lead the field of divers advancing to Saturday's finals. Colwill's 475.40 led semifinal A, with Dumais scoring 473.10 points to top semifinal B. The top three finishers in each semi advance to the finals. Also advancing were Brazil's Cesar Castro, Canada's Reuben Ross and Eric Sehn, and Norway's Timo Klami. Jevon Tarantino (Boca Raton, Fla.) finished fourth in the prelims, but only two divers per country can advance to the semis and Dumais and Colwill finished ahead of him. Boudia was 10th.

Brittany Viola (Orlando, Fla./Coral Gables) heads into the women's platform finals after scoring 311.55 points to place third in semifinal A. Kristen Asman (Columbus, Ohio) just missed a spot in the finals after placing fourth with 299.40 in semifinal B, good for seventh place overall. Joining Viola in the finals will be Olympic gold medalist Chen Ruolin of China, as well as Canada's Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion, Sweden's Eline Eggers and Italy's Noemi Batki.

The AT&T USA Diving Grand Prix runs through May 9. Friday's competition features preliminaries and semifinals in women's 3-meter and men's 10-meter, and finals in women's 10-meter synchro and men's 3-meter synchro.

About USA Diving: Featuring America's best divers, 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 and is responsible for training and selecting teams that represent the United States at international events such as the Olympic Games, World Championships and World Cup. For additional information please call Jennifer Lowery at (317) 237-5252 or visit www.usadiving.org.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

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