Indiana University Athletics
Indiana University
Olympic Diving Trials
Hoosiers Complete Day One at Olympic Diving Trials
6/18/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
June 18, 2008
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The 2008 U.S. Olympic Diving Trials got underway Wednesday night with three of Indiana's four entrants taking part at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis.
IU graduate and 2004 Olympian Cassandra Cardinell is in fifth place after the preliminaries after tallying a score of 315.00 over five dives, 47 points behind leader Laura Wilkinson. Haley Ishimatsu is in second with 360.70 points, followed by Jessica Livingston (358.40) and Brittany Viola (328.45).
Lindsay Weigle, who completed her eligibility at Indiana in 2007, placed eighth in the preliminary round with a score of 261.10. Rising IU junior Amy Korthauer finished 12th in the prelims with a score of 210.50. The semifinals of the platform competition will take place on Friday, with the winner crowned on Sunday, June 22.
Cardinell is looking to make her second Olympic team after finished seventh in the synchronized platform competition with fellow Hoosier Sara Reiling-Hildebrand at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
Tomorrow it will be senior Christina Loukas ' turn in the diving well as she competes in the prelims of the three-meter springboard. Loukas redshirted the 2007-08 collegiate season to focus on earning an Olympic spot. Over the past year she performed well at several national and international meets, including winning the one-meter title at the 2007 Kaiser Permanente National Championships and a silver in the three-meter and bronze in the three-meter synchronized at the 2007 World University Games. Loukas also took fourth on the three-meter springboard at the Good Luck Beijing/FINA Diving World Cup in Beijing, China in February.
The winner of the Trials will be nominated to the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team. The top six finishers will move on to an Olympic team selection camp, set for July 2-6 in Knoxville, Tenn., where the second individual spot will be decided. The winner must also participate in the camp to demonstrate competitive readiness.
Indiana women's diving has been represented in each of the last two Olympic games, with Hildebrand competing in 2000 and 2004, and Cardinell and Kimiko (Hirai) Soldati earning spots at the 2004 games.
Players Mentioned
