Arizona State sophomore Joona Puhakka and Stanford freshman Cassidy Krug won Pac-10 titles. Puhakka won the men's three-meter and Krug won the women's one-meter.

But seeing her name at the top of the list of state qualifiers in girls' 1-meter springboard diving made her a little jittery. "It does add more pressure because people expect a lot more out of you," Long said. "I just try not to think about it." The state swimming and diving championships will be held today and Saturday at the University of Ken-tucky's Lancaster Aquatics Center.

They're roommates. They're friends. They're teammates. They also just happen to be the best divers UNM has seen in more than a decade. Becca Barras and Tracey Berghian triumphed once again last week, adding a few more trophies to an already packed case.

But officials from swimming's governing body, FINA, in Athens last weekend for the Diving World Cup held at the Olympic Indoor Pool, insisted that a roof over their venue was essential.

The Glenbrook South pool was quiet and still Monday afternoon except for the occasional groan of a springboard bending, recoiling and then shuddering to a stop. During that final phase, a single splash could be heard. For the first time since the school year started, the swimmers (girls in the fall, boys in the winter) were gone. All that were left were a pair of divers.

But when she entered Nazareth the next year she gave up club diving and just competed for the Pandas. In 10th grade she joined the Blue Dolphin Diving Club, which practices out of the College of New Jersey. Her reason for getting serious again? "College," she said. "I realized it would help me for college." She was correct, as McCandless has already signed with the University of Pitts-burgh on a diving scholarship.

LaPORTE — A case of the nerves failed to slow down Munster junior Justin Smith on Tuesday. “I didn't expect to win,” he said. But he did just that, edging two other area divers in what likely was the closest diving regional ever among the top three. “This is the highlight of my career,” Smith said.

Yu Fen, one of the heroes behind China's long-time success in diving, suggests the current ailing national team might be headed the wrong way in trying to recapture past glory. While reluctant to read too much into the team's less-than-expected performance at the just-concluded World Cup in Athens where they won five gold medals, Yu, coach of quadruple Olympic gold medallist Fu Mingxia, thinks it's high time the squad found a common training goal. ... Coming off a four-month isolated training camp, the Chinese divers still didn't show decisive improvement.

ALBUQUERQUE - The paperwork bogeyman that had a busy weekend at the New Mexico state swimming and diving meet struck the Los Alamos Hilltopper diving contingent. Prior to Friday's preliminary competition, Los Alamos found out that its top female diver, Marilelle Remillard, had been disqualified because of a paperwork error. The error was a slight one, but no paperwork errors are tolerated at the state level. "The rules are kind of ambiguous," said Los Alamos diving coach Keith Greene of the error that kept Remillard out of the competition, where she almost certainly would've qualified for Saturday's final round. "An official sheet we turned in, one box was not completely filled in."

BLOOMSBURG PA— Joey Hardin knew he was having the worst diving day of his career. And of all places, he was having it at the District IV Class AA Diving Championships.
But the Shamokin Area senior turned it around in the final six dives and turned a negative into a positive in his final high school meet.

Living in fear on the edge of the diving board gives Ellen Miles the kind of adrenaline rush that not even a ruptured eardrum could take away...."I love the feeling of doing something that scares the crap out of you so much that you're shaking. It's a natural high you're never going to be able to achieve any other way. It's such a sense of accomplishment."

Chinese synchro pair put on the style

CHINESE diving superstars Jingjing Guo and Minxia Wu showed their class to beat City of Sheffield's Jane Smith and Tandi Gerrard in the women's 3m springboard synchro competition at the14th Diving World Cup in Athens.

The Lions' complete lack of a platform diving team cost them the Big Ten Championship, as they fell to Michigan 604.5-590.5...."You score 20 events and we win. You score 21 and we finish second; it's as simple as that," said a frustrated Dorenkott. ..When asked whether he has petitioned the university for a tower during his tenure as coach, Dorenkott said, "My job is to coach, not to get towers."

"Tiffany finally put it together like I knew she could," FSU diving coach Patrick Jeffrey said. "The place where it came together was between her ears. She's had the talent to win since she was 15, she just needed the confidence. She's made some changes that have made her more confident and it shows."

Russia's Julia Pakhalina took the women's 3-meter springboard at the Diving World Cup in Athens, Greece. Pakhalina, who trains at the University of Houston, scored 603.15 points, beating Jingjing Guo of China by 7.53 points.

She graduated from Northfield Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts, where she was on the dive team and served as editor-in-chief of the yearbook. "Carrie was a diver and an editor," she said, "but most important of all, she was a friend."

ATHENS (CP) - Olympic champion Laura Wilkinson of the U.S., won the gold medal on women's 10-metre tower while world champion Emilie Heymans of St-Lambert, Que., finished fifth at the FINA World Cup of diving.

Florida State in first place at the ACC women's swimming and diving championships in Charlottesville, Va. Tiffany Manning broke the meet record with 312.45 as the Seminole divers swept the top five spots in the 1-meter competition.

With his father having chartered a plane for the occasion, Prock will fly to the Group AAA diving competition in Fairfax this afternoon, then fly back to South Hampton Roads to apply what he hopes are the finishing touches to Cox's third straight district wrestling title. ..''This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a kid, so why not?'' Mark Prock, Jay's father, said of his grand plan to facilitate ''Jay's Excellent Adventure.''

Derek Hock is a wide receiver who knows how to dive and not just over the goal line....Hock, a senior on the Hopewell football team, won the WPIAL Class AA 1-meter diving championship Friday at Pine-Richland High School with a score of 410.25 for an 11-dive list.

As a wide-eyed 11-year-old, Kaitlyn White was a flagbearer at the 1999 diving World Cup in Wellington. ..Fast-forward to the World Cup in Athens this month and White will be 10m above the water on the platform tower ready to stake her claim for a place in the 34-strong Olympic field.

Olympic diver Lynda Dackiw is battling a spinal injury to qualify for the Australian team, which left for Athens yesterday for a World Cup event. The South Australian won silver with Loudy Tourky on tower at last year's Barcelona world championships, but a perforated disc may put her out of this year's Olympic team.

"What we can't make up for in quality, we make up for in quantity," Viewmont coach Norman Dean said. The Vikings had four divers in the top 15, led by Scott and Mark Nelson, who took fourth and fifth, respectively. .. The individual champion was Jordan sophomore Chris Carter with a score of 460.90 points. Two other sophomores followed, as Brighton's Travis Day was second at 426.50 and Brandon Watson of Riverton was third at 401.40. Watson, who was second last year, was the favorite going in.

Olivia Ellison, 7, could have picked Abraham Lincoln, or maybe Paul Revere for her report on a great American hero. But the Lomitas Elementary second-grader, with the help of her mom, brainstormed an idea that got her class buzzing. For her report, Ellison brought an old family friend to class Wednesday — a two-time Olympic gold medalist in diving, Dr. Sammy Lee. "They were like, 'Wow,' " Olivia said of her classmates. "She had somebody real come in."

While Conant will bring nine swimmers and divers, look for diver Bill Owens and swimmers Frank Hernandez and Don Storm to lead the way. Owens is coming off two consecutive conference and sectional championships and a fifth-place finish in the State Finals last year. "I am looking forward to seeing (Owens) perform," said Drenth. "We are looking forward to him doing well on Friday, so when we walk in on Saturday we already have a lead."

With three diving medals projected - Matthew Helm and Robert Newbery won gold in the 10-metre synchronised springboard in Barcelona - the pool is expected to emanate a golden glow in Athens.

Atlantic City junior Julie Brimberg and Mainland junior Bryan Carlisle are the favorites in this afternoon's Cape-Atlantic League Diving Championships. The meet begins at 4 p.m. at the Atlantic City High School pool. Twenty-seven girls and eight boys are slated to compete.

It will be a big surprise if Simms does not pick up her fourth Division III All-American award after this season. She has run a string of seven 1-meter victories so far, highlighted by a 281.90 score against New York University. She has six 3-meter firsts, scoring 293.00 against Southern Connecticut State.

OSU's Richeson won the 1-meter dive with a season-high score of 364.28 and the 3-meter dive with another season-high score of 391.28, pacing the closest Nittany Lion by more than 30 points in both events.

"If Brennan can hit her dives, she will be untouchable at the SEC Championships" stated Sherritt. Also, with last year All American King, and freshman Lyndsey Havens the Gamecocks should do well in the Championships.

AUSTRALIA has been refused access to the Olympic Games diving venue in Athens for 48 hours this week ahead of the FINA World Cup meet. more

Sarah Costanza, William Smith — The UCAA Diver of the Week broke a 14-year-old school record and qualified for the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships with a score of 272.35 on the one-meter diving board.