Boudia, Wilkinson lead after 10-meter preliminaries  

INDIANAPOLIS –David Boudia (Noblesville, Ind.) and Laura Wilkinson (Spring, Texas) lead the men’s and women’s 10-meter fields after Wednesday’s preliminary session at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Diving, but they weren’t the top divers of the night.

Because of bonus points awarded for performances at the 2008 World Cup and 2007 World Championships, Boudia and Wilkinson started the night with 65 and 25 bonus points respectively.

Were it not for those points, Thomas Finchum (Indianapolis) and Haley Ishimatsu (Seal Beach, Calif.) would be atop the standings.

Boudia, who won bronze at the World Cup, leads the men’s 10-meter field with 572.65 points. Finchum is in second at 523.95 – which means he’s already cut more than 15 points off Boudia’s 65-point advantage.

Finchum did so by earning three 10s, two on his reverse 3 ½ tuck and one on his back 3 ½ tuck.

Boudia’s best dive was his inward 3 ½ tuck, which earned four 9.5s.

Wilkinson finished the preliminaries with 362.00 points, 25 of which came for her effort at the World meet last year, but Ishimatsu tallied 360.70 to nearly eliminate Wilkinson’s early advantage.

Wilkinson scored 5s and 6s on her first two dives before getting back on track with 8s and 8.5s on her reverse 3 ½ in the third round. Ishimatsu’s list was highlighted by five 9s and two 9.5s on her forward 3 ½ pike in the in the second round

The Livingston siblings stand in third place in both events. Jessica Livingston (The Woodlands, Texas) scored 358.40 for third in the women’s event, with younger brother Drew Livingston (The Woodlands, Texas) is in the third on the men’s side with 466.55 points.

Rounding out the top six in the women’s contest are Brittany Viola ( Orlando, Fla.) in fourth at 328.45, Cassandra Cardinell ( Loudonville, N.Y.) in fifth at 315.00, and Michelle Cabassol ( Montgomery, Texas) in sixth at 303.95.

JJ Kinzbach ( Montgomery, Texas) is in fourth with 428.40 points on the men’s side, followed by David Colturi ( Purdue University) at 412.80 and Daniel Mazzaferro ( Cheshire, Conn.) at 409.90.

Preliminary scores will carry over, and only the winners will be nominated to the U.S. Olympic Team. The second individual will be decided at a team selection camp in Knoxville, Tenn., from July 2-6. The top six finishers at the Trials will be invited to the camp.

The Trials run through June 22. Thursday’s competition features women’s 3-meter preliminaries at 1 p.m., with women’s 3-meter and men’s 10-meter semifinals at 7 p.m.

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