2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Wilkinson, Ishimatsu, Dumais earn 17 10s in semifinals

INDIANAPOLIS – One day after three divers combined for 14 10s in the men’s 10-meter semifinals, Laura Wilkinson (Spring, Texas) and Haley Ishimatsu (Seal Beach. Calif.)combined for 12 of their own in the women’s 10-meter semifinals. Andtwo-time Olympian Troy Dumais (Ventura, Calif./ Austin, Texas) added five more perfect scores in the men’s 3-meter semifinals at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Diving Friday evening at the Indiana University Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI.

Wilkinson had a slim two-point lead over Ishimatsu after Wednesday’s preliminaries but turned in a personal best 451.20 in the semifinals to jump out to an 813.20-757.55 edge over Ishimatsu heading into Sunday’s finals.

The 2000 Olympic gold medalist scored at least one 10 on each of her final three dives, highlighted by five perfect marks on her inward 3 ½ tuck in the fourth round.

Ishimatsu’s 396.85 total in the semifinals was also a personal best. She earned one 10 on her inward 3 ½ and added four more on her back 2 ½ with 1 ½ twists in the last round.

Dumais totaled 1038.30 points after the preliminaries and semifinals, putting him 77.30 points ahead of second-place Chris Colwill (Brandon, Fla./ Athens, Ga.), who has 961.00 points.

Dumais earned two 10s on his front 3 ½ pike and his front 2 ½ with 2 twists and received another 10 on his reverse 2 ½ with 1 ½ twists. He also was awarded 12 9.5 marks throughout the evening semis.

Jevon Tarantino ( Boca Raton, Fla.) moved up one spot to third with 863.65 points after finishing fourth in the preliminaries. Tarantino started off the semis with five 9.5s on his front 3 ½ pike.

2004 Olympian Justin Wilcock ( Smithfield, Utah/ Indianapolis) dropped one spot to fourth at 883.20, and 15-year-old Kristian Ipsen ( Clyaton, Calif.), the youngest diver in the field, sits in fifth at 838.70. Ipsen was 11 th after the preliminaries but scored 477.25 points in the semis to make the jump to fifth.

Rounding out the top five in the women’s contest are 2004 Olympian Cassandra Cardinell (Loudonville, N.Y.) at 698.70, Brittany Viola (Orlando, Fla.) at 679.65 and Jessica Livingston (The Woodlands, Texas) 672.10.

Only the winner of each event 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.

Preliminary and semifinal scores will carry over into the finals. Men’s and women’s 3-meter finals are Saturday starting at 3 p.m., and men’s and women’s 10-meter finals are Sunday at 2:30 p.m.. NBC will televise the men’s 3-meter finals live from 3:30-4:30 p.m., with three hours of coverage planned for 3-6 p.m. Sunday (live coverage of the platform events and a tape of Saturday’s women’s 3-meter).

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