U.S. Olympic Festival Roundup : Mitchell Takes Diving Lead, but She’s Not Easy to Please

Michele Mitchell took an early lead in the 3-meter springboard diving Wednesday at the U.S. Olympic Festival, but she wasn’t happy with herself.

Mitchell, of Scottsdale, Ariz., had a poor ninth dive, but the Olympic silver medalist still compiled 512.49 points in near 100-degree heat at The Woodlands, Tex.

“I’m going to try to hit 10 of 10 dives tomorrow,” Mitchell said of the finals. “But I just don’t handle stupidity well, and that’s what I feel happened on my ninth dive. It infuriates me.

“I tried to make the (ninth) dive happen instead of waiting for it to happen.”

Wendy Lucero of Aurora, Colo., was second with 512.40 points, and Kelly McCormick of Long Beach was third with 488.61.

Wendy Wyland of Boca Raton, Fla., the 1984 Olympic platform bronze medalist, did an incorrect dive and received no points. It dropped her to seventh.

U.S. Olympic Committee officials announced that the festival has already set a record for tickets sold. The mark of 251,196 tickets sold was actually set Monday, but tabulation of figures is running about two days behind.

With gymnastics, track and field and the basketball championship round to come, organizers are confident of reaching their break-even mark of 350,000 tickets.

Maureen O’Toole of Long Beach continued her scoring splurge with eight goals as the North beat the South, 19-12, in water polo.

O’Toole, who led the women’s water polo tournament in scoring last year, set a festival mark with her eight goals. She had six in an earlier game, and her 20 goals equaled her seven-game total of 1985.