U.S. Diving Indoor Championships : Louganis Upset 3rd Time; Scoggin Platform Winner

Matt Scoggin dealt Greg Louganis his third upset in three days, winning the 10-meter platform championship on the final dive as the U.S. Diving Indoor Championships ended Saturday.

Scoggin, of Great Falls, Va., piled up 615.72 points to 613.95 for Louganis, who lost the one- and three-meter springboard titles Thursday and Friday to teammates on the Mission Bay Makos of Boca Raton, Fla.

Scoggin made 5s on his fifth dive, but earned consistent 8s and 9s from the seven judges after that, outscoring Louganis 89.10 to 83.64 on their last dive.

Scoggin, who dives for Longhorn Divers of Austin, Tex., said he didn’t know why his fifth dive was so bad.

“Maybe, after that, I took out some aggression on the board,” he said.

Bruce Kimball of Ann Arbor, Mich., was third with 599.04, and Ron Meyer of Baton Rouge was fourth with 583.65.

Louganis, who has won 41 U.S. diving titles and had not been shut out of a meet since 1977, found consolation even in defeat. His second places qualify him for the Olympics and this weekend’s World Cup, and the loss will make him work, he said.

“Three in a row is unsettling. It is good for me at this point. Gives me something to work for and not be complacent. This way I cannot get complacent in practice.”

He had won all three titles every year since 1983. A shoulder injury kept him out of the 1982 championships, but he had won the two springboard titles for the four previous years.

This week, he finished second to Doug Shaffer in the one-meter finals and to Kent Ferguson in the three-meter event.

Michele Mitchell of Scottsdale, Ariz., the 1984 Olympic silver medalist on the platform, defended her women’s national title on the 10-meter platform with a score of 419.31. Wendy Wyland of Boca Raton was second with 394.41, Cokey Smith of Ann Arbor, Mich., third at 367.59 and 15-year-old Genna Weiss of Silver Spring, Md., fourth at 363.12.