U.S. Diving Outdoor Championships : Neyer Defeats Fugett to Win One-Meter Springboard Title

Megan Neyer edged defending champion Kim Fugett to win the gold medal in the women’s one-meter springboard competition Wednesday, the first title of the 1987 U.S. Diving Outdoor Championships.

Neyer, of Boca Raton, Fla., had a total of 438.84 points for her 10 dives, while Fugett, of Cincinnati, had 433.89. Mary Fischbach of Fort Dodge, Iowa, and the University of Michigan was third with 432.21.

Neyer said: “I feel I could have been a little bit sharper. I think I just plugged along. I didn’t do anything particularly stellar. I just was basically vertical on all my dives.”

Neyer is defending champion in the women’s three-meter springboard, which begins with preliminaries today. “It’s a really good lead-in for me to the three-meter,” she said.

Earlier at the Frontier Park pool, Greg Louganis held off Bruce Kimball’s closing flurry to post the top qualifying score in the men’s 10-meter platform event.

Louganis, of Boca Raton, scored 586.92 points in the 10-dive preliminary round to 576.21 for Kimball, of Ann Arbor, Mich. Ron Meyer of Baton Rouge, La., was third with 566.13 points. Matt Scoggin of Austin, Tex., defending champion in the 10-meter, was fourth with 560.58.

The preliminary round pared 34 competitors to 12 finalists The finals in both the men’s and women’s 10-meter competition are Saturday.

Louganis, 27, also was top qualifier Tuesday in the preliminary round of the men’s three-meter springboard event.