U.S. Junior Olympic Diving Championships : Frayne, Dominick Make a Splash : They Take Age-Group Platform Titles on Meet’s Final Day

John Frayne and Darcy Dominick can forget the past. They can forget about taking rather than making dives.

But they’ll probably want to remember Sunday. That was when Frayne won the boys’ age 16-18 platform and Dominick did likewise in the girls’ age group as the U.S. Junior Olympic Diving Championships concluded at Irvine’s Heritage Park.

Frayne, who had finished sixth in the 1-meter springboard and fourth in the 3-meter, was glad finally to get to his pet event, in which his 10 dives off the 10-meter platform earned 479.65 points. Miami’s Edward Morse finished second with 466.70. Dean Panaro, who easily won both springboard events, was sixth with 439 points.

“The higher I go, the better I do,” said Frayne, a Houston resident swimming unattached. “My entrance has always helped me in the past, getting clean into the water.”

That was certainly true of his seventh dive, a forward 3 1/2-somersault, which was awarded three 7.5s from the judges. The scores, multiplied by a high difficulty factor of 3.0, earned him 67.5 points. The effort was his best.

Dominick’s 340.45 points in eight dives edged Cincinnati’s Lori Rizzuto, who was second with 338.35 points.

“I had more confidence (in the platform) because I was not expecting to do that good on the 1-meter,” said Dominick, who placed fifth in that event. She finished fourth in the 3-meter.

Although both divers placed high in the two springboard events, they were surprised with their finishes. Dominick, who dives for the Mission Bay Makos, said she rarely practices the 1-meter event. Even in the platform, both divers have gone away frustrated.

“I tried not to think about winning the platform,” said Frayne, 18, who was competing in his last Junior Olympics. “I’ve been second about five times in nationals. I just wanted a good list of dives.”

Dominick’s memories of past platform performances are vivid.

“Last year, I really messed up,” she said. “We had to do optionals first and I just missed them. The first time, I did a 2 1/2 and hit my feet. The second time, I did a back 2 1/2 twister and overtwisted. Then, I did a back 2 1/2 and landed flat on my back. After that, I was dead.”

Now their pasts must seem better as both landed standing up and smiling yesterday on the victory podium.

Diving Notes:

Florida’s Mission Bay team captured the team championship with 243 points. Cincinnati’s Red Roof Inn was second with 177 points and Mission Viejo’s Nadadores finished third with 123 points. . . . Cincinnati’s Dean Panaro, who won the boys’ 1- and 3-meter championships, won the boys’ performance award for most perfect dive. His best dive was a 2 1/2-somersault with a tuck on the 3-meter board. Mission Bay’s Darcy Dominick won the girls’ performance award with a forward 2 1/2-somersault with a pike. Mission Bay’s Kelly Jenkins, who swept the girls’ 16-18 events last year and won the 1- and 3-meters Friday and Saturday, was scratched from Sunday’s platform event because she left Saturday night to attend the University of Texas at Austin.