DIVING U.S. INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS : Pat Evans, Wendy Williams Win on Platform

Pat Evans won the men’s U.S. Indoor platform diving championship Sunday, outlasting defending champion Matt Scoggin.

Wendy Lian Williams won the women’s title with a consistent performance that topped defending champion Wendy Wyland.

Evans, of Cincinnati, won his first national platform title with 600.18 points. Scoggin, a three-time national champion, had 596.55.

Evans took the lead on the fifth of 10 dives and held a narrow 14.19-point lead going into the last dive.

Each diver finished with a back 1 1/2 somersault with 3 1/2 twists, one of the most difficult dives from the 10-meter platform. Evans scored 72.96 points--just enough to hold off Scoggin, who earned 83.52.

Scoggin, of Austin, Tex., said he had consistently scored 83s on the dive and knew he needed a good effort to win. He said the judges saw a slight flaw in his dive and his coach confirmed it.

“Pat definitely won the contest,” the three-time national platform champion said. “I missed way to many things throughout the contest to win it.”

Evans said he knew Scoggin was close and “after he hit the water I thought he took first.”

In the women’s competition, Williams, the 1989 World Diving Cup and NCAA platform champion, scored 435.39 points. Wyland had 410.97.

Williams, of Mission Viejo, took the lead from Wyland on the fourth of eight dives, and widened her lead the rest of the way. She finished with her best dive of the afternoon, an inward 2 1/2 somersault.

Williams said she set out to make the final dive her best inward 2 1/2 of the year.

“It hasn’t been that strong for me this year,” she said. “I did a really good list and I was really happy with that.”

Evans, 24, and Scoggin, 26, will represent the United States in the men’s platform competition at the Goodwill Games this summer in Seattle.

Williams, the 22-year-old platform bronze medalist at the 1988 Olympics and a four-time national champion, and Wyland, the 25-year-old 1984 Olympic platform bronze medalist and seven-time national champion, will comprise the U.S. women’s team for the platform at Seattle.

The 12 platform finalists among both men and women will be invited to the U.S. Olympic Festival this summer in Minneapolis.