U.S. OLYMPIC TRIALS : Perfect 10 by Lenzi Earns Spot in Diving

Mark Lenzi scored a perfect 10 and Kent Ferguson overcame two previous failures in the U.S. Olympic diving trials to earn berths on the three-meter springboard team at Indianapolis Friday night.

Lenzi and Ferguson will join women’s springboard competitors Julie Ovenhouse and Karen LaFace at the Barcelona Olympics.

Lenzi scored one of three perfect marks during the finals. He and Scott Donie both hit reverse 2 1/2 somersaults, with a 3.0 degree of difficulty, for 10s. The other 10 went to Pat Evans, who hit a reverse dive with a 1.9 degree of difficulty.

Lenzi, of Fredericksburg, Va., needed 71 points on his final dive of the 11-dive program to beat Ferguson.

“I was going for 10s,” Lenzi said. “As soon as I hit the water, I knew it was enough.”

Lenzi finished with 1,396.38 points. Ferguson was second with 1,376.46 and 1988 Olympian Mark Bradshaw of Columbus, Ohio, came in third with 1,338.09.

Ferguson, 29, began the finals in third place behind the 30-year-old Bradshaw. That’s where he finished in both the 1984 and ’88 trials. Only the top two finishers qualify for the Olympics.

“I knew I had a whole lot of work ahead of me to get to second place,” he said.

Ferguson made his move during the more difficult six optional dives that closed the program. Bradshaw stumbled on his seventh and eighth dives, with marks ranging from 6.0 to 7.5.

Ferguson took a 34-point lead over him with marks from 7.5 to 9.0 on two consecutive dives, then took aim on Lenzi.

“I knew I had to be consistent,” Lenzi said. “I’ve been practicing that way, so I was real confident.”

Ellen Owen of Bellevue, Wash., placed first in the preliminaries of the 10-meter platform event with 416.61 points. Mary Ellen Clark was second with 411.54 for her first eight dives in the two-day competition. Jill McCambridge of Columbus, Ohio, the oldest competitor at the trials at 33, was third at 388.26.

The top two finishers based on preliminary scores and points accumulated during today’s finals earn a trip to Barcelona.

Owen and McCambridge both returned to the sport in 1990 after lengthy retirements. Owen retired in 1985 and McCambridge spent eight years away from diving after marrying and having three children.

Tim Peddie of Boulder, Colo., and Jeanne Golay of Glenwood Springs, Colo., earned automatic Olympic team berths on the rainy and overcast final qualifying day at the U.S. Cycling Olympic Trials and National Championships in Altoona, Pa.

Peddie, 22, who has been racing in Spain since February, emerged from a lead group of eight to win the 123-mile men’s Olympic Trials race in 5 hours 12 minutes 53 seconds.

Greg McNeil of San Luis Obispo finished second and Andy Lawson of Cotati, Calif., was third.

Inga Thompson of Reno made a strong bid for her third Olympic team with a three-minute victory in the earlier 65-mile women’s race, but Golay outsprinted Sally Zack of Boulder, Colo., to finish second by one foot to earn her Olympic berth.