SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING : Ohio State Wins Title Despite Judge’s Error

For a while, officials believed they might have a scoring blowup on their hands at the U.S. Open Synchronized Swimming Championships finals Saturday at Irvine’s Heritage Park Aquatics Complex.

Because of the scoring mess caused by a Brazilian judge at the 1992 Olympics, some are touchy about such problems. At Irvine, judge Barbara McNamee accidentally sent in technical and artistic merit scores of 8.2/8.3 for the Ohio State University trio instead of the 9.2/9.3 that she had written on her own notes. A committee denied a protest by Ohio State Coach Tammy Hunt, upholding the lower scores.

McNamee could be forgiven for being distracted. She has been away from her home in flooded Des Moines, Iowa, for three weeks.

“I shouldn’t have called home this morning,” she said. “Another levee broke.”

Despite the mistake, the Ohio State trio beat the San Diego Sweetwater Dolphins. Ohio State’s combined figure and routine total was 130.822. The Dolphins’ was 130.084. The Buffalo Swimkins placed third with 129.853.

Emily Porter won the solo event and helped propel the Arizona Aqua Stars into second place in team competition on the strength of her compulsory figures score, the highest among the 97 finalists.

Ohio State, presenting its circus theme routine, earned a total final score of 135.019, to the Aqua Stars’ 134.677.

The Cincinnati Synchrogators’ total for third in the team event was 132.819.

Porter’s winning combined score in the solo was 138.726. Becky Jasontek of the Cincinnati Synchrogators was second with 132.812 and Sadie Pietras of Ohio State third with 132.799.

Becky Jasontek, 18, and Pam Ochsner, 19, of the Synchrogators won the duet, repeating their routine after stopping it when the sound system failed.

The Cincinnati duet’s winning total was 131.379 to 130.061 for the San Diego Sweetwater Dolphins, whose position was boosted by Emily Marsh’s high figures score. The Walnut Creek Aquanut duet placed third with 128.835.