Reaching Finals Is Best Medicine for Ailing Wood

With each bounce on the three-meter springboard, Ricky Wood grimaced in pain, his aching back limiting his ability to lift off.

In the Phillips 66 National Diving Championships on Wednesday at USC Swim Stadium, the skirmish among the nation’s best 36 divers took a back seat to Wood’s personal battle to withstand the pain long enough to complete all 11 dives.

Not only did Wood finish, he slipped into Saturday’s 12-man finals with 517.11 points, good for the 11th berth.

“That’s heavy traffic,” said Van Austin, Wood’s coach with the Rose Bowl Aquatics. “He got in there over some very good divers. Considering the injury, he did a pretty good job.”

Wood, 20, of Sherman Oaks, suffered the injury 12 days ago in the U.S. Olympic Festival at San Antonio.

Two days after placing fourth in the festival’s one-meter springboard event, he over-arched his back, dislocating his iliac crest on a back 3 1/2 somersault in the platform preliminaries. The pain took a toll. He struggled to 17th place on the three-meter board and withdrew after seven dives in the platform finals.

Rest and a dose of limited pain medication (because of U.S. Olympic Committee drug-testing guidelines) enabled Wood to start strongly Wednesday with a 1 1/2 somersault in the pike position, posting scores of 7, 6 1/2 and 6.

On his second dive, a back 1 1/2 somersault in the tuck position, a slight hesitation coming out of the somersault cost him two points.

In the fourth round, an over-rotation coming out of an inward 1 1/2 somersault left him with 6s and 6 1/2s.

Wood rallied in the sixth round with a forward 2 1/2 somersault with a twist, yielding 7s and 7 1/2s. He was not as quick on his back 2 1/2 somersault, limiting him to five 4s.

In the 10th round, Wood came up short on a reverse 2 1/2 somersault and was stuck with 5 1/2s and 5s.

His final dive, a forward 3 1/2 somersault in the pike position, drew mixed reviews--two 4s and two 6s and an average score of 5--but it was enough to put him in the company of Olympians Mark Lenzi and Kent Ferguson in the finals.