Top divers to compete in Los Angeles at national championships
David Boudia, a 22-year-old from Purdue University, was the Big Ten’s athlete of the year in 2011. Consider that for a moment.
Boudia’s not a football player or basketball player or baseball player or track athlete. He’s a diver.
Last month in Shanghai, Boudia won a silver medal in the 10-meter platform event, the first time a U.S. male had earned a medal in 25 years at the FINA World Championships.
Although China won all 10 gold medals in Shanghai, Boudia’s silver and his teammate Nick McCrory’s sixth-place finish in the same event offer some hope for the U.S. team that will compete in the 2012 London Olympics.
Most of the top U.S. divers, Boudia included, will be in Los Angeles this week for the AT&T 2011 National Diving Championships at Spieker Aquatics Center at UCLA beginning Tuesday and concluding with finals Saturday and Sunday.
Among those expected to compete with Boudia are three-time Olympian Troy Dumais of Ventura and 2008 Olympians and 2011 world championship team members Christina Loukas, Thomas Finchum and Haley Ishimatsu of Seal Beach as well as Brittany Viola, daughter of former major league baseball player Frank Viola.
There will be more than 150 divers competing for 10 titles in one-meter springboard, three-meter springboard, 10-meter platform, synchronized three-meter and synchronized 10-meter. NBC and Universal Sports will broadcast the finals live Saturday and Sunday.
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