March 13, 2004
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Carrie McCambridge finished as the runner-up off the three-meter springboard and Clayton Davis earned third place honors off the one-meter, highlighting Purdue's second day of competition at the NCAA Central Regional Diving Zones.
Davis produced a third-place score of 588.80, missing a coveted NCAA Championship spot by just one place. For Davis or his teammates, Josh Karshen and J.R. Hillis, to advance to the national meet, one of them will have to win Sunday's platform competition.
Another way they possibly could advance is if they secure a high finish, and the only competitors who finish ahead of them are ones who have already clinched one of the six guaranteed spots reserved for the Central Region.
According to Purdue diving coach Wenbo Chen, five of the six guaranteed spots for Zone 'C' have already been claimed. Two of the spots belong to Michigan's Jason Coben and Ohio State's Mitch Richeson, who claimed the top scores off the one-meter. Hillis and Karshen finished 11th and 12th, with Hillis scoring a 520.00 and Karshen a 518.55.
McCambridge gave a strong performance off the three-meter springboard, scoring a mark of 497.65. The native of Lewis Center, Ohio, who will be Purdue's first diving representative at a NCAA Championship since Kara Hajek-Gustafson in 2002, finished just three points behind winner Julie Broms of Ohio State.
Freshman Amanda Miller placed 13th with a score of 429.85, but is still in contention for a spot at the national championships if she can post a top-three showing off the platform. The NCAA takes 11 eleven female divers from this zone to compete on the national level.
Sunday's platform competitions at the Councilman - Billingsley Aquatic Center begin at 11 a.m. For more information regarding the diving zones, a link has been established on the front page of Indiana's athletics web site at www.iuhoosiers.com.