March 12, 2006

LEXINGTON, Ky. – South Carolina diver David Ovelson recorded a third-place finish on the 1-meter board at the Zone B Diving Championships in Lexington, Ky. to guarantee a spot at the NCAA Championships, March 23-25 in Atlanta, Ga. The freshman posted a score of 627.00 to complete an SEC trifecta for the meet.

Ovelson followed Georgia’s Chris Colwill and Auburn’s Steven Segerlin to make it an SEC sweep of the event. Ovelson went into the finals in fourth place with a score of 306.65 and was able to jump up one spot for the third-place finish.

“David finishing third is huge, especially being able to do it as a freshman,” said diving coach Todd Sherritt. “He finished third out of 40 divers and beat out the top finisher in the ACC conference. The way this event is set up, you can’t train for this and it is very impressive for David to do this.”

USC’s other top finisher was Allison Brennan who finished fourth on the 3-meter. Brennan already automatically qualified for the NCAA’s on Friday after winning the 1-meter. The senior diver went into the 3-meter finals in the lead with a score of 317.70, but fell three spots and finished with a score of 638.80.

Ian Balman finished 15th on the 1-meter with a score of 543.20, after finishing 14th in the prelims with a score of 276.35.

“Ian did a great job all weekend,” said Sherritt. “Her really dove great his senior year. I am really proud of him.”

Also on the 3-meter board, Lyndsey Havens finished 24th with a score of 244.15 and Tracey Richardson finished 27th with a score of 240.60.