Bounds and Starks Compete in the 2007 Speedo USA Diving Spring National Championships

April 26, 2007

Boyds, Md. – University of Miami senior divers Heather Bounds and Derek Starks competed in the 2007 Speedo USA Diving Spring National Championships, formerly the U.S. Open, held at the Germantown Indoor Swim Center last weekend.

The event consists of America’s best divers competing for the national title in the one and three-meter springboards, the 10-meter platform, as well as the synchronized three-meter springboard and 10-meter platform, while various international divers were also invited to compete. Divers were invited to participate in the semifinal rounds based on performances at previous competitions.

Selectors from the USA Diving Team met to select USA Teams for the AT&T USA Diving Grand Prix, and the international Grand Prix events in Italy and Spain, based on individual performances from the Speedo USA Diving Spring National Championships.

Bounds competed in the synchronized women’s platform and the senior women’s platform competitions. The Houston, Texas native teamed up with Indiana University’s Cassandra Cardinell and captured a fourth-place finish in the finals and preliminaries with a score of 246.90 and 244.56 respectively.

In the senior women’s platform, Bounds posted a sixth-place finish in the finals with a score of 296.40, and a score of 241.10 to capture eighth-place in the preliminaries. The All-American earned herself a spot on the roster to compete in the 10-meter platform at the AT&T USA Diving Grand Prix to be held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, May 10-13.

Senior Derek Starks competed in the men’s one-meter springboard finished twelfth in the finals with a score 311.35. Earlier in the preliminaries, the Mission Viejo, California native finished sixth-place with a score 320.15.

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