UM Divers To Compete In 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials
June 17, 2008
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – University of Miami divers Brittany Viola and J.J. Kinzbach and former UM diver Heather Bounds are among 47 men and women set to compete in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Diving Trials in Indianapolis, Ind. this week for the chance to earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team for this summer’s games in Beijing, China.
Viola, a sophomore from Orlando, Fla., and Bounds, a native of Austin, Texas, will be two of 12 women competing in the 10-meter platform while Kinzbach, a freshman from Montgomery, Texas, will also be diving in the 10-meter platform against 10 others on the men’s side.
The preliminary round for both the men’s and women’s platform is scheduled for Wednesday, June 18 at 7 p.m. at the IU Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI. The semifinal round of the men’s event is slated for Thursday with the women’s scheduled the following night. The finals for both the men’s and women’s platform will be televised live on Sunday on NBC from 3-4 p.m. and 5-6 p.m. EST.
Viola enters the trials after a sophomore season full of awards and accolades. After winning the NCAA platform title, Viola was named 2008 NCAA Tri-Diver of the Year along with Ohio State’s Chelsea Davis and Hawaii’s Emma Friesen. She earned All-American status on two occasions (platform, one-meter springboard) in 2008 and was also named the ACC Women’s Diver of the Year and most recently to the All-ACC Women’s Academic Team.
In his first collegiate season, Kinzbach earned All-American status in the platform with an eighth place finish in the men’s platform at the NCAA Championships in addition to winning the platform title at the ACC Championships in Atlanta, Ga. earlier this spring.
Bounds will be competing for the second time at the U.S. Olympic Trials after earning the opportunity to qualify in 2004 along with former UM men’s diver Derek Starks. In the 2004 trials at the St. Peters Rec-Plex in St. Peters, Mo., Bounds placed 16th in the platform semifinals and fifth in the synchronized platform alongside Ashley Bourland just months after she earned All-American honorable mention status in the individual platform at the 2007 NCAA Championships.
For more information on the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, click here.
2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Diving
IU Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI, Indianapolis, Ind.
June 18-22, 2008
Schedule of Events
Wednesday, June 18
7 p.m. – Men’s & Women’s Platform (Preliminaries)
Thursday, June 19
1 p.m. – Women’s 3-meter Springboard (Preliminaries)
7 p.m. – Women’s 3-meter Springboard (Semifinals) & Men’s Platform (Semifinals)
Friday, June 20
1 p.m. – Men’s 3-meter Springboard (Preliminaries)
7 p.m. – Men’s 3-meter Springboard (Semifinals) & Women’s Platform (Semifinals)
Saturday, June 21
3 p.m. – Men’s & Women’s 3-meter Springboard (Finals)
NBC – live 3:30-4:30 p.m.
Sunday, June 22
2:30 p.m. – Men’s & Women’s Platform (Finals)
NBC – live 3-4 p.m. & 5-6 p.m.
