March 21, 2006
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Junior Steven LoBue and senior Carrie McCambridge earned victories off the platform tower during the third and final day of competition at the NCAA Region C Diving Zones.
LoBue scored 718.90 points off the tower, giving him his second zone title in as many days. Saturday, LoBue won the 1-meter springboard crown with 693.20 points and on Friday he was third off the 3-meter springboard with 653.30 points.
"Overall, I think it was a good meet," said LoBue. "We have some good guys going with me to NCAAs, which is great for Purdue."
The Boilermakers are sending a six-man roster to its NCAA meet, which begins in about two weeks at Georgia Tech. Teaming up with LoBue are Giordan Pogioli, Chris Etherington, Romain Maire, plus the 200 and 400 medley relays, which include Joe Colley and Trey Smith. Purdue also will have the option of competing in the 200 and 800 freestyle relays.
McCambridge was equally as impressive during her three-day run at Zones. After placing behind Iowa's Nancilea Underwood off both springboards, the three-time All-American posted a score of 587.75 points off the platform, five points ahead of Indiana's Christian Loukas who was second with 582.00 points. Purdue's Amanda Miller cemented her NCAA qualifier status with a third-place showing of 578.90 points.
Three other Boilermakers advanced to the platform finals along with LoBue, but were unable to claim one of the five regional zone allocations. Senior Josh Karshen was seventh with 594.95 points, Zach Schultz was ninth with 576.10 points and J.R. Hillis was 14th with 503.85 points.
Indiana's Taylor Roberts and Ryan Fagan, Notre Dame's Mike Bulfin and Ohio State's Kellen Harkness claimed the four remaining spots behind LoBue.
McCambridge heads a list of 11 Region C female divers heading to this weekend's championship meet in Athens. She will be accompanied by Underwood, Loukas, Indiana's Lindsay Weigel and Heather Champman, Michigan's Elyse Lee, Miller, Christin Eberst of Miami University, Northwestern's Chelsea Davis, and Eastern Michigan's Rebecca Renkola and Sarah Chrzanowski.
"It's been a long weekend, but everyone dove really well," said McCambridge. "I'm excited that I dove well and I'm excited to go to the NCAAs."
Boilermaker swimmers Erica Chandler and Carlene Takaki will join Miller and McCambridge at the NCAAs, which begin this Thursday at the University of Georgia.