March 24, 2006
ATLANTA, Ga. - Junior diver Steve LoBue highlighted Purdue's second night of finals at the NCAA Championships, placing sixth off the 3-meter springboard with 358.40 points.
LoBue was keeping up with the eight-man field until dive four when his attempt at a back 2.5 somersault was poorly received by the judges. The 7.0's and 6.0's he was receiving on dives one through three had turned to 3.0's and 4.0's.
LoBue returned to form on dives five (63.00) and six (68.25), but by then it was too late to catch the likes of Georgia's Chris Colwill or Arizona State's Joona Puhakka.
Colwill ran away with the 3-meter title with 460.95 points. Puhakka was a distant second with 413.05 points.
LoBue wraps his stay in Atlanta Saturday, competing off the platform tower.
In addition to LoBue's 13 points, Purdue's 200 medley relay added two points with its 15th-place time of 1:28.91.
The relay's season-best time was recorded by Joe Colley, Giordan Pogioli, Chris Etherington and Trey Smith. Colley led off with 22.83 split in the backstroke, then was followed by Pogioli, who clocked a 24.63 in the breaststroke portion.
Etherington and Smith finished the course with splits of 21.25 and 20.20 in the butterfly and freestyle strokes.
For placing among the top 16, all four were awarded with honorable mention All-America certificates. The citations are the first of Colley's, Etherington's and Smith's careers.
Saturday in the pool, Pogioli goes for the national title in the 200 breaststroke and Romain Maire looks to earn All-America status in the 200 backstroke.