March 26, 2010
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Purdue sophomore David Boudia won the 1-meter springboard diving event Friday evening to complete day one of the NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships inside Ohio State's McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.
"(Head diving coach) Adam (Soldati) thought we had a chance to put two up in the 1-meter," head coach Dan Ross said. "This is a great start to our goal of getting all six athletes at this meet to score. David Boudia is a special athlete. His winning another title is not an accident."
Boudia scored 468.65 points from the 1-meter to break the meet, facility and program records. His score broke the NCAA Championships meet record of 442.70 set last season by Drew Livingston from Texas, who finished third Friday, and the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion record of 442.00 set by teammate David Colturi, who finished sixth Friday, while winning the event at last month's Big Ten Championships. Boudia's score also bettered his program record of 446.65 he set last season.
"Tonight went well," Boudia said. "It was definitely an awesome win for Purdue, especially because it was on 1-meter, which is not my strongest event. I pulled myself together and kept my same routine. This is a good start to the meet."
Boudia, who won the 3-meter and platform events at last year's national championship meet, is the first diver to win a complete set of national titles. Since the platform event was added in 1990, nine other divers have won two events but none have added a third.
Colturi finished sixth in the 1-meter to earn his first All-American certificate after two consecutive honorable-mention nods. The Sylvania, Ohio, native, who now has five career All-America citations, scored 380.25 points in his first NCAA `A' final off the lowest springboard.
"It's an honor to represent Purdue in such a competitive contest," Colturi said. "I'm happy for my teammates, the program and all of Boilermaker Nation. This is a sure sign of a start to an amazing week."
Based on the 33 points earned by Boudia and Colturi for their finishes, Purdue is tied for 11th in the team standings. Texas holds the lead with 145 points, and California is second with 139. Florida's 188-point total is third, while defending champion Auburn's 114.5 points rank fourth. Stanford rounds out the top five with 106 points.
The NCAA Championships continue Saturday. The first session begins at noon ET and features Sam Wilcher in the 100 butterfly and five Purdue divers in the 3-meter. Live results can be found at purduesports.com.