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Swimming: Southlake divers show well at Olympic Trials

By Justin Thomas, jthomas@starlocalnews.com

Published: Monday, July 9, 2012 9:02 AM CDT

With one year remaining in their high school diving careers, Southlake Carroll's Bryce Klein and Argyle Liberty Christian's Bradley Christensen went toe-to-toe with some of the best amateur divers in the nation -- many of which compete in the college ranks -- June 17-24 at the U.S. Olympic Diving Team Trials in Seattle.

Klein and Christensen combined forces to compete in the men's synchronized 3-meter springboard event, while also diving individually in senior men's 3-meter springboard.

To simply reach qualifying at their age would have proven impressive enough for the pair of youthful divers. However, both Klein and Christensen excelled in Seattle, advancing through the prelims and semifinals to reach the finals individually, and also advancing to the finals in the synchronized event.

"We were really excited about the chance to go the trials and compete for a spot on the Olympic team," Klein said. "It was a great experience for us to compete in a high-pressure atmosphere against so many high caliber athletes. We've been to state and national meets before, but this was just a whole other level with the television cameras and a sold out arena.

"We were obviously hoping we could qualify, but we also wanted to go out and prove that we belonged and we felt like we did that."

The top two individuals and top synchronized team qualified to compete in the 2012 Summer Olympics, which are July 27-August 12 in London.

In all, 29 individuals and 20 teams competed in the qualifying with Christensen (1,139.40) and Klein (1,119.35) placing ninth and 10th, respectively, in the individual finals and fourth in the synchronized event (1,091.40).

Former Olympians Christopher Colwill (1,475.45) and Troy Dumais (1,448.35), as well as current NCAA champion Kristian Ipsen (1,447.10) occupied the top three individual spots, while Dumais and Ipsen (1,296.21) also earned the synchronized position.

"In both of our individual and synchronized events, we wanted to find a nice balance of dives," Klein said. "We had a few dives that we were comfortable with that kind of lowered the pressure and eased us into the competition. But we also wanted to show that we can complete the tougher dives."

Klein noted that the pair primarily practices alone but works on their timing for the synchronized event.

"A lot of it is individual," he said. "But we also continuously push each other to learn new and tougher dives."

Klein and Christensen's busy summer doesn't stop with the trials as they still have junior and senior national events to train for.

"This was a fantastic opportunity to compete and was great practice," Klein said. "Going in our goal was to qualify. But the experience and the atmosphere we competed in will help us in the future and hopefully we can give it another shot in four years."

Meanwhile, Carrollton product and Purdue swimmer Lauren Roth is currently competing in the swimming trials in Omaha, Neb., which conclude Monday.

U.S. Olympic Team Trials -- Diving (June 17-24 in Seattle/Federal Way, Washington)

Men's synchronized 3-meter springboard prelims (June 18)

1. Christopher Colwill/Drew Livingston (Georgia Diving Club), 431.28

2. Troy Dumais/Kristian Ipsen (Longhorn Aquatics), 426.42

3. David Bonuchi/Michael Hixon (Mizzou Diving), 386.43

4. Bryce Klein/Bradley Christensen (GC Diving), 374.04

5. Justin Dumais/Dwight Dumais (YCF Diving), 373.86

6. Michael Mosca/Toby Stanley (Harvard Diving), 354.06

7. Aaron Fleshner/Chris Heaton (Alabama Diving), 348.81

8. Justin Youtsey/Clark Thomas (Redhawk Elite Diving), 325.71

9. Zachary Nees/Samuel Dorman (Unattached), 319.83

10. Wil Mayo/Benjamin Freedman (Unattached), 302.07

Men's synchronized 3-meter springboard finals (June 22)

1. Troy Dumais/Kristian Ipsen (Longhorn Aquatics), 1296.21

2. Christopher Colwill/Drew Livingston (Georgia Diving Club), 1263.51

3. Justin Dumais/Dwight Dumais (YCF Diving), 1151.46

4. Bryce Klein/Bradley Christensen (GC Diving), 1091.40

5. Aaron Fleshner/Chris Heaton (Alabama Diving), 1054.38

6. Michael Mosca/Toby Stanley (Harvard Diving), 1042.77

7. Zachary Nees/Samuel Dorman (Unattached), 1028.73

8. Justin Youtsey/Clark Thomas (Redhawk Elite Diving), 325.71

Senior men's 3-meter springboard prelims (June 20)

1. Kristian Ipsen, 511.90

2. Troy Dumais, 465.70

3. Christopher Colwill, 458.90

4. Justin Dumais, 419.35

5. Thomas Finchum, 412.50

9. Bradley Christensen, 369.00

16. Bryce Klein, 344.90

28. Finn Scribbick, 260.70

29. Michael Hixon, 60.45

Senior men's 3-meter springboard semifinals (June 20)

1. Kristian Ipsen, 993.80

2. Troy Dumais, 954.20

3. Christopher Colwill, 951.15

4. Thomas Finchum, 836.85

5. Justin Dumais, 822.60

6. Dwight Dumais, 793.30

7. Bradley Christensen, 788.40

8. Bryce Klein, 765.40

18. Michael Mosca, 636.05

Senior men's 3-meter springboard finals (June 24)

1. Christopher Colwill, 1457.45

2. Troy Dumais, 1448.35

3. Kristian Ipsen, 1447.10

4. Thomas Finchum, 1255.40

5. Justin Dumais, 1233.05

9. Bradley Christensen, 1139.40

10. Bryce Klein, 1119.35

12. Michael Wright, 1105.55

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