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UT’s Lamp Earns Sixth in Platform Quarterfinals, Earns Spot in Semis
The Knoxville native will compete tomorrow morning at the USA Winter Nationals By Todd Mounce
KNOXVILLE,
Tenn. - University of Tennessee redshirt sophomore Tori Lamp notched a
spot in the platform semifinals after placing sixth in Saturday’s
quarterfinals at the USA Diving Winter Nationals at the Allan Jones
Intercollegiate Aquatic Center.
Following a second-place
finish in the platform prelims Thursday, which warranted a spot in the
quarterfinals, the Knoxville native concluded Saturday with a
five-round score of 312.45.
“I was very happy for Tori,”
Tennessee diving coach Dave Parrington said. “That was step two and now
we move to step three. She’s in the semifinals tomorrow and from there
we need her to get her in the top 12 andwe’ll be very happy.”
The
top 18 divers qualified for the semifinals, which begin tomorrow at 10
a.m. Through two rounds it looked as if Lamp would make the cut easily,
but having scored just 46.40 in round three, Lamp and Parrington knew
the importance of the fourth dive.
The 5-8 diver responded
in a big way, scoring 72.50 on the ensuing dive to get back into the
top 10. She closed the event out by scoring 70.40 in the fifth round.
“There
was a point in the contest where she was hanging in but couldn’t afford
a miss and she did her best dive of the day,” Parrington explained.
“That was a dive she missed before and I felt like it was a dive she
really needed to hit, and she hit it big.”
“It wasn’t as
consistent as I would have hoped,” Lamp said. “I missed my inward
(third dive) pretty badly, but everything else was pretty solid.”
A
newcomer two years ago, Lamp finished runner-up in the platform finals
in 2009 at the Speedo USA Diving Spring Nationals.
“I’m
really excited (to advance)," Lamp said. "I’ve been working really hard
for this and really want to make the top 12 to make the Olympic Trials.”
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