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Lamp Punches Ticket to Olympic Trials With Fifth-Place Finish
KNOXVILLE,
Tenn. – University of Tennessee diver Tori Lamp accomplished what she
set out to do Sunday, grabbing fifth in the 10-meter platform finals at
the USA Diving Winter Nationals at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate
Aquatic Center.
By advancing to the evening finals and
finishing in the top 12, Lamp secured a spot in the Olympic Trials that
will take place in June in Seattle.
The redshirt sophomore
tallied a finals round score of 326.75 and concluded the event with an
overall mark of 991.10 to notch fifth. Entering the finals, Lamp was in
fifth after a combined score of 664.35 between the quarterfinals and
semifinals.
"I’m really proud of what Tori has done over
the last few days,” Tennessee head diving coach Dave Parrington said.
“Tori had to go through the qualifiers just to get to this spot and to
do as many platform dives, which are physically demanding, I really
couldn’t have been more pleased. The objective was to qualify for the
trials and mission accomplished. She is going to Seattle in June and
there is a lot of training and a lot of things to be done.”
Earlier
in the day during the morning semis, the Knoxville native racked up a
five-round total of 351.90 to go along with her quarterfinal score of
312.45 to earn a spot in the final 12.
“I could have done
a lot better, but making Olympic Trials was my main goal for this meet
and everything else is bonus,” Lamp said. “I’m really pleased with my
performance throughout the entire week.”
Though making the
Olympic Trials would be a goal for any diver, Lamp had some extra
motivation as her father competed in the OlympicTrials in track and
field.
“I’m really excited to make the Olympic Trials,”
Lamp said. “So to have that opportunity just like he did was really
important to me. Now I also have a chance to make the team but I have a
lot of work to do.”
Haley Ishimatsu won the event with a three-round score of 1068.00.
Lamp
and the rest of the Big Orange divers will return to action in the New
Year, as they travel to Athens, Ga., for the Georgia Diving
Invitational over Jan. 3-5.
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