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Texas Divers Dominate First Day Of Big 12 Championships

Feb 15, 2001

AUSTIN, Texas - Both the men's and women's Texas diving teams dominated the first day of competition at the Big 12 Championships as Troy Dumais (Ventura, Calif./Buena) and Kristen Marquis (San Juan Capistrano, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) captured the one-meter springboard titles on Wednesday night at the Jamail Swim Center. Dumais claimed 375.25 points for first place, while Texas A&M's divers Adam Morgan (310.60) and Jesse Even (305.70) followed in second and third place, respectively. Dumais, the defending Big 12 Champion on the men's three-meter board, scored his first win ever on the one-meter event at the conference meet.

"I definitely am happy with my performance tonight," said Dumais. "Two years ago at the conference meet, I hit my head during the three-meter competition and was not able to dive for the one-meter springboard title. Then last season, I competed only on the three-meter, so this is a great win for me and a great way to start out these championships for Texas."

For the women, Marquis was in third place after the morning preliminaries, but secured her first-place finish by nailing her last dive, a forward one-half tuck, and scoring only one point over Missouri's Kristy Wanner (280.50) in the finals. Also contributing for the Longhorns were freshman Ally Hartzell (Austin, Texas/Home-Schooled), who scored 275.35 points to finish fourth and sophomore Liz Olsen (Barrington Hills, Ill./Barrington), who placed seventh with 248.15 points.

"I knew for me to win, it was going to have to come down to my last dive," said Marquis. "But I was confident going in and focused on competing well. Everything clicked for me on my last dive and I am extremely happy to finish the first night with a win."

For the first time, the diving competition of the Big 12 Championships, features both the men's and women's events at the same meet. Diving competition will resume on Thursday, Feb. 15 at 1 p.m. with the women's three-meter event. Swimming events are slated to start on Thursday at 11 a.m. Admission to all prelim events are free, while final sessions cost $4 for adults and $2 for senior citizens and students.