It Could All Come Down to This

The Indiana Hoosiers have nearly cornered the market in the diving events claiming nine of the first two diving events' 16 finalist positions.  The Indiana swimmers have kept the gap between the Minnesota swimmers close enough for the Hoosier divers to make a significant impact in the event's scoring.  Thus far the Hoosiers have been impressive enough off of the boards to supply enough scoring to pull the Cream and Crimson into second place, a single point behind Minnesota.  With fewer schools competing off the platforms, there was a greater chance for divers to break into the eight person finals or in the next group of eight, which does not compete again, but does earn points, based on preliminary scoring.  Coming into the prelims, Minnesota had two divers in the competition.  Any scoring John Schmidt or Shaun Kennedy could do, would be an extra bonus for the Gophers.

The Indiana divers did their part to score highly, advancing four into the finals and another four in the nine through 16 range.  However, Minnesota's pair of divers also provided some scoring, by both placing in the top eight and qualifying for Saturday evening's finals.  For the third straight event, Indiana's Marc Carlton took the top score.  Like in the three-meter event, the scores from the divers' five semifinal attempts are carried over to the finals.  Carlton will take 184.15 points with him into the finals.  Hoosier teammate Brian Mariano will carry over 172.05 points and Purdue's Steven LoBue will have 164.85 points.  Northwestern's Mike Oxman will retain 159.7 of his points, while Kennedy will take 154.8 points with him.  Indiana divers took the next two spots, as Ryan Fagan (162.2 points) and Jesse Rappaport (162.8 points) finished the prelims sixth and seventh respectively.  Schmidt rounded out the finalists and will keep 157.7 of his points. 

With only the 400-yard freestyle relay after the diving finals, the results off of the platform could play a vital part in how this meet turns out.  Tonight's diving finals begin tonight at 8:37 p.m. Central Time.  Check back to BigTen.org for live results and continuing coverage of the 2005 Big Ten Men's Swimming and Diving Championships.