van Katwijk Leads UH Divers on 3-Meter Board at NCAA Championship

COLUMBUS, OHIO (March 22, 2008) University of Houston senior captain Ginni van Katwijk scored 313.90 points to finish 12th on the 3-meter springboard to lead the Cougars during the second day of the 2008 NCAA Championships on Friday at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion on the campus of Ohio State.

The Grootebroek, Netherlands, native qualified for the finals after scoring 311.00 points to ranks 10th. van Katwijk saved her best performance for last, scoring 54.60 points on her final dive to qualify for the finals.

Later in the day, she recorded 313.65 points in the consolation finals for her final standing. With that performance, van Katwijk earned All-America honors at the NCAA Championship for the second straight season. In 2007, she finished second in the consolation finals on the platform for her first All-America award.

In addition, van Katwijk earned five points for the Cougars in the overall team standings. Houston has finished among the Top-25 leaders at the NCAA Championship for seven consecutive seasons entering the 2008 meet.

Ohio State's Chelsea Davis won the 3-meter national championship with 365.85 points in the finals. Teammate Bianca Alvarez finished second with 354.50 points.

Arizona leads the team standings with 361 points heading into the final day. Auburn is second with 244 points, while Texas A&M is third with 227 points.

Freshmen Lacey Truelove and Courtney Forcucci also are competing in their first NCAA Championship meets and competed on Friday. Truelove placed 19th in the preliminaries with 284.20 points, while Forcucci scored 247.10 points to finish 36th.

The Cougars wrap up their stay Saturday, beginning with the platform trials at 12:30 p.m. (CDT). The platform consolation finals are slated to begin at 2:15 p.m. (CDT) with the swimming and diving finals starting at 6 p.m. (CDT).

Forcucci earned her place at the NCAA Championship after finishing second on the 1-meter springboard during the three-day meet's first day. van Katwijk and Truelove qualified the next day after finishing 1-2, respectively, on the 3-meter board.

Truelove added to her impressive resume during her first collegiate season by winning the platform title at the NCAA Zone D meet on Sunday.

While Truelove and Forcucci will compete in their first NCAA Championship, the event is nothing new for diving head coach Jane Figueiredo. During her illustrious 18-year career at UH, Figueiredo now has led 26 divers to the NCAA Championship.

Adding van Katwijk's performance Friday to her resume, Figueiredo also has mentored 11 divers to 36 All-America honors.

This marks the eighth consecutive year that at least one UH diver has competed at the NCAA Championship and it will be the fifth straight season that the Cougars have sent multiple divers to the nation's top collegiate meet.