2003 World University Games medalist and 2004 Olympian Cassandra Cardinell (Loudonville, N.Y./Indiana University) captured the only individual medal in diving of the Games, winning a silver medal in the 10m platform diving. Cardinell used a solid day of diving and her past experience to finish between the two divers from China. Her final score was 507.33, while Li Ting captured the gold with 581.04 and Li Na the bronze with 505.22. At the 2003 World University Games in Daegu, Korea, Cardinell finished seventh overall with 436.74 points.

“This is great and better than what I expected,” said Cardinell, who also served as the women’s team captain at the Games. “It feels good to beat a Chinese because they are amazing divers and they are top in the world right now. It feels good to be on the medal stand with them’

The victory was a nice way to bring her college career to an end. She will now return to Indiana University to finish her degree and continue training for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.

The only other medal that Team USA captured at Narlidere Swimming Pool was in the women’s team competition. The team consisting of Cardinell, Ashley Rubenstein (Columbia, Mo./Auburn University), Carrie McCambridge (Columbus, Ohio/Purdue University), Allison Brennan (Huntington Beach, Calif./University of South Carolina) and Christina Loukas (Riverwoods, Ill./Indiana University), captured the bronze medal behind the teams from China and Mexico.

Unique to this competition is the team standings in which medals are awarded to the top three teams in both the men’s and women’s category. Scores that count for the team competition are the top two scores per country from the preliminary rounds of the 1m and 3m springboard and platform plus those from the synchronized events.

Rubenstein and McCambridge turned in stellar performances in the preliminary round of the 3m springboard finishing fourth and seventh, respectively with 284.97 and 272.37 points. Their performance put Team USA solidly in third place and an eventual bronze medal finish.

Rubenstein and McCambridge carried the momentum gained in the preliminaries into the semifinals finishing fifth and sixth, respectively, with the top 12 advancing to the finals. Their goal entering the competition was to make finals after missing out in the 1m earlier in the competition. McCambridge and Rubenstein finished 15th and 18th, respectively, in the women’s 1m.

Diving against some of the best in the world, Rubenstein and McCambridge stayed tough through the finals but a missed dive for each of them put them out of medal contention. Rubenstein finished 10th 486.36, while McCambridge was eighth with 493.02, personal best scores for both divers.

Brennan contributed to the overall team effort in the women’s 1m springboard after finishing second out of 29 divers in the preliminary round with a total score of 253.86 on five dives, just 22.86 points behind China’s Wu Minxia..

Brennan, who hadn’t competed in the 1m springboard since the 2004 season, continued to nail her dives in the semifinals and advance to the final round for the first time in her career under this particular format. Most of the competitions that Brennan has been apart of just have a preliminary round and then the top 12 advance to the finals. At this meet the top 12 from the preliminary rounds advanced to the semifinals and then the top six advanced to the finals.

She entered the final round in second after collecting 260.34 points in the semifinal round, just 10.41 points off leader Zhang Jun of China. Unfortunately, a missed forward 2-1/2 tuck to start the final round cost Brennan a spot on the medal stand. Despite only posting a score of 34.56 on her first dive, Brennan kept her head up and pushed her way back to a fourth place finish, just 1.53 points behind third place finisher Juliana Veloso from Brazil. Wu Minxia of China took gold with 289.68 points and Olena Fedorova of the Ukraine took silver with 264.36.

One of Brennan’s goals coming into the competition was to improve on her 19th place finish at the 2003 World University Games in Daegu, Korea. She also competed in the 3m springboard but finished behind Rubenstein and McCambridge and did not advance.

The final member of the women’s team was Loukas who competed in the 10m platform and synchronized 10m platform with Cardinell. She advanced to the semifinals in the platform competition finishing 16th with 405.57. This was only the fifth time in her career to compete in platform diving at a meet.

In the synchronized 10m competition, Cardinell and Loukas competed for the first time together at an international meet. They finished just out of a medal in fourth place with 290.88 points on five dives.

Brennan and McCambridge represented Team USA in the women’s 3m springboard competition on the final day of Diving. This was the first time that they have dove synchro together, finishing fifth with 275.46 points on five dives.

It was a bittersweet ending at the World University Games for divers and life-long friends Marc Carlton (Webster, N.Y./Indiana University) and Steven Segerlin (Webster, N.Y./Auburn University).

Carlton and Segerlin have known each other and dove together since they were seven years old. Carlton’s mother, Carolyn, taught both athletes how to dive, and the last time they competed together on the same team was in high school.

They joined forces on the final day of diving in the men’s synchronized 10m platform for Team USA. Facing some of the best divers in the world, they gave it their all but came up short finishing eighth with 286.98 points on five dives. The team from Russia (Alexey Kravchenko/Anton Melnikov) took the gold with 343.80. China (Feng Qi/Huang Jinghui) finished second with 340.86 and Mexico (Omar Ojeda/Romel Pacheco) won the bronze medal with 337.59.

“It was a great experience and the next best thing to going to the Olympics,” said Carlton, who will return to Indiana University for graduate school and will become the assistant diving coach. “It would have been better if my mom could have gotten here, but it was really cool. The last time Steven and I were together we were going to the high school championship, so to compete together at the World University Games was a great way to end my diving career.”

Earlier in the week Carlton and Segerlin competed in the 10m platform. Carlton finished 15th with 524.22 points, while Segerlin placed 14th with 561.99 points. Segerlin also participated in the men’s 3m springboard finishing 12th in the preliminary round. However with the rules in diving each country can only qualify two individuals into the semifinals and teammates Mitch Richeson (Greenwood, Ind./The Ohio State University) and Chris Colwill (Brandon, Fla./University of Georgia), finished ninth and 11th, respectively.

The semifinals consisted of five dives with the preliminary scores carrying over for all divers. Richeson dove consistently to finish ninth with a total of 585.33 points, of which 216.63 points came in the semifinals. Colwill finished 12th, the last spot to advance into the finals, with 571.47 points. He collected 214.71 points in the semifinals. A strong semifinals was important as points from the semifinals carried over and were added to the final points to determine the winner.

In the finals, Richeson and Colwill turned in some nice dives but had a little trouble finishing their dives as solidly as the rest of the field. Colwill was able to collect 413.40 points in the final round to finish in eighth with 628.11. Richeson had a little tougher time, collecting only 365.73 points and finishing 12th with 582.36.

Colwill (Brandon, Fla.) returned to action turning in a strong performance in the men’s 1m springboard to take fifth with 380.55 points on six dives. Colwill looked like he might be headed for a medal after round four when he posted a score of 79.05, moving him into second place in the competition. Unfortunately, his excitement and aggressive diving cost him in the fifth round when he missed the bottom part of his dive, posting just 45.90 points. He finished strong in the sixth round with a dive totaling 62.40.

Stewart Smith (Chattanooga, Tenn./University of Alabama) and Richeson were among the 39 competitors that competed in the 1m springboard preliminaries. Smith finished 25th with 301.74 while Richeson was 34th with 252.03.

Colwill and Smith represented the United States in the men’s synchronized 3m springboard on diving’s opening day. This was the first time the two had competed together in this event. The majority of competitors they were up against were teammates and had trained together for some time so Colwill and Smith were at a disadvantage heading into the competition.

Despite giving it their all they finished 11th with 281.49 points on five dives. The team from China consisting of Peng Bo and Wang Kenan took gold with 330.03 points, Cuba’s Jorge Betancourt and Erick Fornaris was second with 325.17 and Brazil captured the bronze with 304.14.

Despite not winning as many medals as they had hoped, Team USA will take the experience gained from these games to further their diving careers.

“It is a great opportunity to be here, and we had high aspirations coming into the competition with the talent we had,” said coach Jeff Shaffer (Auburn, Ala./Auburn University), who along with Jeff Huber (Bloomington, Ind./Indiana University) coached 10 divers who made up Team USA. “It seems like we were always one dive away from advancing to the finals or getting a medal. The effort was there and the kids worked hard and were wonderful as a team. They really showed the spirit of the U.S., and they were proud to not only be representing their country but their respective universities.

“It was a chance for many of these athletes to come in and dive against the best in the world. They will learn from their mistakes at this competition to make themsleves better, and that is really all we can ask.”

The World University Games or Universiade, which include both summer and winter versions are held every two years for student-athletes between the ages of 17 and 28.

“Being a coach and professor at the University, education is very important to me,” said Huber, who holds the title of Adjunct Assistant Professor and head diving coach at Indiana University. “I think the concept behind the Games is very good and I hope that it will continue to gain support. It is a mini-Olympics and a great experience for the athletes.”