Dumais earns spot on US Diving team

Troy Dumais (Ventura, Calif.) and Christina Loukas (Riverwoods, Ill.) became the first two divers to earn nominations to the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team after winning the men's and women's 3-meter springboard titles at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials on Saturday at the Indiana University Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI.
For Dumais, it'll be his third trip to the Olympics, having also competed in 2000 and 2004. Loukas will make her first trip to the Games.
Both divers won in convincing fashion, with Dumais scoring 1552.90 points to runner-up Chris Colwill's (Brandon, Fla.) 1465.10. Loukas outdistanced second-place Nancilea Foster (Conroe, Texas) 1092.10-1002.85.
Dumais and Loukas each started the competition with bonus points for their performances at the 2008 World Cup, but both proved the points were not needed as their margins of victory were far wider than the 30 and 25 points each received for their fourth-place efforts at the World Cup.
Dumais, who had five 10s in Friday's semifinals, earned two perfect marks on his front 3 ½ pike and scored as high as 9.0 or 9.5 on four of his other five dives.
"It's a relief. Four years ago when Athens didn't go so well, this was the first thing I thought about. And now it's done. I climbed the ladder and I am close to my goal," Dumais said. "I felt it was a lot easier to keep motivated this time. I was able to take control of my emotions. My coaches and I did it right this time. We knew what we had to do."