Anna Cerney lives in silence, but finds ways to make herself heard. The 15-year-old freshman from Pine-Richland was born deaf, but she hasn't allowed that to keep her from competing -- and doing well -- in sports. She is one of six WPIAL Class AAA divers who qualified for today's PIAA 1-meter diving championships at Penn State's McCoy Natatorium. more

“She's never qualified,” Michigan diving coach Chris Bergere said. “So, that's the goal this year. It's up to her to block out the pressure and concentrate on what she has control over, and that's her diving. We're all pulling for her. She has clear shot at making it.”

Jim Cantalupo signs contract with Chinese Olympic champion diver Guo Jingjing and Ronald McDonald in Beijing, China during the sponsorship renewal.

For her report, Ellison brought an old family friend to class Wednesday — a two-time Olympic gold medalist in diving, Dr. Sammy Lee. "They were like, 'Wow,' " Olivia said of her classmates. "She had somebody real come in."

Making up the FSU women's contingency will be juniors Tiffany Manning (Mission Viejo, Calif.) and Courtney McClow (Jacksonville, Fla.), along with freshmen Brittany Lerew (Orlando, Fla.), Taryn Ignacio (Richmond, Ky.) and Camille Akridge (Orlando, Fla.). On the men's side, Jason Beinlich (Ridley, Pa.), Peter Crane (Fairport, N.Y.), Stuart de la Rosa (Erdenhiem, Pa.) and Curtis Schroeger (Shawnee Mission, Kan.) will be representing the Garnet and Gold.

Centre diver Dustin Schulten, a graduate of Louisville St. Xavier High School, has qualified to compete in the NCAA Division III Championships March 18-20 at Principia College in Elsah, Ill. Schulten, a freshman, was undefeated this season, winning the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference championship in both the one- and three-meter competitions.

Great Britain's Leon Taylor and Peter Waterfield continued their Olympic preparation in fine form with a gold medal in the 10-metre platform synchro final at the FINA Diving Grand Prix in Rostock, Germany. Waterfield, the 2002 Commonwealth Games gold medallist, and Taylor, who won silver in Manchester two years ago, scored 345 points to make sure of first place.

Kevin Teague picked up his first Eastern title by winning the three-meter diving competition with a score of 540.10. Teague, who was fourth after the preliminary round with a 180.40, .... He becomes the first Navy athlete to win an EISL title since Clint Cornell won the 50 freestyle in 2001, and the first Navy diver to win since Bill Dobbins won the one-meter event in 1998

Until last year, Sam coached his son, but they decided that separating the titles of "dad" and "coach" were too difficult. .... "My dad's been coaching me all the time, and we got into arguments," Ryan said, who has been diving competitively since the seventh grade. "They tell me the same things. Sometimes I hear it differently from each point of view." more

Senior diver Kristen Simms (Rancocas Valley) was The College of New Jersey's Female Lion of the week (Feb. 23) after she captured her fourth straight MET Championships Diver of the Meet title, with victories in the 1- and 3-meter competitions. In the process, Simms qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 3-meter with a winning score of 473.75. . .

JEFFERSON CITY - Lauren Lubus was a good enough swimmer to be nationally ranked, but Nerinx Hall High School wouldn't let her in the pool. Athletes in Missouri are not allowed to compete for a club team at the same time they compete for a high school team. For swimmers, this means they cannot compete for an Olympic-sanctioned swim club and a high school team in the same season. Most top-level athletes like Lubus, a former student at Nerinx Hall, in Webster Groves, choose the club team because they provide more instruction and better competition. more

Diving at Denison: Lake Forest High School graduate Liz Hinchman, a sophomore at Denison University in Ohio, helped her team win the North Coast Athletic Conference championship. Hinchman took fourth on the 1-meter board (269.0) and fourth on the 3-meter board (285.25).

"She did not miss a single dive," said Cherry Hill West junior Liza Marianni, who finished second with 441.85 points. "She dove better than anyone I've ever seen, except for in the Olympics."

Named Ohio State's 72nd Big Ten Diving Champion and the 2004 Big Ten Diver of the Year, Mitch Richeson (Jr., Greenwood, Ind.) continued the tradition of diving excellence for the Buckeyes at the 2004 conference meet Feb. 26-28. Richeson was Ohio State's only student-athlete to be named First Team All-Big Ten at the conference meet. Crowned the 2004 Big Ten Champion in the 3-meter dive, Richeson finished the 3-meter dive with a score of 653.75, defeating last years champion by more than 45 points and breaking the Big Ten diving championship meet record set in 1996

Sponsored by international big-name enterprises Nokia and Ford,the inaugural Champions Diving Tour plans to stage three legs thisyear: .....Li said, as the first diving event of the kind set by CSA, Champions Tour will award each gold medalist 15,000 RMB as the prize money.

"Aaron came in pretty much as a walk-on as a freshman,'' Neuqua Valley diving coach Gerry Petit said. "In four years to bring yourself up from never having dove before to a state champ shows the character he has.''

"Its not the winning that gets me excited it's the competing," said Teague after being named Diver of the Meet. "All the divers are wonderful people and we have a lot of fun diving. Its always nice to be in your home pool and have a lot of your friends here."

"closest championship ever. Heading into the final day of races, with just two events remaining, the Nittany Lions were ahead of the Wolverines by 34 points. In the second-to-last event, the one-meter diving competition, Michigan's divers came to the team's rescue, closing the point gap between the two teams. Led by senior Tealin Keleman and junior Alexis Goolik, who placed fourth and seventh, respectively, the divers supplied Michigan with the necessary boost"

Arizona State sophomore Joona Puhakka and Stanford freshman Cassidy Krug won Pac-10 titles. Puhakka won the men's three-meter and Krug won the women's one-meter.

But seeing her name at the top of the list of state qualifiers in girls' 1-meter springboard diving made her a little jittery. "It does add more pressure because people expect a lot more out of you," Long said. "I just try not to think about it." The state swimming and diving championships will be held today and Saturday at the University of Ken-tucky's Lancaster Aquatics Center.

They're roommates. They're friends. They're teammates. They also just happen to be the best divers UNM has seen in more than a decade. Becca Barras and Tracey Berghian triumphed once again last week, adding a few more trophies to an already packed case.

Yu Fen, one of the heroes behind China's long-time success in diving, suggests the current ailing national team might be headed the wrong way in trying to recapture past glory. While reluctant to read too much into the team's less-than-expected performance at the just-concluded World Cup in Athens where they won five gold medals, Yu, coach of quadruple Olympic gold medallist Fu Mingxia, thinks it's high time the squad found a common training goal. ... Coming off a four-month isolated training camp, the Chinese divers still didn't show decisive improvement.