Feb.28, 1998
Day One, February 26, 1998
Southern California dominated
the first day of competition at the 1998 Pac-10 Swimming and Diving
Championships. The Trojans had the top finisher in the women's
1-meter (Dorte Lindner) and the men's 3-meter (Justin Dumais).
Dumais' score of 611.45 set the new Pac-10 standard for 3-meter diving
breaking the old record held by Brian Earley of USC set in 1994.
Junior all-American Katrina Pfeuffer was the top finisher for Arizona State in the women's 1-meter with a score of 369.7 which put her in fifth place. Also placing for the Devils were senior Melissa Newman (306.4, 10th place) sophomore Mandy Contreras (305.55, 12th place) and freshman Maureen Bird (278.5, 19th place).
On the men's side USC had four of the top eight finishers in the 3-meter competition while Arizona placed two of the top eight. For the Devils sophomore Allan Sonkin recorded a third-place finish of 426.0. In addition to Sonkin's finish, sophomore Ken Sabino and freshman Kevin Lilly also placed for the Devils with 12th- (317.45) and 13th- (315.45) place finishes respectively.
Day Two, February 27, 1998
The second day of diving
mirrored its predecessor as Southern California divers enjoyed yet
another record-breaking day.
Once again Trojan Justin Dumais took center stage with the day's best performance, a first-place finish and Pac-10 benchmark of 576.0 in the men's 1-meter competition. The Trojans had two other divers -- Tim Allport (third, 420) and Shawn Schuessler (eighth, 368.2) -- who finished in the top eight.
Like USC, Arizona had three divers who finished in the top eight, claiming fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-place.
Arizona State was led by sophomore Allan Sonkin who was the Devils' top finisher for the second consecutive day. Sonkin finished fourth in the 1-meter dive with a score of 418.8. Other Sun Devil divers who competed were Ken Sabino (10th, 336.6), Scott Lemke (11th, 326.4) and Kevin Lilly (13th, 308.8).
On the women's side, Trojan diver Dorte Lindner finish first with a Pac-10 record of 540.15 in the women's 3-meter dive. Right behind her was teammate Natasha Chikina, the 1-meter victor, who scored a 478.35.
Stanford claimed the third-, fourth- and fifth-place spots.
Arizona State had one diver in the final eight for the second straight day. Once again it was junior all-American Katrina Pfeuffer, finishing with an eighth-place score of 414.4.
Joining Pfeuffer were Sun Devil teammates Melissa Newman (10th, 377.6), Mandy Contreras (12th, 355.95) and Molly Bird (19th, 325.0).
The championships conclude with the men's and women's platform competition on Saturday.
Day Three, February 28, 1998
The final day of competition
saw Sun Devil Katrina Pfeuffer record her highest finish (2nd) as she
recorded a 330.25 in the women's platform final.
For the first time in the competition the winner came from a school other than USC.
Kim Powers of Stanford won the competition with a score of 359.95.
UCLA recorded fourth-, fifth- and sixth-place finishes with Delilah Moore getting the Bruins' highest score of 304.2 (fourth)
Also placing in the competition for ASU were Mandy Contreras (9th, 258.95) and Molly Bird (13th, 251.1).
Once again it was Southern California diver Justin Dumais who took first in the men's competition. Dumais' score of 467.65 topped Arno Berstrom of Arizona who finished second with a 408.05. Arizona also had divers who placed in third and fourth as well.
For the Devils, Allan Sonkin was the top finisher with a sixth-place finish of 314.7. Sonkin was joined by Sun Devil teammates Scott Lemke (eighth, 263.0) and Ken Sabino (ninth, 259.5).