Divers Compete At National Championships

Divers Compete At National Championships

July 28, 2008

PASADENA, CA — Hawkeye sophomore Deidre Freeman and former Hawkeye Nancilea Foster both competed at the 2008 Kaiser Permanente National Diving Championships last week in Pasadena, CA. Foster, who competed at Iowa as Nancilea Underwood, will represent the United States on the three-meter springboard at the Olympic Games in Beijing, China, August 15-17. She is the first University of Iowa female diver to make an Olympic team.

Foster won the three-meter springboard event at Pasadena with a score of 306.75. A native of Conroe, TX, Foster is the only five-time all-American in Iowa women’s swimming and diving history. She set the school and Fieldhouse Pool three-meter records, and the school one-meter championship record. She was also a 2006 district academic all-America second team honoree and a three-time academic all-Big Ten selection.

Freeman, who led the Hawkeyes in the one and three-meter events last season, placed 15th on the one-meter springboard with 204.70 points.

Hawkeye Head Diving Coach Bob Rydze is also serving as the U.S. Diving Team Leader for the Olympic Games. Foster is Rydze’s fourth diver to make an Olympic team. He also coached former Hawkeyes and Olympians Ricardo Camacho (1976, 1980, 1984), Randy Abelman (1980), and Tomasz Rossa (1988). This is Rydze’s second stint as the U.S. Diving team leader. He also coached the squad at the 1988 games in Seoul, South Korea.

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