College Diving
Rider's Burke Advances to Finals at
USA Diving Winter National Championships

COLUMBUS, Ohio--Senior Amanda Burke of the Rider University swimming and diving team advanced to the finals on both the one-meter and three-meter boards at the USA Diving Winter National Championships after competing in the preliminary round hosted by Ohio State University February 1-2.

"I'm really happy with how Amanda did," said diving coach Dennis Ceppa.  "She has really been diving consistently and she did very well."

On Tuesday, Burke (Southampton, Pa./William Tennent) placed second in the preliminaries of the one-meter with a score of 235.70, less than 20 points behind champion Margaret Hostage of Stanford.

On Monday, Burke placed sixth in the preliminaries on the three-meter board with a score of 254.80.  Burke will be unable to compete in the finals portion of the three-meter competition due to the rigors of her academic class schedule as a Communication major at Rider.

"It was a big field, almost 50 in the three-meter and 40 in the one-meter," Ceppa said.  "To work your way through that many competitors at this level, is a really good thing.  It is an honor to have her diving with this level of competition.  We would have loved to stay for the three-meter as well but she couldn't miss that much class time."

Burke joins teammate, senior Paul Apostolakis (Brooklyn, N.Y./Fort Hamilton) who qualified for the one-meter competition based on his finish at the 2009 USA Summer Nationals.

"My hope is that both Paul and Amanda finish in the top 12, if I had to put a number on it," said Ceppa.  "If they both go out and perform based on how we train, then I'm a happy coach."

The finals in the three-meter, one-meter and platform competitions at the McCorkle Aquatics Pavilion are February 4-8 with both Burke and Apostolakis completing on the 8th.

-RU-