Ventura’s Troy Dumais moves into 3-meter semifinals

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The top 18 divers in the 3-meter springboard preliminaries at the National Aquatic Center on Monday have advanced to the Beijing Games semifinal on Tuesday morning. Ventura’s Troy Dumais is among them, along with Chris Colwill of Brandon, Fla.

Colwill was seventh after Monday’s dives with 464.75 points. Dumais was 12th with 448.40 points.

Both divers dug themselves into deep holes during the first round.

Colwill scored just 67.50 points on his first dive, dropping him to 25th place after round one. He improved noticeably on his subsequent dives.

“I was definitely a little nervous on that first dive, but I felt confident,’ Colwill told USA Diving. ‘I definitely could have done a little better, but I can’t complain.”

Dumais finished in last place during the opening round -- but followed up with the second-highest scoring dives in the second and third rounds.

“I didn’t perform my dives the way I have the past six or seven weeks,’ Dumais told USA Diving. ‘I don’t want to have an off day, but I’ll change the channel and regroup.”

China took the top two spots in the preliminaries. He Chong was in first with 515.50 and Qin Kai finished second at 502.95. Mexico’s Yahel Castillo was third at 480.65.

Each diver starts anew in the semifinal and dive in reverse order from their preliminary finish. The top 12 divers from the morning semifinal advance to Tuesday night’s finals.

-- Greg Johnson