Diving Stars Coming to Miami
11/30/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Nov. 30, 2011
OXFORD, Ohio - Diving enthusiasts in southwestern Ohio who can't wait until July for the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games can get their aquatic fix this weekend (Dec. 1-3) at Miami University when the world-class Chinese Guangdong Diving Team plus several American stars go head to head in an open competition.
It's the feature event of the 18th Annual Miami Invitational.
KongRong Li, Miami's highly decorated men's and women's diving coach, has assembled Olympic-grade talent to perform at the Nixon Aquatic Center inside Miami's Recreation Center this Thursday (2-4 p.m.), Friday (2-5 p.m. and 7:30-8:30 p.m.) and Saturday (2-5 p.m. and 7:30-8:30 p.m.).
Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for youth. Miami student will be admitted free of charge with their ID.
"We're very pleased to bring Olympic-quality athletes to Miami's campus," said Li. "Guangdong is the No. 1 team in Chicago and its members are some of the favorites to win Olympic gold medals in London. They will be joined by several stars from the United States, so I expect these competitors to be the very best that our local fans may ever see in person. So impressive are these divers that we also expect to see some top U.S. diving officials in attendance."
Altogether, including defending Mid-American Conference champion JIM BERES and Miami's top female diver Nikki Craft, 30 males and 35 females will be entered in the diving competition.
Competing among the men on the 10-meter platform will be China's Chen Aisen, the world's top-ranked diver in 2010 and 11th-ranked in 2011. Also performing in that event will be Wu Jun, currently ranked 11th in the world.
The featured athlete on the one- and three-meter boards is Wu Minghong, the world's 10th-ranked diver in 2010.
The University of Michigan, top-ranked in NCAA swimming and diving, will send its four top divers to Oxford. The diving trip to Miami will be a family affair for Wolverine head coach KZ Li, as he'll coach against his brother, KongRong.
This weekend's field of female divers is highlighted by China's Xia Yuhua , who in 2010 was ranked 13th in the world at 10 meters. She will be joined by 2008 U.S. Olympian Kelci Bryant, a two-time All-American and Big Ten champion from Minnesota who was the 2010 NCAA titlist on the three-meter board.
Also competing will be 2011 NCAA three-meter champ Abby Johnston from Duke, a native of Upper Arlington, plus 2011 U.S. Nationals finalist Katie Bell from Ohio State and a native of Columbus.
IUPUI senior Ni Chen, the school's first-ever NCAA champion, will compete on the 10-meter platform.
--www.MURedHawks.com--
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