Louganis and Mitchell Reach Diving Finals

ORLANDO, Fla. —  Greg Louganis and Michele Mitchell, who swept their events at last week’s U.S. Olympic Festival, led the qualifying in the two semifinals contested Tuesday at the Phillips 66-U.S. Diving championships.

Louganis, the Olympic gold medalist, edged out 20-year-old Pat Evans of Cincinnati, who led through eight of the 10 rounds and scored perfect 10s on three dives in the 3 1/2-hour men’s platform competition.

Louganis, of Boca Raton, Fla., finished with 620.67 points, compared to 601.29 for Evans. Louganis’ last two dives had much higher degrees of difficulty than the dives attempted by Evans.

Mitchell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., native who dives for the Mission Bay Makos of Boca Raton, spent most of the 3-meter springboard contest battling teammates Wendy Wyland and Megan Neyer. The Olympic platform silver medalist’s reverse 2 1/2 somersault tuck earned 7.5s and 8s to clinch the No.1 spot over Wyland, an Olympic bronze medalist.