Canadians Pamela Ware and Emily Schmidt win medals at junior Pan Am diving championships

September 10th, 2009

Pamela Ware

CALGARY– Pamela Ware of Montreal and Emily Schmidt of Red Deer, Alta., won silver and bronze medals respectively on Thursday to open the Junior Pan Am diving championships at the Talisman Centre.

On women’s one-metre in the 16-18 age group, Loren Figueroa of the U.S., took the gold medal with 411.65 points. Ware followed for the silver at 403.50 and Laura Ryan of the U.S., was third at 403.40. Hailey Casper of Calgary was eighth.

Ware, who has been battling a shoulder injury all season, landed a solid reverse dive in the last round for 8.0’s and 9.0’s to snare the silver by 0.1 points.

“I’m really happy,” said Ware, 16, who won a Grand Prix medal earlier this season on three-metre synchro with her sister Carol Ann Ware. “The reverse dive was one I was having trouble with all week in practice. My primary focus for these championships is the three and 10-metre so to get a medal today is a bonus.”

In the girls 11 and under three-metre, Brooke Madden led the U.S., to a 1-2 finish with 247.40 points. Alison Maillard was second at 238.30 and Schmidt was third at 236.10 edging compatriot Molly Carlson of Thunder Bay, Ont., in fourth at 226.05.

“I feel good, my goal was to win a medal,” said Schmidt, 11, who started diving five years ago. “I was most happy with my reverse and front dives.”

Other Canadian results: Éloise Bélanger of Montreal and Myriam Selamni of Laval, Que., were fourth and fifth respectively on girls 14-15 platform; Nicholas Beaupré of Laval, and C.J. Moore of Kitchener, Ont., were fourth and seventh in the boys 14-15 one-metre; and Philippe Gagné and Laurent Papineau, both of Montreal, were sixth and eighth in the boys 12-13 platform.

After the first six finals, the U.S., leads the medal standings with three gold, two silver and four bronze. Mexico has two gold and two silver, Colombia a medal of each colour and Canada followed with its two podium performances.

Competition continues through to Sunday.

About Diving Plongeon Canada
Diving Plongeon Canada (DPC) was established in 1967 as a not-for-profit organization to promote the growth and awareness of the sport in this country. As a member of FINA, the world’s governing body of aquatic sports, DPC contributes to the development of globally accepted standards of excellence in diving and supports the rules and regulations of international competition. Representing nine provincial diving associations, 67 local diving clubs and close to 4,000 high performance athletes, DPC shares a national commitment to advance the art and sport of diving and to position Canada as the number one diving nation of the world.  For information, visit www.diving.ca.

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