Former Ohio State Diver Mitch Richeson Wins Gold at Pan American Games – Ohio State Buckeyes
7/30/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swim & Dive
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Former Buckeye and 2004 Big Ten champion Mitch Richeson won the gold medal at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Richeson, along with Team USA teammate Troy Dumais, held off charges from both the Cuban and Canadian tandems to win the men’s synchronized 3-meter competition.
Dumais and Richeson, the first team to dive, led by 2.73 points heading into the final round and hit their reverse 2 with 1 twists for 87.15 points their best score of the afternoon. They then waited to see if their scores would hold up. The Cuban team scored 74.46 points on their last dive, giving the gold to Team USA.
“We’ve been training well all week, and we went in ready to go,” Richeson explained. “After that first dive, we went on auto pilot and just went at it.”
Next up for Richeson is the 2007 Kaiser Permanente National Diving Championships, which run from July 31 through Aug. 5 at the Avery Aquatic Center on the campus of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. Competitions will be held in the men’s and women’s 1-meter springboard, 3-meter springboard, 10-meter platform, synchronized 3-meter springboard and synchronized 10-meter platform and a total of 10 national titles are at stake.
Eight other current, former and future Buckeyes will also compete at the championships. Among them are current Buckeyes Burkley Showe, Chelsea Davis, Ryan Jefferson and Wes Wieser. Former Buckeye Kellen Harkness will also compete, as will incoming freshman Kristin Asman, Bianca Alvarez and Sean Moore. Following the nationals, Moore will set his sights on the World University Games Aug. 6-15 in Bangkok, Thailand, where he will participate in the men’s synchronized 3-meter competition.
