American divers Christopher Colwill and Haley Ishimatsu reached the finals of the USA Diving Grand Prix on Friday.
Colwill led his semifinal group in the men's 3-meter springboard competition with a 442.45 score. Ishimatsu finished third with a 333.00 score in her semifinal group in the 10-meter platform, which reserved a place in the finals on Sunday.
The 27-year-old Colwill, who has 60 percent hearing loss, took over the lead in his semifinal on his third dive — a front 2 1/2 with three twists.
''I was happy with how I was diving,'' Colwill said. ''I haven't been (diving) outside in a while so it took some getting used to, but I felt like I was very controlled today.
''I was pleased with my board work and I'm jumping great. I just have to polish up the finish a little bit.''
Other men reaching the 3-meter springboard finals are: Shixin Li of China, Alejandro Daniel Islas Arroyo of Mexico, Reuben Ross of Canada, Ethan Warren of Australia, and Huang Qiang of Malaysia.
This was Ishimatsu's seventh time at this meet, but first time reaching a final.
''I've come close to finals at this meet before but I've never actually made a final here,'' Ishimatsu said. ''I'm becoming more consistent, my dives are better and I'm just confident in my training.''
Now that she's made it to a final at this meet, the 19-year-old Ishimatsu has loftier goals in mind.
''I need to improve my entries and clean them up, and maybe then I'll be a contender for a medal,'' Ishimatsu said.
Other women reaching the 10-meter platform finals are: Liu Huixia of China, Yajie Si of China, Melissa Wu of Australia, Meaghan Benfeito of Canada, and Brittany Broben of Australia.
''I was pretty happy with that (the semifinals) because I didn't dive that well this morning in the preliminaries,'' Wu said. ''I've been here a couple of other times to Fort Lauderdale and never made a final before so I'm glad to have finally done well here.''
