U.S. OLYMPIC TRIALS ROUNDUP : Klein in Fourth Place After Diving Preliminaries

Krista Klein, a 1986 Mission Viejo High graduate, is in fourth place after the preliminaries of the three-meter springboard in the U.S. Olympic diving trials Wednesday night at Indianapolis.

Klein scored 473.79 points for her 10-dive program, putting her 14.4 points behind Karen LaFace, who is in second, in the race for the final Olympic berth.

Julie Ovenhouse, the reigning national springboard champion, leads the competition with 542.88. Wendy Lucero-Schayes, a 1988 Olympian, was third with 484.62.

Scores from Wednesday’s preliminaries will carry over to tonight’s final. The top two finishers will qualify for the Olympics.

Klein, 24, was in fourth place after her first five dives, but fell further behind Ovenhouse after gettings mainly sixes on her final three dives.

Ovenhouse increased her lead by scoring a 9.5 on her final dive, an inward 2 1/2 somersault. She also received a 9.5 on her fourth dive--her highest score on the springboard since two 10.0s in college.