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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 5 73 perhaps presents a lower level of competition for a diver of Johnson's acumen, or an NCAA Championship. "I try to tell my athletes that ev- ery single moment, in that compe- tition, we need to handle the same way," said Soldati, who was named the NCAA Coach-of-the-Year for the fourth time in his career. "Whether it's the Olympics or a dual meet, we need to handle it the same." Johnson took that to the NCAAs. Although the springboard competi- tions aren't his specialty — Johnson has focused primarily on platform during his previous international experience — his weekend got off to a better-than-expected start in the 1-meter. His total of 468.15 points in the finals was only a half-point shy of Boudia's Purdue program record. Johnson failed to qualify for the finals of the 3-meter the following day, but rebounded to win the conso- lation final. Then, on Day 3, he won the platform, with his 532.70 ranking second in Purdue history (again be- hind Boudia). "I surprised myself on 1-meter be- cause I had never done that well on 1-meter," said Johnson, who was the first athlete to win on both a spring- board and platform since Boudia in 2009. "But we do that well in practice all the time, so it was nice for it to fi- nally happen in the competition. The 3-meter (finish) was pretty expected. "But platform I didn't surprise my- self. The past four meets I've done on 10-meter have all been over the score of 500, and that's an international score. Scoring over 500 means you're pretty much able to start competing with the big guns, like Qiu Bo, Tom Daley, David Boudia, all of them, and you're able to hold your own against them. The scores have gotten higher each time. The past three times I've competed, I've set three new PRs on 1241 Cumberland Ave, Suite B West Lafayette, IN 47906 Phone: 765-497-0197 www.bankerinvestmentgroup.com A Fee-Based Investment Advisor located in the Purdue Research Park 25+ Years of Investment Management Experience Bill Banker, President Purdue University Alumni 85' Purdue Baseball Alumni 81'-85' OLYMPIC FOCUS Now that Steele Johnson's first NCAA season is over, his and David Boudia's Olympic training begins in ear- nest. And it's off to a good start. The duo won the synchronized 10-meter national title April 12 at the inaugural USA Diving Synchronized National Championships to earn a berth to the FINA World Championships this summer in Russia. "They had a great performance at nationals," Coach Adam Soldati said. "Probably the greatest synchro perfor- mance that we have seen by a team in the States." Johnson and Boudia hope to do more. They will go to Russia in late July, looking to build off their bronze from the 2014 FINA Diving World Cup last summer, their first event as a competitive duo. But before that, they will next compete together at a couple of Diving World Series events in May. Now that Johnson's NCAA schedule has ended for this season, the two have been able to train more regularly together in preparation for the busy slate. "We've kind of been scattered all over the place," Johnson said. "But we've stayed connected so we can stay focused on what we're trying to do. But when we're here together, our training has been going really well." It's all building toward the Olympic Trials next summer, then the Games in Rio de Janeiro. It's a long road, Soldati says. "It's exciting," he said. "There's a lot that can happen. You have to stay together, stay in one piece, stay healthy." — Kyle Charters