Elwood’s Mary Beth Dunnichay opted to drop out of her platform diving, but she put up a first-place finish in the synchronized women’s platform diving at the Olympic Team Selection Camp on Friday.

Dunnichay and teammate Haley Ishimatsu scored a 346.98 in the synchronized event, the fourth round of dives in that competition. That was more than 11 points better than the second-place finish of Jessica Livingston and Laura Wilkinson.

“We knew we had that one bad list (series of dives), but we knew we could come back,” said Dunnichay. “I think we proved that we could perform consistently. We knew we had to do it tonight. We showed them we could perform under pressure.”

In the four rounds of events, Dunnichay and Ishimatsu won two, while Livingston and Wilkinson won two.

Earlier in the day the senior women’s platform diving was held with five divers trying for one final spot, but Dunnichay didn’t compete in that event.

“My coach thought it was best that I concentrate on the synchro,” said Dunnichay. “I think that was the right choice. My shoulder has been bothering me a little bit. I think it was best for me to have my body ready for tonight.”

The final day of diving will be Sunday. On Monday the announcement will be made on which divers make the Olympic team.

“We did the best we could,” said Dunnichay. “Now it will be a very long two days until Monday. Hopefully then we’ll find out we’re on the team.”

Former Anderson resident and Yorktown graduate Maggie Bird failed to reach the finals in two events of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Omaha, Neb., Friday.

Bird, an Auburn student, finished 75th overall in the 200-meter backstroke. Her time was 2:18.73. It took a 2:13.52 to reach the semifinals in that event.

Another Yorktown graduate, Jill Lockhart, was 83rd in that same event with a time of 2:19.35.

In Bird’s other event, the 800-meter freestyle, she placed 21st with a time of 8:45.81. The time to beat to reach the finals was 8:37.65.

Bird was seeded 39th in the 200 backstroke and 31st in the 800 freestyle.