U.S. Olympic Festival Roundup : Diver Lenzi Records First--and a Seventh

Mark Lenzi became the first U.S. diver to complete a 4 1/2 front tuck somersault in competition--and lost at the U.S. Olympic Festival Thursday at Oklahoma City.

Lenzi, 21, of Fredericksburg, Va., received his second-lowest score of the meet on the dive off the 3-meter springboard and wound up seventh.

Mark Bradshaw of Columbus, Ohio, won the men’s preliminaries, and Wendy Lucero of Aurora, Colo., took the women’s event.

Olympian Lance Ringnald scored a 9.85 on the parallel bars and added a 9.85 on the high bar to win the gold medal in the men’s all-around at Oklahoma City.

Ringnald, who last year became the youngest member of the Olympic men’s gymnastics team in 20 years, had a 9.50 on the vault, his worst score in the six events.

Chainey Umphrey of Albuquerque, N.M., was second, and David St. Pierre of Culver City was third.

Kathy Arendsen of the East pitched the first perfect game in the women’s softball competition at the festival, then Peter Meredith threw one on the next field in a men’s game.

Arendsen, of Holland, Mich., struck out 11, including the first six batters, in beating the winless North, 5-0. She didn’t permit a ball out of the infield in winning her second game of the festival.

Meredith, of Elkhart, Ind., led the East past the North, 10-0. Meredith struck out 11 and has 39 strikeouts in four games.

Erika deLone of Lincoln, Mass., won two tennis gold medals. She teamed with Susan Sommerville of Dearborn, Mich., for the women’s doubles crown, then won the mixed doubles with Rick Witsken of Carmel, Ind.

Deirdre Herman of Lawrence, Kan., lost in both doubles matches, but won in singles.

The men’s doubles title went to Chuck Coleman of Lake Wylie, S.C., and Cary Lothringer of San Antonio. Robbie Wendell of Sunnyvale, Calif. won the men’s singles.

Minnesota teammates Jason Miller and Peter Hankinson scored third-period goals to give the West a 5-3 victory over the North in hockey.

The half-marathons were won by Olympian Bruce Bickford of Wellesley, Mass., and Judy Bogenschutz of Oldenburg, Ind.

Festival Notes

Olympic gold medalist Louise Ritter was rejected at the last minute in her bid to enter the track and field competition at Norman, Okla. Ritter, who won the high jump at the Seoul Games and holds the U.S. record at 6 feet 8 inches, asked permission Wednesday to compete, and a news release was issued late Wednesday night announcing that she would compete. But the eight coaches of the festival’s men’s and women’s teams met Thursday and voted to reject her application, 7-1.

Dawn Sowell, the LSU star, withdrew because of a hamstring injury suffered in last Saturday’s New York Games. The women’s 100-meter field was further diluted with the withdrawals of Esther Jones, another Louisiana State sprinter, because of a back injury, and Diane Dixon.

Almost $2.2 million has been awarded to U.S. athletes in a new aid program designed by the U.S. Olympic Committee, president Robert Helmick said Thursday. About $16 million has been designated to the project, leading up to the 1992 Olympics. So far, $2,193,465 has been awarded to both elite athletes and rising competitors, including two Olympic wrestling champions, John Smith and Bruce Baumgartner, who won gold medals this week.