European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 22, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 26 the stars and stripes monday August 22,1988 Mitchell 1 St in trials platform finals Indianapolis a olympic Silver medallist Michele Mitchell scored 72.90 Points on her final dive to pass reigning National Champion Wendy Lian Williams and finish first saturday Nightie the platform finals at the . Olym Pic diving trials. Mitchell a seven time National plat form Champion scored 466.26 Point saturday to give her 913.68 for her 16 dives in the two Day Competition. Williams who won the National in door and outdoor platform championships this year was second with 906.87 and also earned an olympic berth. Wendy Wyland the 1984 olympic platform Bronze medallist and the 1982world platform Champion finished third with 871.74 after heading into the finals in fifth place. Her score for the final night matched Mitchell s and under the old format for the olympic trials she would have been going to Seoul rather than Williams. International rules being used for the first time this year Combine scores fro the prelims with those from the finals. Previously prelim scores were not included in the finals. Greg Louganis the defending Goldmedal St in springboard and platform diving placed first earlier saturday and controversial Bruce Kimball was third after the men s preliminary platform Competition. Kimball s car slowed into a group of teens on a dead end Street in Brandon fla., on aug. 1. Two teen agers were killed and six others were injured. Kim Ball a Silver medal Winner at the Losangeles games was charged with five felony counts of driving under the influence of alcohol and is free on $10,000bond pending an aug. 29 court hearing. Related Story on Page 5. Matt Scoggin moved into second place ahead of Kimball on the last round of the prelims. When the scoreboard showed Kimbal had dropped out of second place loud cheers and applause went up from six protesters wearing Pink to shirts with the words remember the victims in Blue letters on their backs. The six who sat silently whenever Kimball dived and applauded the other competitors made the 1,000-mile trip from Brandon and have been conducting an orderly protest to Kimball s participation. Greg Louganis in action during saturday s men s platform prelims. The top two finishers qualify for the . Team going to the Seoul olympics and the protesters maintain Kimball should not be allowed to represent the United states. Louganis who qualified for his fourth olympic team by winning the Spring Board event Friday night scored 665.19 Points for his 10 dives in the prelims. Scoggin who said he passed up the 3 meter springboard to save his strength took second with five 9s, a pair of 9.5s and an 87.36 total on his final dive for a 631.17 score. Kimball who was first or second after each of the first nine rounds had 626.67. Mike Wantuck was next with 613.32, followed by Patrick Jeffrey at 610.08. Mitchell who underwent shoulder sur Gery last september has struggled this year. Entering the last dive she needed 65.89 Points to catch Williams who was diving just before her. My coach . Olympic diving coach Ron o Brien told me to just do my front 3 /2 tuck and that s what did Mitchell said of her final dive which brought her two 9.5s, three 9s and a pair of 8.5s. Williams who started the finals in Sec Ond behind Mitchell and slipped to third after her first dive saturday had moved into the Lead in the fourth round with a Back 1 a somersault with 1 /2 twists that brought her 10s from two of the seven judges while four others gave her a 9.5. I was a Little bit off on my entries said Louganis who has captured a record 47 National championships in a career that includes a 1976 olympic Silver medal in the platform event when he was just 16. That s something to be concentrated on tomorrow. Today s my first Day on platform in three Days so it s a matter of  Louganis was first or second after every round moving ahead of Kimball in the sixth round and staying in first from then on. I m so pleased that i was so steady because sometimes the 3-meter can take a lot out of you said Louganis who was Given a nine for his opening dive by All seven judges and collected 18 More 9s and a single 9.5 during his program. Scoggin was sixth entering the final five optional dives. His Advance was helped because his closing dives had a higher degree of difficulty than Kimball s and he performed them nearly flawlessly. Scoggin s first optional dive was a re verse 2 /2 somersault in the tuck Posi Tion. The dive brought him three 10s for a perfect performance two 9.5s and a nine for 78.57 Points. His final dive rated at a 3.2 degree of difficulty was a Back 1 a somersault with 2 /2 twists. Those protesting Kim Bah s appear Ance have been collecting signatures on a petition asking that he be barred from the team. At a news conference saturday the group said it has collected Over 5,000 signatures which they plan to mail to the . Olympic committee olympic sponsors . Diving and president Reagan. . Diving the National governing body for the sport has said it cannot ban Kimball from the trials or the olympics if he qualifies. When he gets in a contest his mind is focused on his Job said University of Michigan coach Dick Kimball the diver s father. That s one thing that s help ing him right now. He knows what he has to face in the future. Right now diving is one thing he can hang on to Kimball said. If he does t make the olympic team this is his last  Baker plans to sit out rest of racing year Brooklyn Mich. A Stock car drive buddy Baker will sit out the rest of the Lascar Winston cup season after surgery on tuesday for a blood clot on his , 47, a 30-year Stock car racing Veteran made the decision saturday at his Lake Norman,., Home and telephoned the word to Mem Bers of the team he owns with Danny Schiff. The Crew was at Michigan International Speedway for sunday s Champion spark plug 400, with Morgan Shepherd filling in for Baker. Or. Jerry Petty the neurosurgeon who oper ated on Baker at Charlotte ., memorial Hospital had recommended at least a six week recovery period. Baker decided to take no chances and will not return to his Oldsmobile for the 11 remaining races. He was released from the Hospital  source close to Baker would not Rule out retirement As a Driver for the 19-time Winston cup Winner the Charlotte  Observer re ported. Elliott grabs pole position Brooklyn Mich. A Bill Elliott won the pole position for the Champion 400 Stock car race qualifying his Ford thunderbird at 174.940 Mph sat urday slashing better than two Miles an hour off the track record he set in june. Nine other Drivers also broke Elliott s record of 172.687 and All 40 cars for sunday s race exceeded 170mph, making it one of the fastest Fields assembled at Michigan International Speedway. Ricky Rudd finishing 10th among the qualifiers pushed his Buick regal around the High banked two mile track at 173.006 Mph also better than the old record. Dale Jarrett s Buick was next at 172.505 Mph. I have no idea Why i run so Well Here at Michigan Elliott said. I can t explain it. The car seems to run Good Here. It ran super Good today. Starting Early helped. It sure did t Hurt. As it go hotter the track seemed to slow Down a Mettle  Elliott who trails Rusty Wallace by of a 11 Point sin the Winston cup standings had t won a pole since the june race at Michigan. He said he came to Liswith an open mind. I did t know what it would take Elliott  m really surprised it held up. I never thought that Many would go put and not beat  starting beside Elliott in the front Row will be Geoff Bodine whose Chevrolet Monte Carlo was clocked at 174.381 Mph. Ken Schrader s Chevy made it around in 174.355 Mph followed by Davey Allison s thunderbird at 174.157 Mph and Dale Earnhardt s Monte Carlo at174.153 Mph. Brett Bodine s Ford was clocked at 173.770 Mph followed by Wallace s Pontiac grand prix at 173.707 Mph Alan Kulwicki s Ford at 173.611 Mph and mor Gan Shepherd s Oldsmobile Cutlass at 173.410 Mph. Kulwicki had the fastest practice Lap Friday at174.355 Mph and predicted speeds might reach 176 Mph in qualifying. Kulwicki changed engines Over night found the new engine was much slower an promptly put the old engine Back under the Hood for qualifying. It was a pretty Good run Kulwicki said. We Drewa late number and that Hurt. The Sun came out and it just got hotter and hotter and  Wallace whose last Victory came in the june race at mis said it would be difficult to hold off Elliott. He s going to be Tough Here. Bill just seems to own this track Wallace said. In the Long run i m hoping to get him on the Short tracks. We go to Bristol Tenn next and we be won there. But he s getting better on the Short tracks and we might have a problem there. We feel Good about Michigan. We re running the same car we won with in june. It has t been out of the shop since  Richard Petty the sentimental favorite because he starting his 500th consecutive Winston cup race will Start from the 24th spot on the Grid after qualifying at171.711 Mph in his Pontiac grand prix