David Boudia (shown here with teammate Thomas Finchum) is in his second final at this year's FINA World Championships in Rome, Italy.

ROME — Purdue diver David Boudia qualified for the final in the synchronized platform competition Friday at the FINA World Championships in Rome, Italy.

Boudia, who finished sixth in the 10m platform Tuesday, joined with Thomas Finchum to put together the fourth-highest score in Friday’s preliminary round. Boudia and Finchum, who dove together at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and earned a bronze medal at the FINA Diving World Series in April, scored 426.54 points to finish less than a point behind third.

Boudia and Finchum go after a medal in Saturday’s final, which begins at 7:00a Eastern.

ROME — Purdue University diver David Boudia earned the highest finish by an American in more than a decade when he finished sixth in the platform competition Tuesday at the FINA World Championships in Rome, Italy.

Boudia will join his Beijing Olympic teammate Thomas Finchum for the synchronized platform preliminary round on Friday morning.

“I felt comfortable up there, and I started off well,” Boudia said. “I had a mishap on my gainer and gave up some points there, but it happens. There’s room for improvement.”

Boudia scored 491.80 points in the final to earn the best US finish at the World Championships since Mark Ruiz also finished sixth in 1998. Boudia bolstered his score by earning three 10s throughout the competition. The Big Ten and NCAA champion off the platform was given two perfect scores on his second dive, an inward three-and-a-half, and one on his fifth dive, a back three-and-a-half. Boudia qualified for the final with a sixth-place, 485.25-point list in the semifinal earlier Tuesday.

“I’m proud of David for battling back,” Purdue head diving coach Adam Soldati said. “He missed his fourth-round dive a little bit (in the final), but he really showed a tremendous amount of mental toughness and battled back like a champion. He has a few days now before synchro, and I’m looking forward to seeing him and Thomas compete.”

Boudia now turns his attention to the synchronized platform competition. The Noblesville, Ind., native joins Beijing Olympic teammate Thomas Finchum for the preliminary round Friday at 7 a.m. ET.

ROME — Purdue diver David Boudia qualified for the semifinal in the 10-meter platform competition Monday at the World Championships in Rome, Italy.

Boudia will join Thomas Finchum, his teammate at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, for the synchronized platform preliminary competition Friday.

Boudia, who was voted Purdue’s Male Athlete of the Year, scored 472.60 points off the 10-meter platform during Monday’s preliminary round. He scored seventh-highest in the preliminary and is one of 18 divers to advance to Tuesday’s semifinal. The top three divers in the 10-meter platform preliminary were Bo Qiu (China) with a score of 515.75, Cuba’s José Antonio Guerra Oliva with a score of 515.65 and Luxin Zhou (China) with a score of 495.55.

The semifinal round is slated to begin Tuesday at 4:00a Eastern (10:00a in Rome). The final round, which features the top-12 divers from the semifinal, is scheduled for 11:45a Eastern (5:45p Rome). After he is done with the individual platform competition, Boudia will join Thomas Finchum, his teammate at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, for the synchronized platform preliminary competition Friday.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue diver, David Boudia, is in Rome and will begin competition in the FINA World Championships on Monday.

“It’s very exciting,” Boudia said. “Not only am I representing the United States in international competition, but Purdue as well.”

Boudia is scheduled to compete in the platform and synchronized platform disciplines at the World Championships. He earned his individual spot at a selection camp in February, and was then chosen as part of the synchronized team.

Boudia was voted Purdue’s Male Athlete of the Year following a collegiate season that saw him named NCAA Diver of the Year after he won the 3-meter and platform national titles. The Noblesville, Ind., native became just the second Boilermaker to win a swimming and diving national championship and first since Keith Carter won the 200 breaststroke in 1949.

Boudia, who finished second in the 1-meter at the NCAA Championships, swept all three boards at the Big Ten Championships on his way to being named Big Ten Diver of the Year, Diver of the Championships and Freshman of the Year.

In addition to his postseason awards, Boudia also was honored with Diver of the Week honors a conference-record seven times during the 2008-09 season, which ended with him holding Doris Z. Holloway Pool, Big Ten and Purdue records in all three diving competitions.

After the collegiate season was over, Boudia fine-tuned his training with an eye on next week’s competition. He rejoined Thomas Finchum, and the duo picked up right where they left off from the Beijing Olympics. Boudia and Finchum earned third place in the 2009 Diving World Series, which was held in Mexico, City, Mexico, in April.

Boudia is scheduled to compete in the platform and synchronized platform disciplines at the World Championships. He earned his individual spot at a selection camp in February, and was then chosen as part of the synchronized team.

“This is another great opportunity for David as he continues his progress toward London (for the 2012 Summer Olympics),” head diving coach Adam Soldati said.

The individual platform preliminaries begin Monday at 8 a.m. ET, and the final is scheduled for Tuesday at 4 a.m. The synchronized platform preliminary round is set for July 24 at 7 a.m., with the final slated to begin July 25 at 7 a.m.

Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) is the International Federation (IF) recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administering international competition in the aquatic sports (its name translated from French is “International Swimming Federation”). It is one of several IFs which administers a given sport/discipline for the IOC and/or international community. It is based in Lausanne, Switzerland.

FINA currently oversees competition in five aquatic sports: swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, water polo and open water swimming.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Twenty-seven Purdue student-athletes were honored as Distinguished Scholar Award recipients by the Big Ten Conference on Wednesday.

The award was established by the Big Ten Faculty Representatives in February in order to supplement the Academic All-Big Ten program. In order to be eligible for the Distinguished Scholar Award, recipients must be in at least their second academic year at the institution and have a minimum GPA of 3.7 for the previous academic year, excluding summer school.

Of Purdue’s 27 recipients, six posted a perfect 4.0 GPA this year. Those individuals are bolded on the complete list below.

The Academic All-Big Ten threshold is a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher for their academic career. A total of 150 Boilermaker student athletes garnered Academic All-Big Ten honors during the 2008-09 school year. Purdue’s Distingushed Scholar Award recipients follow.

• Katie Beck, Women’s Swimming & Diving
• David Colturi, Men’s Swimming & Diving
• Scott Dean, Men’s Swimming & Diving
• Matthew DeSilva, Men’s Track & Field
• Danielle Eagan, Women’s Cross Country
• Laura Garriga, Women’s Basketball
• Nan Hammel, Women’s Track & Field
• Joe Holland, Football
• Liane Horiuchi, Softball
• Christine Inman, Women’s Swimming & Diving
• Alex Jaffee, Baseball
• Morgan Lebsack, Women’s Swimming & Diving
• Ashlee Lengacher, Women’s Track & Field
• Luke Manuel, Wrestling
• Danita Merlau, Women’s Volleyball
• Lauren Mioton, Women’s Basketball
• Katie Morrical, Women’s Track & Field
• Tom Oliver, Men’s Golf
• Mallory Peck, Women’s Track & Field
• Loredana Riverso, Soccer
• Kaitlin Seeger, Soccer
• Connor Sestak, Baseball
• Allie Smith, Women’s Swimming & Diving
• Eric Sparks, Men’s Track & Field
• Rachel Stalzer, Women’s Track & Field
• Matt Stewart, Men’s Swimming & Diving
• Mark Wohlford, Men’s Basketball

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue divers Kara Cook and David Colturi each participated in a final Tuesday at the World University Games in Belgrade, Serbia.

Kara Cook (shown here at the 2009 Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships) finished fifth in the synchronized platform competition Tuesday at the World University Games. (Photo by gadknows via flickr)

Cook placed fifth in the synchronized platform competition while contesting her second event in as many days. The junior from The Woodlands, Texas, teamed with Southern Methodist University junior Audra Egenolf to score 252.69 points in the event, which was won by the Chinese team of Lishi Lao and Ni Chin. Monday, Cook finished 16th after scoring 218.80 points off the platform.

Colturi finished sixth in the 1-meter final with his score of 342.90. The junior from Sylvania, Ohio, opened his meet with a 351.05-point performance that placed fourth in the preliminary round before finishing second in his semifinal with 361.00.

Colturi, who won the US platform and synchronized platform titles in April, still has both of those events in front of him. He contests the platform Thursday before teaming with Ohio State junior Sean Moore for the synchronized competition Friday. Live results can be found at purduesports.com.