Patient Ryan Helms in position for 3-meter

A day after qualifying for the USA Diving Winter National Championships with a first-place finish in the 1-meter springboard preliminaries, Tennessee diver Ryan Helms also qualified in the 3-meter Friday.

His 403.80 points from six dives at Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center put him in second place and advanced him to Sunday's quarterfinals.

Besides the competitors and trying to score better than they did, the senior from Moultrie, Ga., also found himself Friday having to face two other foes — time and awe.

The time factor came from having to wait well past half an hour in between dives, because some 65 divers were taking part.

"Considering that, I'm pretty pleased with how I did," he said, adding that he had his best score of the year. "It's not normal for meets to be anywhere close to this long."

Along with the quantity of divers, he also had to deal with quality and being in awe. This was particularly true considering that his main competition Friday came from 2008 Olympic platform diver Thomas Finchum, who finished first with 409.80 points.

However, Helms said he felt he did a good job of not worrying about the other competitors.

"Those guys are going to be doing some really great dives," he said. "You just have to block that out and focus more on your own diving. I try to focus more on my own score and how that is compared to my own personal best. "

As the six-day Winter Nationals begin today at the UT pool following two days of preliminary qualifying, Helms' coach, Dave Parrington, is excited for his top male springboard diver.

"I've been very pleased with what he's done the last two days," Parrington said. "These qualifying rounds are extremely long and a test of endurance and mental toughness. To get up and dive well under these circumstances is really difficult to do and he got it done."

Among the others competing Friday in the men's 3-meter, former Vol Michael Wright (355) finished sixth and also moved on to the quarterfinals, while UT's Brent Sterling (328.95) finished 12th and just missed advancing.

Teammate Jordan Mauney (301.95) was 18th, and local high school student Samuel Smith (242.60) was 49th.

Winning the women's 1-meter preliminary Friday was Jordan Morcom of Missouri (247.95).

Competitors who finish in the top 12 of the semifinals after advancing from the quarterfinals in the Olympic events automatically qualify for the Olympic Trials.

John Shearer is a freelance contributor.