He won the Mary Lou Retton Award at the U.S. Olympic Festival in 1994 as the
Festival's top male up and coming athlete.
He began diving in Puerto Rico when he was nine years old.
His family moved to Orlando, Florida when he was 12.
In 1999, he became the first diver since Greg Louganis to capture the
10-meter platform, 3-meter springboard and the non-Olympic event of
1-meter springboard at Spring Nationals.