Pakhalina Continues Winning Ways at Arkansas Diving Invitational
11/30/2001 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Nov. 30, 2001
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - It's becoming an old record, but the University of Houston swimming and diving team never tires of hearing the same tune.
Sophomore diver Yulia Pakhalina, the 2001 NCAA national champion in the one- and three-meter springboard events, continued her dominance Friday at the Arkansas Invitational by capturing first place in both events at the Arkansas Natatorium.
The wins marked her 11th and 12th consecutive wins in those events to open the Cougars' 2001-02 season.
In the one-meter competition, Pakhalina was the only diver to score more than 300 points, finishing more than 40 points ahead of second-place finisher Jaime Sanger of Tennessee.
She continued her dominance in the three-meter event by racking up 571.65 points to claim first place.
The meet, which concludes Saturday evening, starts with swimming preliminaries at 10 a.m. The diving competition at 1 p.m. with the swimming finals to commence around 6 p.m. UH faces the swimming teams of host Arkansas and Washington State and the diving squads of the Lady Razorbacks, Tennessee and Florida.
While Pakhalina was the lone Cougar to win an individual event, several Cougar swimmers set new team season bests. In the 100-yard butterfly, Falon Hopkins bettered her previous season best with a time of 57.96, while Elissa Nelson set a new mark for her teammates to shoot at with a time of 1:56.34 in the 200-yard freestyle.
Stacey Ebeling set a new UH season best in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:05.69, good enough for a fourth place finish.
Jessica DeWitt (100-yard butterfly), Jessica Blake (200-yard freestyle), Laura Starr and Carolina Burakowski (100-yard breaststroke) and Blake, Kristen Douglass and Brittney Dye (100-yard backstroke) established new personal season bests in their respective events.
In the relay events, a pair of Cougar squads set new team season bests. The 200-yard medley relay team of DeWitt, Ebeling, Hopkins and Kristin Bay captured fourth place with a time of 1:49.24.
The 800-yard freestyle relay team of Jenni Pease, Turpin, Blake and Nelson shaved nearly eight seconds off the previous UH season best with a time of 7:57.83 to capture fifth place.