University of Houston Athletics
Pakhalina Finishes Second on One-Meter Board at NCAA Championships
3/21/2002 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
March 21, 2002
AUSTIN, Texas - University of Houston diver Yulia Pakhalina finished second in the one-meter springboard during first-day competition at the NCAA Championships at the Jamail Texas Swimming Center on Thursday night.
Pakhalina finished with a score of 320.40 in the one-meter finals, second only to USC freshman Blythe Hartley's score of 350.85. Pakhalina, the 2001 national champion in the one-meter event, lost her first-ever collegiate diving event and saw her 36-event winning streak come to an end.
The Penza, Russia, native now looks to defend her 2001 NCAA national championship on the three-meter springboard on Friday. Preliminaries for that event begin around 1 p.m. with the finals slated to start around 7 p.m.
As dominant as she has been on the one-meter springboard, Pakhalina was even more consistent in the three-meter event, winning by an average of nearly 120 points during the season.
Pakhalina was easily the most dominant diver on the Cougar squad this season, winning all 26 diving events prior to the NCAA Championships. For her impressive performances throughout the season, she was named the first-ever Conference USA Diver of the Year and Diver of the meet at the inaugural league championship in mid-February.
Those awards were in addition to her five C-USA Diver of the Week accolades during the regular season.
Indiana's Sarah Reiling was a close third to Pakhalina, trailing the Cougar diver by only one quarter of a point. Michelle Davison (Miami, Fla.), Katie Beth Bryant (Miami, Fla.), Lane Bassham (Alabama), Lauryn McCalley (Tennessee) and Nicci Fusaro (USC) rounded out the top eight leaders.
Earlier in the day, Pakhalina qualified for Thursday night's final with a score of 312.80 in the preliminaries but finished second behind Hartley's score of 333.95 points.
