University of Houston Athletics
Three Divers Look to Qualify for NCAA Championships
3/13/2003 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
March 13, 2003
AUSTIN, Texas - After a rigorous schedule and challenging Conference USA meet, three University of Houston divers look to qualify for the NCAA Championships when they compete at the NCAA Zone D Diving Championships in Austin, Texas, this weekend.
Seniors Yulia Pakhalina and Veronica Smith and redshirt freshman Azul Almazan will compete Friday through Sunday at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swim Center. The meet begins with the 3-meter competition on Friday and continues with the 1-meter event on Saturday before wrapping up with platform diving on Sunday. Competition will begin at 7 p.m. and is expected to finish around 9 p.m. each day.
Eight women's divers will qualify for the NCAA Championships out of the Zone D Diving Championships based on their performances this weekend. Overall, 41 divers will qualify for the women's NCAA Championships.
The University of Texas will serve as one of five host schools for the Diving Zones, hosting athletes from the states of Texas, Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska.
All three Cougar divers proved their abilities at the C-USA Meet on Feb. 23-25 in Indianapolis, Ind. During that competition, the group placed among the top four individual leaders in both the 1- and 3-meter events with Almazan walking away with the platform championship.
Under the leadership of UH head diving coach Jane Figueiredo, the Cougars have established themselves as one of the premier programs in collegiate diving. Figueiredo, the 2001 NCAA Diving Coach of the Year and the 2002 and 2003 C-USA Diving Coach of the Year, is now in her 13th season at the school and has helped qualify at least one diver for the NCAA Championships every season.
In over two years at the University of Houston, Pakhalina has established herself as one of the finest divers in the world. The two-time defending NCAA national champion on the 3-meter springboard, the Penza, Russia, native also captured the 2001 NCAA title on the 1-meter board.
During her brilliant career, Pakhalina has twice been named the Conference USA Diver of the Meet while winning consecutive C-USA titles in both springboard events. She was named the league's Diver of the Week 11 times, including six times in 2002-03 alone.
This season, Pakhalina has recorded the team's top 12 marks on the 1-meter board and the top four marks on the 3-meter board. In addition, she has never lost on the 3-meter board with 30 consecutive wins during her collegiate career and reeled off 36 straight wins in diving events before eventually finishing as national runner-up on the 1-meter board at the 2002 NCAA National Championships.
Almazan has been equally impressive during her first season of collegiate competition. After sitting out 2001-02 with a redshirt, the Mexico City, Mexico, native wasted little time in emerging as one of the team's most consistent scorers. At the 2003 Conference USA meet, Almazan scored 477.65 points to claim the platform diving championship and left the meet as the C-USA Freshman Diver of the Year, the second straight season that a Cougar has claimed that award.
During the regular season, she took first place in both diving events against Louisiana-Monroe on the way to being named C-USA Diver of the Week, one of second consecutive weeks that a UH diver walked away with that honor.
Senior Veronica Smith also will compete at the Diving Zone Championships this weekend and saved her best for last during the regular season. The Houston native posted her top two marks in the 3-meter competition during the C-USA meet on Feb. 23-25, including a season-best score of 449.95.
Smith also established her season's second-best mark with 248.90 points on the 1-meter board.
