University of Houston
NCAA Championships
Pakhalina, Figueiredo Named NCAA Diver, Diving Coach of the Year
3/22/2003 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
March 22, 2003
AUBURN, Ala. - University of Houston diver Azul Almazan finished 18th in the preliminaries of the platform diving competition Saturday during the final day of the 2003 NCAA Championships at the James E. Martin Aquatic Center.
The Cougars finished in a tie for 20th place with Iowa in the overall team standings with 41 points. It marked the third consecutive year that UH finished among the nation's Top 25 team leaders at the NCAA Championships and was the first time since 1985-86 that the Cougars earned a Top 20 place at the national meet.
Host Auburn captured the team title with 536 points, while Georgia finished second with 373 points. A total of 40 collegiate teams were represented at the 2003 NCAA Championships.
With the conclusion of the 2003 Championships, the Cougars dominated the diving postseason awards. Senior Yulia Pakhalina, who earned the NCAA individual national championships on both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboards, was named the NCAA Diver of the Year.
The Penza, Russia, native finished as the NCAA Championships 12th individual leading scorer with 40 points and extended her winning streak on the 3-meter board to 31 consecutive events.
UH head diving coach Jane Figueiredo also was honored as the NCAA Diving Coach of the Year for the second time in the last three seasons. A 13-year veteran of the Cougar diving program, Figueiredo captured Conference USA Diving Coach of the Year honors for the second straight year in 2003 and received the sixth coaching award in her distinguished career.
In addition to the national and conference awards, Figueiredo was named the 1998 and 2001 National Independent Conference Diving Coach of the Year.
Following the meet, Figueiredo was quick to deflect any praise to her award-winning divers.
"Your divers do that (win the award) for you," Figueiredo. "Both of them contributed. It was awesome and we couldn't be happier."
Earlier in the day, Almazan earned 344.25 points in the preliminaries to finish in 18th place.
The top eight scorers in the preliminaries qualified for the finals Saturday evening.
