Three Cougars Tabbed for C-USA Inaugural Hall of Fame Class

HOUSTON – In honor of its 25^th season, Conference USA announced its inaugural Hall of Fame class, tabbing Cougar standouts Chandi Jones, Case Keenum and Yulia Pakhalina for induction.

The 25-person class is comprised of 20 former student-athletes and two administrators across 13 sports. Eleven schools are represented in the class, and Houston is one of three schools with three inductees.

"We are very pleased to honor this outstanding group for their many lasting contributions to their universities and to Conference USA," said Judy MacLeod, Conference USA Commissioner. "They have provided many outstanding achievements and memories and we are proud to recognize their lasting legacy to our conference."

CHANDI JONES | WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Chandi Jones, closed out her collegiate career in 2004. The 5-10 guard from Bay City, Texas, led the Cougars onto the national stage during her four-year career. She was named C-USA's Female Athlete of the Decade in 2005 and was also named the league's basketball player of the decade and earned a slot on the C-USA All-Decade Team.

She was a 2004 Kodak All-American, the first in school history, as well as a three-time C-USA Player of the Year (2002, 2003, 2004). She earned First-Team All-C-USA honors in each of her four seasons and is UH and C-USA's all-time leading scorer with 2,692 points. That mark ranks her 21st on the NCAA career scoring list. She became C-USA's all-time scoring leader on Feb. 15, 2004, while leading Houston to a 73-65 victory at East Carolina. She finished the game with 21 points to surpass the previous record held by Tamika Whitmore, who bucketed 2,488 points in 120 games for the Memphis Tigers from 1996-99. Jones ranks third all-time in UH basketball scoring history, behind only Elvin Hayes (2,884 points) and Otis Birdsong (2,832 points).

She won the national scoring title in 2003, averaging 27.5 points per game. Her career average of 23.6 points per game is a C-USA record. Jones reached double figures in a then-NCAA record 114-straight games, scoring in double digits in every game she played for UH. She reached the 2,000-point plateau in just 84 games, the third-fastest player in NCAA history to do so.

Jones tore her ACL with nine games remaining in the 2001 season, but still was the nation and C-USA's leading freshman scorer, averaging 21.5 points per game. Following her return to form in 2002, Jones was named National Comeback Player of the Year by the Women's Basketball News Service.

Jones led UH to a nearly 70-percent winning percentage, as Houston was 88-38 (.698) during her career. She aided the program to the 2004 C-USA Regular Season and Tournament Titles, both firsts for the Cougars. She earned MVP honors at the 2004 C-USA Championship. Her jersey was retired on Feb. 5, 2005, the first such honor for a UH women's player. Jones' number 13 hangs in the Fertitta Center along with some of the great names in college basketball history including Birdsong, Clyde Drexler, Hayes, Hakeem Olajuwon and former UH coach Guy V. Lewis.

At the close of her career, she became the first UH women's player to be selected in the first round of the 2004 WNBA draft. Jones was chosen eighth overall by the Phoenix Mercury and later traded to the Detroit Shock. Jones played two seasons for the Minnesota Lynx before playing overseas in several different countries. Jones was inducted into the Houston Hall of Honor on Nov. 4, 2010.

CASE KEENUM | FOOTBALL
Keenum was a member of the Houston Football program from 2006 to 2011. He ended his collegiate career in 2011, leading the Cougars to a 13-1 record and a win over Penn State in the TicketCity Bowl while winning the Sammy Baugh Trophy for a second time after claiming the honor in 2009. A finalist for the Davey O'Brien Award both years, Keenum earned Second Team All-America honors from CBSSports.com and Walter Camp in 2009 while earning Honorable Mention All-America honors from Sports Illustrated in 2011.

Named C-USA's MVP in 2009 and 2011, Keenum was also named the league's Offensive Player of the Year in 2008 and its Freshman of the Year in 2007. He was the NCAA's leader in total offense in 2008 (403.2 yards per game), 2009 (416.4) and 2011 (404.7), leading Houston to the nation's best in total offense in 2009 (563.4) and 2011 (599.1). Led by Keenum, Houston also led in the nation in scoring and passing offense in both 2009 and 2011.

Currently with the Washington Redskins, Keenum owns 17 NCAA records, including total offense in a career (20,114 yards), career touchdown passes (155), career 300-yard passing games (39), career passing yards (19,217) and career pass completions (1,546).

He is the winningest quarterback in Houston history with 37 wins in 51 starts.

On Oct. 29, 2016, the Cougars retired the No. 7 in honor of Keenum and David Klinger prior to the program's game vs. UCF on TDECU Stadium.

YULIA PAKHALINA | SWIMMING & DIVING
Pakhalina closed out her career as two-time NCAA Diver of the Year (2003, 2002) after winning the NCAA Championship in the 1-meter and 3-meter dive in both years, and C-USA Diver of the Year and Diver of the Meet in 2002 and 2003.

The Cougar standout won 64 of the 66 collegiate diving events in which she entered (only losses in finals of NCAA Championships). Pakhalina established herself as possibly the greatest female student-athlete in the storied history of Cougar athletics, settin a school record in 2003 by winning her fourth and fifth NCAA individual national championships.

A prolific diver, Pakhalina never lost on the 3-meter springboard, winning all 32 events during her distinguished career and collected back-to-back C-USA championships on both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboards in 2002 and 2003. She won the C-USA platform diving championship in 2002, the only platform event in which she competed at UH.

In 2004, Pakhalina received the C-USA Women's Swimming and Diving Scholar-Athlete Award in 2004. At the conclusion of her career, Pakhalina had accumulated 11C-USA Diver of the Week honors 11 in two seasons, including seven times during the 2002-03 season alone.

Pakhalina competed internationally, winning a silver medal during the 3-meter synchronized diving competition at the European Championships in Berlin in August 2002 and captured a gold medal in the 3-meter event. In 2001, Pakhalina won a silver medal in synchronized diving at the 2001 FINA World Championships in Japan and competed at the 2001 Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia.

Following her collegiate career, Pakhalina teamed with Vera Ilyina to win the gold medal in 3-meter synchronized diving at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. She made her second appearance at the Olympics Athens in the summer of 2004 and won the silver medal in synchronized diving and earned the bronze medal in the 3-meter individual springboard event. In her third Olympic Games in Beijing, China in the summer of 2008, the Cougar great won two silver medals. Her first medal was in the 3-meter synchronized diving, where she was paired with fellow Cougar Anastasia Pozdniakova. Her second silver was in the 3-meter springboard.

FOLLOW THE COUGARS!
Fans can keep up with the latest in University of Houston Cougar athletics by following us on Facebook (Facebook.com/HoustonAthletics), Twitter (@UHCougars), Instagram (houstoncougars) and YouTube.com (Youtube.com/UHAthletics). In addition, the swimming & diving team has established its own official Facebook (Facebook.com/UHCougarSwim) and Twitter pages (@UHCougarSwim), which provide regular updates on the team and live results during home meets.

--UHCougars.com--

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