University of Houston Athletics
Swimming and Diving Opens 2002-03 Season at Rice
10/10/2002 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Oct. 10, 2002
HOUSTON - The University of Houston swimming and diving program opens its 2002-03 season Friday when it joins three other teams at the Bayou City Relay Invitational.
The Cougars, who finished 22nd at the NCAA Championships a year ago, join North Texas, Trinity and host Rice in the event at the Rice Pool, scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
It will be the start of a busy weekend for the UH Swimming and Diving program, which returns home to play host to North Texas in a 3:30 p.m. dual meet Saturday at the UH Natatorium.
This weekend will also be the first action for UH swimming head coach Mark Taylor, who begins his first season at the helm of the Cougar program.
A trio of seniors will lead the way for the Cougars in 2002-03. Diver Yulia Pakhalina and swimmers Falon Hopkins (sprints/butterfly and Jessica Blake (backstroke) were named team captains earlier this month in voting done by the Cougar swimmers and diving and coaching staff.
Pakhalina looks to defend her back-to-back NCAA national championships on the 3-meter springboard. A year ago, Pakhalina reeled off her 36th consecutive win in an NCAA diving event before falling to second place in the 1-meter competition at the NCAA Championships.
However, the Penza, Russia, native rebounded nicely to defend her crown on the 3-meter board the next night and set new NCAA and NCAA meet records in the process.
She captured the championships on the 1-meter and 3-meter springboards as well as the platform at the inaugural Conference USA Championships and was a five-time C-USA Diver of the Week performers.
Fans will have to wait a little longer to see Pakhalina perform, as the Cougar divers will not compete until the NCAA dual meet against the Mean Green on Saturday.
In the swimming pool, Hopkins returns for her senior season. The Houston native posted the Cougars' best times in four events last season and recorded five of the team's six fastest times in the 50-yard freestyle. She was equally dominant in the 100-yard butterfly, where she recorded UH's seven fastest times during the 2001-02 season.
Blake was the team's leading swimmer in the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke events a year ago, recording the team's fastest times in the former event. As a junior, she posted the fourth-fastest mark in school history in the backstroke.
