University of Houston Athletics
Swimming and Diving to Compete at Texas Invitational
12/4/2002 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Dec. 4, 2002
AUSTIN, Texas - After a lengthy break, the University of Houston swimming and diving team returns to action this week at the Texas Invitational in Austin, Texas.
Competition is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Thursday with the preliminaries of seven events. The first-day finals will start at 6 p.m. with the event continuing through Saturday evening at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swim Center. Admission is free for all sessions.
The Cougars join an impressive field at the three-day meet, including Arizona, Arizona State, Hawaii, Nebraska, Northwestern, Rice, TCU, UC Santa Barbara, USC, Wisconsin and host Texas.
The schedule of events for first-day competition includes the 100-yard butterfly, 200-yard freestyle relay, 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard individual medley, 100-yard butterfly, 50-yard freestyle and 400-yard medley relay.
This will be the first action for the Cougars in nearly three weeks after taking a 159-130 win over Louisiana-Monroe on Nov. 16 at the UH Natatorium. At that dual meet, the Cougars dominated ULM, winning 10 of 16 events and both relay competitions to even their season record at 2-2.
Freshman swimmer Stacey Williams continued to impressive during her first collegiate season by earning first-place finishes in two individual events and two relay events against the Indians. She won the 200-yard butterfly and 200-yard freestyle events and was a part of the Cougars' victorious 200-yard freestyle relay and 400-yard medley relay teams.
Freshman diver Azul Almazan was the top diver for the Cougars, sweeping top honors on both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboards.
For both of their impressive performances, Williams and Almazan were honored as the Conference USA Swimmer and Diver of the Week, respectively. It was the first such honor for Almazan during her career and Williams' second award this season.
Senior diver Yulia Pakhalina, a three-time NCAA national champion, is expected to return to competition after sitting out the ULM meet.
Junior swimmer Lucile Turpin has also been a steady performer for the Cougars in the water this season, posting team-best times in the 500-yard freestyle, 1,000-yard freestyle, 1,650-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, 100-yard individual medley and 400-yard individual medley.
