The inaugural C-USA Women's Swimming and Diving Championship and Men's Invitational will be held on Sunday-Tuesday, February 17-20 at the IUPUI Natatorium in Indianapolis.

Competing in the three-day event will be Cincinnati, East Carolina, Houston, Louisville Saint Louis and TCU.

Championship Notes
CINCINNATI’s Marien de Jong (50 and 100 freestyle) and Maria Oberg (200, 500, 1,000 and 1,650 freestyle) hold the conference’s best times in all of the freestyle events this season. Oberg and De Jong each won C-USA Swimmer of the Week honors twice this season, while Val Lindsay captured Diver of the Week honors on Jan. 15. Oberg has qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:46.66. On the men’s side, Scott Davison has captured nine first-place finishes in the 500 freestyle this season.

EAST CAROLINA’s head coach Rick Kobe has become the winningest coach in Pirate athletics’ history. His .716 winning percentage is the best of any Pirate coach with at least five years at ECU since the school became a Division I institution in 1969. With their 10-1 record, the women’s team reached the 10-win plateau for only the fifth time in the program’s 25-year history.

HOUSTON’s Yulia Pakhalina, the 2001 NCAA national champion on both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboards, collected C-USA Diver of the Week honors five times this season. In two seasons, she has never lost a collegiate diving event in which she has entered. This season, Pakhalina has won 21 straight diving events. Elissa Nelson holds the conference’s second-best times in both the 1,000 freestyle (10:24.03) and 1,650 freestyle (17:11.99). Stacey Eberling was the first-ever Conference USA Swimmer of the Week on Oct. 23, 2001.

LOUISVILLE’s Katie Collins earned her first C-USA Diver of the Week, after capturing both the one-meter and three-meter titles in a dual-meet against West Virginia. She posted a season-high score of 189.00 on the one-meter board, while posting a season-best 170.93 on the three-meter springboard. Even with a loss to Ohio State, the Cardinals posted a strong ending to the dual-meet season, capturing five individual events and one relay against the undefeated Buckeyes.

SAINT LOUIS’ Jenny Hurst holds C-USA’s best scoring mark on the one-meter diving event. Hurst scored a 368.35 at the Notre Dame Invitational on Dec. 7. Freshman Megan Capellupo has posted an impressive first year campaign. Most recently, she captured three first-place finishes in the 100 and 200 breaststroke and 200 IM against Eastern Illinois on Feb. 2. Sophomore Greg Bowne won his first race of his career, posting a time of 1:02.40 in the 100 breaststroke against Eastern Illinois.

In only its first season as a member of C-USA, TCU has made an immediate impact. This season, the women’s squad currently holds seven of the conference’s top times, including three relays (400 freestyle, 200 medley and 400 medley relay). TCU’s women’s team has been named to the College Coaches Association’s Academic All-American Swim Team for 16 consecutive semesters. The men have achieved that distinction in each of the last three terms.