C-USA Announces Women's Swimming and Diving Awards

Diane Parker

Conference USA honored the league's most outstanding student-athletes in swimming and diving on Wednesday. The recipients were selected by a vote of the Conference USA swimming and diving head coaches. East Carolina’s Diane Parker was named C-USA Swimmer of the Year for the second year in a row, while Houston’s Azul Almazan earned Diver of the Year, as announced by the conference office.

Parker claimed two individual titles, while helping the Pirates to a second-place showing at the C-USA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship this past season. She finished first in the 100-yard breaststroke, notching a meet record time of 1:02.67, while also earning her third consecutive crown in the 200 individual medley. Parker also qualified for the 2004 NCAA Championship, where she placed 32nd (1:11.02) in the 100 breaststroke and 35th (1:01.66) in the 100 fly.

Almazan was named the C-USA Diver of the Year, after winning the three-meter crown at the C-USA Championship. The Mexico City, Mexico native also notched two top-10 finishes at the 2004 NCAA Championship, garnering a seventh-place showing on the three-meter springboard and placing eighth on the 10-meter platform. This past season, Almazan was a four-time C-USA Diver of the Week honoree, while posting the league’s best mark on the three-meter and platform events in dual-meet action.

Additional individual awards were previously announced at the C-USA Championship in late February. TCU’s Richard Sybesma was named C-USA Swimming Coach of the Year after guiding both his men’s and women’s teams to the league’s team titles. Tulane’s Linda McEachrane earned the conference’s Freshman Swimmer of the Year, while Houston’s Anna Kiess claimed the Freshman Diver of the Year accolade. For the third consecutive year, Houston’s Jane Figuerido was named Diving Coach of the Year. Her Cougar divers have claimed all three diving events the last three C-USA Championships.



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