C-USA Announces Women's Swimming and Diving Awards

Yulia Pakhalina

East Carolina’s Diane Parker was named C-USA Swimmer of the Year and Houston’s Yulia Pakhalina earned Diver of the Year, as announced by the conference office.

CHICAGO– 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 and Houston’s Yulia Pakhalina earned Diver of the Year, as announced by the conference office.

Parker, a sophomore from Tucker, Ga., helped the East Carolina Pirates claim its first C-USA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship this past season. At the 2003 Championship, Parker finished first in the 200 individual medley, notching a C-USA meet record time of 2:02.43, while also earning a first-place showing in the 100-yard butterfly. During the 2002-03 season, she set five school varsity records (four individual and one relay) and was also the only three-time Swimmer of the Week honoree. In total, she won 21 races this season and had four top five finishes. Parker also claimed the 2001-02 C-USA Freshman Swimmer of the Year.

Pakhalina earned the C-USA Diver of the Year honor, after claiming her third consecutive three-meter title and second straight one-meter springboard crown at this year’s NCAA Championships in Athens, Ga. The Penza, Russia native finished as the meet’s 12th-ranked individual leading scorer with 40 points and extended her winning streak on the three-meter board to 31 consecutive events. She also won the one-meter and three-meter events for the second year in a row at the 2003 C-USA Swimming and Diving Championship. Pakhalina was a six-time C-USA Diver of the Week honoree this past season and finished her collegiate career with a total of 12 weekly accolades. She also became only the second diver in NCAA history to claim three-consecutive three-meter crowns.

Additional individual awards were previously announced at the C-USA Championship in late February. Cincinnati’s Ann Degenstein was named C-USA Freshman Swimmer of the Year, while Houston’s Azul Almazan earned the league’s Freshman Diver of the Year accolade. East Carolina’s Rick Kobe claimed his first C-USA Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year honor and Houston’s Jane Figuerido was named Diving Coach of the Year.





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