Houston's Pakhalina to Compete at European Championships

HOUSTON - Don't tell University of Houston diver Yulia Pakhalina there is an off-season.

Pakhalina, a three-time NCAA national champion, competes at the 2002 European Championships in Berlin, Germany, in two events, beginning Sunday.

The Penza, Russia, native, who enters her senior season in 2002-03, teams with Vera Ilyina in the 3-meter synchronized diving competition at 6:15 a.m. (Central, 4:15 p.m. Berlin time) Sunday at the Landsberger Allee.

From there, Pakhalina takes part in the 1-meter springboard preliminaries at 11 a.m. (Central, 7 p.m. Berlin) Thursday, Aug. 1 with the finals of that event slated for 6:05 a.m. (Central, 2:05 p.m. Berlin) Friday, Aug. 2.

Pakhalina won't be the only Cougar working at the Championships. UH diving coach Jane Figueiredo will be guiding Pakhalina as she works with the Russian divers, In addition, new swimming and diving head coach Mark Taylor will be working with the Danish team before assuming his duties at UH in mid-August.

Nearly 800 competitors from 38 nations are scheduled to compete at the European Championships. Pakhalina is one of 47 female divers who will be competing in 10 events.

A year ago, Pakhalina extended her event-winning streak to 36 straight before falling short in the finals of the 1-meter competition at the NCAA Championships. It was the only loss she has suffered during her collegiate career at UH

However, she successfully defended her national title on the 3-meter board the next night and set new NCAA and NCAA meet records with her score of 625.05 points.

In 2001, Pakhalina swept both diving events to help lead UH to a 22nd-place nationally.