Jan. 26, 2002

Results

HOUSTON, Texas - The University of Houston swimming and diving team ended its 2002 home schedule Saturday with a 136-99 loss to SMU at the UH Natatorium.

Sophomore diver Yulia Pakhalina extended her event winning streak to 29 straight, and freshman Vicki Blocker captured first place in the 200-yard backstroke for the Cougars, who fall to 2-10 in dual meets this season.

SMU captured first place in both relay events and seven swimming events to take the win. The Mustangs also took advantage of five events, in which they placed 1-2.

Saturday's meet marked the final home appearance for four Cougar seniors. Agustina Foglietta, Stacey Ebeling, Elissa Nelson and Linda Osborne each played integral roles in the success of the Cougar swimming and diving program during the last four years.

Pakhalina, who has never lost a collegiate diving event, continued her dominance Saturday on both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboards. The Penza, Russia, native won the 3-meter competition by nearly 130 points and was tops in the 1-meter event by a 104-point margin.

Blocker was the only Cougar swimmer to win an individual event. The Spring native posted a time of 2:09.98 to win by just more than one second.

Elissa Nelson (1000-yard freestyle), Lucile Turpin (200-yard butterfly), Agustina Foglietta (500-yard freestyle) and Corrie Phares (200-yard breaststroke) each posted second-place finishes in their respective events.

The Cougars wrap up their regular season with a 4 p.m. dual meet at Texas A&M on Friday in College Station, Texas. From there, the team heads to Indianapolis, Ind., to compete in the first-ever Conference USA Championships on Feb. 17-19.