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Jane Figueiredo
04/03/2013 Houston Divers Capture Conference USA Specialty AwardsLonnegren and Shedd earn top honors for their 2012-13 efforts 03/12/2013 Lonnegren Leads Cougars in 1M on Day 2 of NCAA Zone DivingSenior places eighth for second-straight day 03/11/2013 Cougar Divers Conclude Day 1 of NCAA Zone DivingNatasha Burgess leads the way for Houston in the 3M finishing fifth 02/24/2013 Swimming and Diving Take Runner Up Finish at C-USA ChampionshipsJulia Lonnegren (Diver of the Meet) and Jane Figueiredo (Diving Coach of the Year) take top honors for UH 02/21/2013 Cougars Close Day 2 of C-USA Championships in First PlaceDivers sweep the 3M and two more school records fall You can reach Diving Head Coach Jane Figueiredo at janefig@msn.com. 2010 NCAA Diving Coach of the Year C-USA Swimming & Diving Coach of the Decade - 2000s
Olympic Games performance as an athlete... Olympic Games experience as a head coach... NCAA Coach of the Year awards... Conference USA Coach of the Year honors... National Independent Conference Coach of the Year accolades... Award-winning athletes... All of these awards and more can be found on Figueiredo's amazing resume. Jane Figueiredo begins her 23rd season as the head diving coach at the University of Houston with a reputation as one of the nation's best. Figueiredo and her divers have dominated the conference competition and the NCAA's. Since 2001, the University of Houston divers have won eight national championships, the most in the NCAA. Figueiredo has been selected as the C-USA Diving Coach of the Year every single year since the award's inception in 2002. A Houston diver has won the Conference USA Diver of the Year Award every year since 2002 as well.
Both divers advanced to the NCAA Championships where Lonnegren finished in 24th place (Platform) 28th (1m) and 29th (3m). Truelove claimed 9th place in the 3m and 18th in the platform event. In December of 2010, Figueiredo was inducted into the University of Houston Hall of Honor. http://www.uhcougars.com/sports/w-swim/spec-rel/121410aaa.html
Prior to taking her to the NCAA Championships, Figueiredo guided her All-American through the C-USA Championships, where she took both the 1-meter and 3-meter titles. Figueiredo coached Lacey Truelove to her a C-USA title in the platform competition. She also guided Julia Lonnegren to the 2010 C-USA Freshman Diver of the Year award, the eighth Cougar in nine years to take home the honor. Lonnegren and Jessalyn Almond also earned Scholar All-American honors from the College Swimming Coaches Association of America, proving her words that she is more proud of her divers becoming good people than good athletes.
Jessalyn Almond emerged onto the scene in 2008-09 by taking home the C-USA Freshman Diver of the Year award. Almond was the only freshman diver to score points in all three events at the C-USA Championships. More school records fell under Figueiredo's guidance in 2008-09 as Pozdniakova smashed both the 1-meter and 3-meter records at the NCAA Zone Diving meet with scores of 676.15 and 763.55, respectively. In addition to the accolades earned by her divers, Figueiredo fared very well herself. She earned her third NCAA Diving Coach of the Year award and her eighth consecutive C-USA Diving Coach of the Year award.
The Cougars swept all three events at the C-USA Championship with Pozdniakova claiming both Diver of the Meet and Diver of the Year honors and Figueiredo being named C-USA Diving Coach of the Year for the seventh consecutive season. Every Cougar diver was named C-USA Diver of the Week at least once during the regular season with Pozdniakova's five weekly honors leading all performers.
Cagnotto swept all three events at the 2006 Conference USA Championship, joining former Cougar and NCAA national champion Pakhalina as the only league performers to accomplish that feat. Teammate and Freshman Diver of the Year Pozdniakova was a close second in all three events at the C-USA meet, as the Cougars swept the top two places.
All three of her divers - Anna Kiess, Azul Almazan and Rachel Gitelson - earned All-America honors at the 2005 NCAA meet with Kiess finishing as the national runner-up on the 10-meter platform. Almazan took home two C-USA titles in the 3m and platform competitions while Kiess earned a conference crown in the 1m diving event.
However, Pakhalina wasn't the only Cougar diver to be honored. Almazan was a finalist in the 3-meter and 10-meter events at the NCAA Championships. Almazan also was honored as the C-USA Freshman Diver of the Year
In addition, Figueiredo was honored as the first-ever Conference USA Diving Coach of the Year and tutored Lindsay Harvey, who captured C-USA Freshman Diver of the Year honors.
Under Figueiredo's direction, Lewandowski was honored as the 1998-99 UH Athlete of the Year for all sports. Both were NCAA qualifiers. In her first year as a collegiate coach, Figueiredo also coached First-Team All-American Olivia Clark, who finished fifth in 3-meter diving. Clark -- a three-time All-American -- completed her career with nine Top-16 finishes at the NCAAs and participated in the NCAA Championships all four years from 1991-95. Figueiredo guided Linda Pesek to All-America honors and Hanneke Faber to honorable mention All-America status in 1991. Pesek finished third in the three-meter event and seventh in the 10-meter diving at the NCAA Championships.
Figueiredo was the Russian diving coach at the 2004 Athlens Olympic Games, where she guided former Cougar Pakhalina and the other Russian divers. Pakhalina and Vera Ilyina combined to win a Silver Medal in synchronized diving, while Pakhalina captured a Bronze Medal with her performance on the 3-meter springboard. During the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, she guided one of her current student-athlete divers Anastasia Pozdniakova and Pakhalina to a silver medal in the 3-meter synchronized springboard event. Pakhalina also took silver in the 3-meter springboard event. At the 2000 Sydney Games, Figueiredo was the coach of Russia's Pakhalina and Ilynia, who captured gold medals in the women's 3-meter synchronized diving. Pakhalina and Ilyina placed second and third, respectively, at the World Championships in Japan in July 2001, with Pakhalina taking second in synchronized diving at the 2001 Goodwill Games. Figueiredo was chosen to coach Great Britain's divers at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. After the 2008-09 collegiate season, Figueiredo coached Pozdniakova and Pakhalina to a third place finish in the 3-meter synchronized diving event at the World Championships. In addition to their bronze medal, Pakhalina won the 1-meter event and Pozdniakova finished seventh in the 3-meter event. During the UH offseason in 2002, she coached Pakhalina and Vera Ilyina to a silver medal at the 2002 European Championships in Berlin with Pakhalina also taking a gold medal in the 3-meter board.
Figueiredo was a five-time All-America competitor for Houston and finished second on the 1-meter springboard at the 1985 NCAA Championships. She represented her native Zimbabwe in international competitions for five years and competed in the 1982 and 1986 World Championships. As a member of the Portuguese national team, Figueiredo competed in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles where she finished 22nd in the preliminaries. Upon graduating from Houston in 1987 with a degree in hotel and restaurant management, Figueiredo worked in the restaurant business for four years. She also fostered an interest in coaching by serving as an assistant for the Cougar Diving Club. As head coach of the Cougar age-group divers, she was awarded the National Age Group Coach of the Year award by USA Diving for the 1991-92 season. She was the USA National Team age-group coach in 1994 for a team that participated in Waldkraiburg, Germany. She also coached at the World Age Group Diving Championships in China in 1995, where Kathy Pesek, a member of the Cougar Diving Club, finished fifth. She coached four Junior Olympic National Champions. She is single and lives in Houston.
Date of Birth: Dec. 18, 1963 Hometown: Harare, Zimbabwe Named UH Diving Coach: Aug. 6, 1990 EDUCATION |
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