COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Illinois State swimming and diving team is currently sitting in fourth place overall at the conclusion of the second day and seven events of the Missouri Valley Conference Championships with 182.50 points, behind Missouri State (278), UNI (199.50) and Southern Illinois (186).
Breaking yet another school record, Kierston Farley-Sepe clocked in a third-place time of 2:02.27 in the 200-yard IM, with the previous record time being 2:02.65.
"We are very excited with how the team swam tonight," said head swimming coach Scott Cameron. "We had a lot of great swims, and we had a lot of our team move up and improve from the times they put up in prelims. We have a lot of positivity and confidence going into tomorrow, and we are excited to see the team continue build on what we did tonight."
"Today was a great start to the championships for our divers," said head diving coach Phil Hoffmann. "I was very pleased with how we dove all around. By far it was one of the deepest contests in many years and our divers rose to the challenge."
A-Finals
Competing in the A-Finals, Farley-Sepe continued to bring her A-game on the second day of the MVC Championships, finishing the 200-yard IM in third place with a time of 2:02.27 – an ISU school record – after clocking in a time of 2:02.87 in the preliminary round.
The Redbirds' 200-yard freestyle relay team consisting of Katie Tillotson, Morgan Clark, Jessica Nichols and Farley-Sepe recorded a fifth-place finish with a time of 1:34.72 in the event.
Illinois State diver Caroline Lecoeur placed third out of 25 athletes in the 1-meter diving event A-Finals with a score of 261.00, while teammate Emily Aument finished eighth with a score of 224.40.
B-Finals
Morgan Rosser took fourth in the B-final rounds in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:02.23, closely behind was Julia Oostman, turning in a fifth-place finish and a time of 5:03.27.
Illinois State went four-five in the B-Final section of the 500-yard freestyle event with times of 5:02.23 and 5:03.27, respectively. The 200-yard IM was packed with Redbirds, as Julie Kolar turned in an impeccable second-place finish, clocking in a time of 2:04.67 for a 10th overall performance. Following behind Kolar in the event was Savannah Rubocki (2:05.54), Jensen Keck (2:05.72), and Haley Rivera (2:05.92), respectively.
Other noteworthy performances from the B-Final group came in the 50-yard freestyle. Tillotson took a first-place finish in this heat, clocking a time of 23.69. Closely behind Tillotson was Clark with a time of 23.88, and Jessica Nichols with a seventh-place finish and a time of 24.10.
Rachel Johnston battled in the B-Final on the boards, taking seventh in her group and 16th overall, in the 1-meter diving event turning a score of 201.00.
C-Final
Finishing third in C-Final of the 500-yard freestyle was Lexie Hardewig (5:07.86), followed by Jordan Peterson with a fifth-place finish (5:08.71) in the event. The Redbirds secured another top-five performance in the C-Final, as Alyssa Reinholz finished fourth in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.32.
Fans can receive live updates and more by following @RedbirdSwim on Twitter. For full coverage of the 2019 MVC Championships, please visit the championship central website.
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