NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State Swimming & Diving program is prepped for the four-day 2022 Missouri Valley Conference Swimming & Diving Championships set for Wednesday, February 16 through Saturday, February 19 at the Campus Recreation & Wellness Center on the campus of the University of Iowa. A full schedule of events can be found at the MVC's Meet Central here.
HOW TO FOLLOW ALONG
Live results will be available via Meet Mobile or fans can stream the meet here.
MVC PRE-CHAMPIONSHIP POLL
ISU was picked to finish fourth at this week's Missouri Valley Conference Championships in the annual pre-championship poll of the league's head coaches as announced by the conference office.
Missouri State, who collected seven first-place votes, was picked to finish first, followed by Southern Illinois with one-first place vote. Indiana State rounded out the top-three in the pre-championship poll, while the Redbirds are picked to finish ahead of UNI (fifth), Arkansas-Little Rock (sixth), Evansville (seventh) and Valparaiso (eighth).
LAST TIME AT THE MVC CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Redbirds finished fourth overall as senior Caroline Lecoeur took home Missouri Valley Conference Diver of the Year honors. Four ISU swimmers collected All-MVC First Team honors, while six earned All-MVC Honorable Mention status.
MAKING A SPLASH
The Redbirds will have 20 swimmers competing at the 2022 MVC Championships, including five freshman who will make their conference debuts. Illinois State enters the conference meet with 16 top-10 times in the conference from 10 different student-athletes, led by juniors Madyson Morse and Lauren Naeger who each sit first in the conference in one of their events. Morse has the Valley's top 100-yard breaststroke time, clocking in at 1:02.70 at the Purdue Invite, just shy of her career best that was set at the 2021 MVC Championships. In the 200-yard butterfly, Naeger's time of 2:01.78 is a recent personal-best time swam at the Purdue Invite earlier this year and has led the league since late November. In addition to ISU's multiple individual top-10 rankings, the 800-yard freestyle relay team currently sits in third with a season-best time of 7:34.68.
DIVING IN
ISU's divers have impressed throughout the entire season and will aim to continue that at this week's conference championships. Led by three-time Missouri Valley Conference Diver of the Week, Eva Reyes, the Redbirds have three divers that are currently in the top-10 conference standings. Reyes, who has won eight competitions this season, is projected to finish first in both the 1-meter and 3-meter dives with leading scores in both events. With a best score of 286.28 in the 1-meter and a best score of 299.25 in the 3-meter, Reyes has already qualified for this year's NCAA Zone Diving Championships in both events. Junior Kamryn Blake is sitting fifth overall in the 1-meter and sixth in the 3-meter heading into the MVC Championships, while freshman Gaby Russell is currently 10th overall in the 1-meter.
For all latest on Illinois State swimming & diving, follow the Redbirds on Twitter and Instagram @redbirdswimdive.
GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App: Your sources for Illinois State tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
