Panthers Take Third at Conference

Wednesday, February 14

Iowa City, Iowa

All Day

University of Northern Iowa

MVC Championships

Panthers Take Third at Conference

2/17/2018 8:47:00 PM | Women's Swimming and Diving

Results (PDF - Full)

IOWA CITY, Iowa—The University of Northern Iowa women's swimming and diving team finished in third place at the Missouri Valley Conference championships.

Molly Lembezeder swam into second-place in the 100 freestyle, swimming a time of fifty seconds and one-hundredth of a second.

"It didn't hit me fully until the 400 freestyle relay went into the water that this was my last meet," said senior Molly Lembezeder.

Crystal Florman took third in the 100 freestyle, timing in at 50.24.

Florman, Katie Taylor, Rachel Siebenaller, and Molly Lembezeder reset the school record in the 400 freestyle relay, timing in at 3:23.24.

Kylie Engstrom broke the school record in the 1650 freestyle, timing in at 16:54.34. The previous record was set in 2011 at 17:07.94.

"I'm excited to see where the conference can go as we continue to grow," commented Lembezeder.

Taylor timed in third-place in the 200 backstroke, swimming a 1:59.55. Taylor's preliminary time was good for a NCAA B cut.

Jayden Lovell competed in the finals of the 3-meter diving boards. Lovell finished in sixth place, diving a 223.35.

"I was super excited for how well Jayden did. She came to UNI with no 3-meter experience," remarked diving coach Lori Meierbachtol.

Moriah Ross competed in the 200 breaststroke, taking sixth place with a time of 2:17.92.

Kelsey Ostrowski competed in the B finals of the 200 butterfly, swimming an even 2:08.

Madison Rinaldi competed in the B final of the 200 backstroke, timing in at 2:04.62.

Siebenaller competed in the B final of the 100 freestyle, timing in at 51.86. Abby Meyer swam a 52.37 in the event.

Olivia Knowles competed in the B final of the 200 breaststroke, swimming a time of 2:25.97.

Meredith Gorman timed in at 17:41.09 in the 1650 freestyle. Jordan McCullough followed a second later, swimming a 17:42.76. Anika Lillegard-Bouton swam a 17:55.35 to round out the Panthers.

In the C final of the 100 freestyle, Maddie Bagby swam a 53.25. Natalie Nelson competed in the event, timing in at 53.50.

Olivia Crouse competed in the C final of the 200 breaststroke, swimming a 2:28.11.

Three Panthers swam in the C final of the 200 butterfly. Emma Baertlein led the way, swimming a 2:15.06. Anna Wall timed in at 2:19.82, while Alex Binkley rounded the Panthers out, swimming a 2:21.27.

"Four days of swimming at this level can be tough," remarked head coach Nick Lakin. "but this team was resilient and stepped up to the plate."

Conference Honors

Molly Lembezeder, Katie Taylor, Kylie Engstrom, and Crystal Florman all earned 1^st team All-Conference honors for their performances this week.

Abby Meyer, Madison Rinaldi, Moriah Ross, Rachel Siebenaller and Jayden Lovell earned All-Conference honorable mention.

Other Notes

Katie Taylor defended her championships in the 400 IM and captured the 200 IM championship this week. Taylor earned a B cut in the 400 IM and reset the school and MVC record. Taylor's preliminary time in the 200 backstroke earned an NCAA B cut.

Follow UNI Swimming and Diving? Check them out at unipanthers.com, @UNISwimming on Twitter and @uniswimdive on Instagram.

Final Standings
1^st Missouri State               799
2^nd Southern Illinois           672.5
3^rd UNI                              487.5
4^th Indiana State                477
5^th Illinois State                  370.5
6^th UA Little Rock               363.5
7^th Evansville                     225
8^th Valparaiso                    110