University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
MVC Championships
Panther swimming & diving kicks off MVC Championships on Wednesday night
2/20/2024 1:36:00 PM | Women's Swimming and Diving
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- Postseason competition begins for UNI swimming and diving as the Panthers head to Evansville, Indiana for the 2024 Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Championships at the Deaconess Aquatic Center.
Competition will begin with the opening session on Wednesday at 6 p.m. CT and run through Saturday night with 10 a.m. CT preliminary heats, followed by 6 p.m. CT finals.
Northern Iowa was picked to finish fifth in the MVC's pre-championship poll last week, totaling 47 points in voting among the conference's coaches. Indiana State was tabbed as a slight favorite over defending champion Missouri State with Southern Illinois picked to finish in third and Illinois State in fourth.
The Panthers return to the pool for the first time since early February when they captured seven first-place finishes at the Coyote Invite and swept all three events at the Omaha Diving Invite.
UNI returns a number of standout performers from a fourth-place team finish at last year's conference championship meet, including the reigning 50-yard freestyle champion in Faith Larsen, who set a new school record in the event with a winning time of 22.54 seconds. Larsen has led the MVC from wire-to-wire this season with the top-time in the event.
Also returning for the Panthers is Amber Finke, runner-up in the 200-yard backstroke in 2023 and champion in the event in 2021. Finke stepped up her performance in both the 100 and 200-yard backstroke events this season, setting new school records during the year and enters the MVC Championships with the second-fastest times in the conference in both events.
In the diving well, Trista Thompson and Avery Hogan have led the charge for Northern Iowa this year with Thompson posting a team-best score of 267.80 in the one-meter springboard competition, earning an NCAA Diving Zones cut in the process. Hogan led the Panthers on the three-meter board with a team-leading score of 276.85 in her freshman campaign.
Players Mentioned
