UNI swim & dive rounds out MVC Championships with fifth-place finish

Wednesday, February 21

Evansville, Ind.

10:30 a.m. (Prelims) / 6 p.m. (Finals)

University of Northern Iowa

MVC Championships

UNI swim & dive rounds out MVC Championships with fifth-place finish

2/24/2024 9:51:00 PM | Women's Swimming and Diving

FINAL MEET RESULTS Photo Gallery

EVANSVILLE, Ind. --- UNI closed out the fourth and final day of the 2024 Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Championships at the Deaconess Aquatic Center with a podium finish in the 200-yard backstroke, securing a fifth-place team finish for the Panthers.

Missouri State clinched its eighth consecutive MVC team title with Indiana State following in second place. Southern Illinois placed third, followed by Illinois State and UNI.

For a fourth straight season, senior Amber Finke qualified for the A-final in the 200-yard backstroke, and for a fourth straight season finished in the top-three with a second-place performance. Finke, who won the MVC title in the event in 2021, third in 2022 and second also last season, clocked a final time of 1:56.39 just behind the winner in Celia Pulido of Southern Illinois (1:53.80).

Faith Larsen, Morgan Meyer and Abby Lear all swam in the consolation final for the 100-yard freestyle, with Larsen leading the Panthers with a ninth-place finish (49.95). Meyer followed behind in 12th (50.45) and Lear in 16th (51.24).

Sydney Aird placed 14th after clocking a 2:19.56 in the 200-yard breaststroke, while freshman Jenna Breitbach swam a season-best time of 2:23.44 to take home 20th overall, with Ema Lavigne (2:23.71) and Meghan Pallett (2:23.95) taking 22nd and 23rd places respectively.

Olivia Chambers and Nikki Walters both swam in the 1,650-yard freestyle, where Chambers clinched 12th place, after swimming a season-best 17:11.46. Walters clocked a career-best 17:57.87, which landed her in 22nd place overall in the MVC.

Following the conclusion of the meet, Northern Iowa was honored with a pair of individual specialty awards, including Larsen receiving the MVC's Elite 17 Award, given to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average competing in the championship meet. Larsen is the third UNI swimmer to earn the honor after Katie Taylor in 2019 and Finke in 2022.

Diver Trista Thompson was also selected as UNI's first-ever MVC Freshman Diver of the Year award winner. Thompson will represent the Panthers next month at the NCAA Diving Zones in Houston, Texas in the one-meter springboard competition.

FINAL TEAM SCORES