University of Northern Iowa Athletics
Olivia Chambers named 2024 MVC Most Courageous Award winner
6/24/2024 10:30:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Panther swimmer recognized for her perseverance through visual disability en route to national championship titles and qualification for the U.S. Paralympic Trials.
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- UNI rising senior Olivia Chambers has been named the 2024 recipient of the Missouri Valley Conference's (MVC) Most Courageous Award as announced on Monday.
The MVC presents the award annually to former or current student-athletes, coaches or university administrators who demonstrate unusual courage in the face of personal illness, adversity or tragedy and whose behavior reflects honor on the institution or the conference.
Chambers' selection marks the second consecutive year a Panther student-athlete has been recognized with the honor following the selection of men's basketball forward Austin Phyfe in 2023.
A Little Rock, Arkansas native, Chambers committed to swim at UNI in 2021 out of Mount St. Mary Academy and was seemingly on track for a standard collegiate swimming career at the Division I level. That all changed just months before she arrived in Cedar Falls.
For reasons still unknown to doctors and medical professionals to this day, Chambers began to lose her vision. In a sport where knowing where you are going is vital to success, Chambers was unsure how her future would unfold.
"In the beginning, the doctors kept telling me that I was going to get my vision back, so I was hopeful," Chambers said. "But once I found out that wasn't true, I decided to focus on things I could control instead of dwelling on the fact that I would never get my sight back."
Despite the challenges laid before her, Chambers decided to not let her worsening visual impairment stop her from doing what she loved. With an adaptive training plan designed by Panther assistant coach Ben Colin, and assistance from her guide dog Mahi, Chambers continued to excel in the pool.
"Primarily, we adjusted how we communicated sets and times to her, since writing on the whiteboards and pace clocks being far away presented a challenge," Colin explained. "Once pushing off the wall, she'd count
every stroke to know when to flip and was constantly working to gain comfortability navigating the pool. Olivia is incredibly adaptable and we figured out a routine that worked for her. She attacks every challenge presented with as much passion as anyone, making everything she does in the pool a ton of fun to coach."
In her first collegiate season in 2021-22, Chambers finished second in the 1,000-yard freestyle in her first meet against the University of Iowa with a time of 10:53.80. Her first collegiate victory came in a dual against Valparaiso in the 400-yard individual medley, with three personal best times also set at the 2022 MVC Championships.
"My freshman year was definitely an adjustment," Chambers said. "I had to figure out what accommodations worked for me in school. And I had to learn how to navigate the pool. I am so glad that I have such amazing teammates and coaches here because they made it so much easier."
As winter turned to spring after her freshman season, Chambers began to explore another outlet for competitive swimming in the world of para swimming. Classified as an S13 swimmer based on the severity of her disability, Chambers caught the para swimming world's eye in July 2022 when she broke the S13 American record in the 400-meter individual medley at the USA Swimming Futures Championships in Minneapolis.
Throughout her sophomore year at UNI in 2022-23, Chambers continued to succeed against her collegiate competitors, winning the 400-yard individual medley and 500-yard freestyle at the Coyote Extravaganza, with three more career-best set at the conference championship meet and claimed All-MVC recognition. She also continued para swimming competitions with her debut at the Para Swimming World Series events in Tijuana and Minneapolis.
Chambers became the first UNI athlete to claim the title of para national champion with her victories in the 400-meter freestyle and the 200-meter IM at the 2022 U.S. Paralympic Swimming National Championships. During her first season of para swimming, Olivia broke five S13 American records in the 400-meter IM (5:21.68) at the 2022 USA Swimming Futures Championships in Minneapolis and again at the 2023 BLAST Summer Sizzler (5:12.62), the 200-meter butterfly at the 2023 BLAST Summer Sizzler (2:31.50), the 400-yard IM (4:29.27) at the 2022 Kansas Classic in Topeka, the 200-yard butterfly (2:10.99) at the 2023 Coyote Invite in Sioux Falls, S.D., and the 50-yard backstroke (26.52) and 1,000-yard freestyle (10:20.93) at the 2023 MVC Championships in Iowa City.
at the 2023 Para World Swimming Championships in Manchester, England.
The UNI swimmer won six medals at the event, including two silvers.
In the summer of 2023, Chambers had the opportunity to compete in the Para Swimming World Championships for Team USA. In the six events that Olivia competed in, she found the podium in all six races, coming home with two silver medals for the 400-meter freestyle and the 200-meter IM and four bronze medals for the 100-meter fly, 100-meter breaststroke, 100-meter freestyle and 50-meter freestyle.
"Competing for Team USA really was a dream come true," Chambers said. "I went into worlds really just to have fun. I believe I did that. It was really exciting to compete with others who have similar vision and I'm really glad I got to do that while wearing the flag on my cap."
Chambers completed her junior season of competition with the Panthers this past winter, continuing to improve in distance events, earning MVC Swimmer of the Week recognition in January. At the conference championships, Chambers placed 12th in the 1,650-yard freestyle, as well as 13th in the 400-yard individual medley and 19th in the 500-yard freestyle.
Just two years after diving into the para swimming world, Chambers will this week attempt to qualify for her biggest competition to date as she seeks to represent the United States at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. Chambers is scheduled to compete in six events over the course of three days at the U.S. Paralympic Swimming Team Trials in Minneapolis, June 27-29 alongside fellow para swimmer and UNI teammate Cali Prochaska. The official selection of team members is set to be announced on June 30 with the Paris Games scheduled from August 28 through September 8 in France.
Players Mentioned
