University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
Purple & Gold Intrasquad
UNI swim & dive opens season hosting Purple & Gold Intrasquad
9/23/2026 10:22:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
UNI swimming & diving | Purple & Gold Intrasquad
- Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026
- Glen F. Henry Pool
- Cedar Falls, Iowa
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- The UNI Swimming and Diving team will make its season debut late Saturday morning with its annual Purple and Gold Intrasquad meet, set to begin at 11 a.m. CT in the Glen F. Henry Pool at the Wellness-Recreation Center. The event is free to attend and open to all fans.
The intrasquad will be the Panthers' first chance to compete and serve as a tune-up for the regular season, which will get underway when UNI travels to Milwaukee for Marquette's inaugural home dual on Saturday, Oct. 9.
Prior to the meet, the Panthers will honor nine-time Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) champion Molly Lembezeder with a jersey retirement ceremony. The Dubuque, Iowa native was a three-time First Team All-MVC performer and three-time MVC First Team Scholar-Athlete selection, who also set eight program records in her collegiate career from 2014 to 2018.
Lembezeder joins five other Panther legends to receive a jersey retirement ceremony, joining Bill Smith (wrestling), AJ Green (men's basketball), Jacqui Kalin (women's basketball), Patty Stockman (softball) and Kurt Warner (football). Additional jersey retirements are slated for the coming weeks.
Northern Iowa is coming off a fifth-place finish at last season's MVC Championships in Evansville, Indiana. The Panthers return several accomplished athletes from last year's roster, including reigning MVC Diver of the Year Avery Hogan, who placed first in the three-meter competition and second on the one-meter boards at the conference meet, while also qualifying for the NCAA Zones.
The Panthers also return a plethora of highly skilled swimmers, such as Morgan Raether, the standout sophomore, who received an All-MVC Honorable Mention and holds seven top-ten times in the UNI record books. Other noteworthy returns include senior Sam Oeltjen, who holds three spots in the program's top-ten list and received an All-MVC Honorable Mention, senior Nikki Walters and Abigail Barkhurst, a junior who holds two spots.
In the diving well, the Northern Iowa returns three key divers alongside Hogan, including All-MVC Honorable Mention performers Addison Bausman and Trista Thompson. Sophomore Eva Coonrad returns for UNI with the addition of freshman Iowa high school state champion Camryn Russell and Francesca Dehl.
UNI also adds five new faces to the program on the swimming side in Avery Duerr, Olivia Gustafson, Payton Hultgren, Malea Johnson and Chloe Magnuson.
UNI swimming and diving action can be followed all season long on social media on Facebook (UNI Swimming and Diving), X (@uniswimdive) and on Instagram (@uniswimdive). Schedules and rosters, along with the latest Panther news and information can be found online at UNIpanthers.com.
