2022 MISSOURI VALLEY WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, February 16 – Saturday, February 19, 2022
- U of Iowa Aquatic Center – Iowa City, Iowa
- Defending Champion: Missouri State (5x)
- Psych Sheet
- Results on Meet Mobile: “2022 MVC Swimming & Diving Championships”
- Live Video (YouTube)
- Championship Central
Team Scores
- Missouri State – 321
- Northern Iowa – 181
- Illinois State – 177
- Evansville – 150
- Southern Illinois – 151
- Indiana State – 52
- Little Rock – 131
- Valparaiso – 46
Missouri State has solidified their lead through the 2nd day of the 2022 Missouri Valley Conference Championships, and are well on their way to a 6th consecutive conference title. Illinois State has risen to 3rd in the team standings after faltering on day 1 due to a DQ in the 200 medley relay.
Missouri State kicked off the finals session with a display of their current dominance within the conference, posting a 1-2-3 victory in the 500 free. 5th year Liberty Howell won the event in 4:49.05, making history yet again. At last year’s championships, Howell became the first swimmer in conference history to win 12 individual MVC titles in their career. With the allowance of a 5th year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Howell has now won her 13th individual MVC title, and is a perfect 13-for-13 in individual races at MVCs in her career. The Bears also got a 2nd place finish out of Vera Margula tonight (4:54.19), and a 3rd place finish from Grace Beahan (4:57.43).
MSU also picked up a win in the 50 free, where Anna Miller, another 5th year, clocked a 22.08 to clear the field by 0.63 seconds. Miller also downed the MVC meet record, as well as the conference record, both of which she previously held with the 22.29 she swam at last year’s championships. Miller swam a 22.38 in prelims, meaning she now holds the top 5 fastest performance all-time at the MVC Championships. Additionally, 22.08 is all but certainly fast enough to earn Miller an invite to NCAAs in March.
In the 200 free relay, Missouri State posted another decisive relay victory, swimming a 1:31.19, which also broke the MVC Record, which the Bears held from 2018 at 1:31.53. Jordan Wenner (23.39), Yuliya Zubina (23.05), Anna Lucas (23.08), and Anna Miller (21.67) teamed up to make break the record, and secure another relay title for MSU. Coincidentally, 21.67 is the excat split Miller swam anchoring the 200 medley relay on Wednesday night as well.
It was Illinois State’s time to shine in the 200 IM, where the Redbirds took 1st and 3rd. Madyson Morse got her hand on the wall first in an incredibly tight race with Southern Illinois freshman Celia Pulido. Pulido, primarily a backstroker, hit the back-to-breast turn 5 seconds ahead of Morse, and, astonishingly, Morse made up all of that ground on the breaststroke 50. Morse split 33.70 to Pulido’s 38.26, touching at the 150 mark in 1:32.42 to Pulido’s 1:32.23. Morse then out-split Pulido slightly on freestyle, 28.50 to 28.79. She won the race in 2:00.92, with Pulido touching 2nd in 2:01.02. Illinois State also got a 3rd-place finish out of Olivia Gonder, who clocked a 2:02.92.
Illinois State was even better in diving, where Eva Reyes won 1-meter with a final score of 300.45 points, which was 25 points higher than the 2nd-place finisher. The runner-up also happened to be a Redbird, Kamryn Blake, who scored 275.20 points.
Thank you for covering this meet. Anybody have the ability to get the sound working on the YouTube feed?
It says in the description of the YouTube feed that there will be no sound for the live feed. Really disappointing on many fronts. The feed looks like it was put together as an afterthought with a cheap camera lying around. I feel like in past years the feed has been much much better.
So enjoy both the swimming and the sound of silence!
Other parents mentioned there was a sound person there working on it Wednesday night, but no luck getting it fixed. I guess they’re really giving up at Iowa on all fronts…
Can the people from Georgia Tech running the ACC meet head to this meet and fix the A/V? Now THAT is a great broadcast!
That’s pretty cool that she was able to turn the COVID disaster into something positive, setting a virtually unassailable record because of it. I wish her the best of luck in her remaining events. Does anyone else, in any conference in any division, have the potential to win 13-15 individual conference championships?
On another note, I love all these mid-major and D2-D3 conference recaps, but I don’t always have anything to comment that would add value. I wish there were another way to express appreciation for these articles.