2025 MVC Men’s Fan Guide: Redhawks Aim To Pick Up Where They Left Off In The Mid-American

2025 Missouri Valley Conference Championships — Men

• February 19 – 22, 2025
• Corwin M. Nixon Aquatic Center — Oxford, Ohio
• SCY (25 Yards)
• Championship Central
• Live Stream
• Live Results
• Participating Teams: Ball State, Evansville, Miami (OH), Missouri State, Southern Illinois, UIC, Valparaiso

Schedule

Wednesday, February 19

• 200 medley relay
• Team Diving Event
• 800 freestyle relay

Thursday, February 20

• 500 freestyle
• 200 IM
• 50 freestyle
• 1-meter diving
• 400 medley relay

Friday, February 21

• 100 butterfly
• 400 IM
• 200 freestyle
• 100 breaststroke
• 100 backstroke
• 3-meter diving (9th-16th)
• 200 freestyle relay

Saturday, February 22

• 1650 freestyle
• 200 backstroke
• 100 freestyle
• 200 breaststroke
• 200 butterfly
• 3-meter diving (1st-8th)
• 400 freestyle relay

This is the first Men’s Missouri Valley Conference Swimming & Diving Championships in over twenty years. This season, the MVC brought men’s swimming & diving back to the conference for the first time since the 2002-2003 season.

The conference kept track of the championship records that stood at the end of that last season, so expect a championship record-breaking spree. The men have already rewritten the overall MVC record book. Of the 20 swimming and diving events the MVC contests, only two records from before this season still stand: the 500 freestyle (4:23.37) and 1650 freestyle, (14:54.73). The record book hasn’t yet been updated to reflect Alex Santiago’s 46.25 from the Purdue Invitational or Allen Cotton’s 1:47.19 from the Miami Classic Invitational.

While this is the first time these seven teams are facing off for the Missouri Valley Conference trophy, they’ve raced each other for years in the Mid-American Conference (MAC). Miami-OH and Ball State have joined the championships as associate conference members, flipping the roles from previous years. Associate members can still set conference and championship records.

The Miami-OH men have won the last four MAC Championships; They scored 729 points for the 2024 title, with Missouri State earning 679.5 points.

2024 Mid-American Conference Final Standings

1. Miami-OH — 724
2. Missouri State — 679.5
3. SIU — 657.5
4. Illinois-Chicago — 532
5. Ball State — 414
6. Evansville — 262
7. Valparaiso — 125

Swimmers to Watch

Alex Santiago — Senior, SIU

Santiago swept the 50/100/200 freestyle at the 2024 Mid-American Conference Championships last year, earning Most Outstanding Men’s Swimmer of the Meet. He was the only men’s swimmer from the conference to qualify for the 2024 NCAA Championships, competing in the 50 freestyle (31st) and 100 freestyle (54th).

Now in his senior season, Santiago has continued to impress, even as he’s seemingly shifted his focus from the 200 free to the 100 fly. He owns the fastest times in the conference in the 50 freestyle (19.45), 100 freestyle (42.32), and 100 butterfly (46.25). The latter two are lifetime bests, and his 100 freestyle time is tied for 8th fastest mid-major swim in history.

Henju Duvenhage — Fifth-Year, Miami-OH

Last year, Henju Duvenhage matched Santiago’s three individual event wins, winning the 200 IM, 100 fly, and 100 backstroke. Santiago won the Most Outstanding Swimmer Award, but Duvenhage’s success was also recognized as he took home the honors for Most Outstanding Senior. It wasn’t just last season either, he’s been outstanding throughout his career with the Redhawks—in 2023, he won two events and took silver in a third—and aims to close his NCAA career on a high note.

The South Africa native leads the conference in the 100 backstroke and 200 IM heading into the championships, with season-bests of 46.66 and 1:44.78 that also broke the MVC records. He’s also ranked 2nd in the 100 butterfly with a 46.70. Santiago’s switch to the 100 butterfly puts these two on a collision course in that event, which should make for a thrilling race.

Reese Hodgins — Senior, Missouri State

Missouri State graduated distance star Dylan Moffat, 2x 1650 freestyle MAC Champion, at the end of last season. While he doesn’t have the exact event profile as Moffat, senior Reese Hodgins has stepped up in the mid-distance events this season. After finishing 3rd in the 500 free and 7th in the 200 free at the 2024 Mid-American Championships, Hodgins arrives at these championships as the top seed in the 200 free and 500 free.

He swam a lifetime best 1:36.67 in the 200 freestyle at midseason and owns a season-best of 4:26.84 in the 500 free, just off his lifetime best of 4:26.69. His 200 freestyle time is the current MVC record. Like SIU and Miami, Missouri State has had multiple swimmers contribute to the MVC record-breaking spree. In addition to Hodgins, Lucas Chadwell, Luigi Da Silva, and Storm Opdahl have broken at least one conference record this season.

Races To Watch

200 medley relay — The meet’s opening relay should be a barnburner between Miami-OH and SIU. Both teams have broken the conference record this season. SIU’s quartet of Willem Huggins, Tiago Faleiros, Santiago, and Donat Csuvarszki clocked 1:26.32 at the Purdue Invitational. Then, two weeks later, Miami’s Duvenhage, Adrian Dulay, Scott Spear, and Tegan Barrier undercut them by two-hundredths, swimming 1:26.32 at the team’s invitational. That’s where things currently stand, promising a great race for the first men’s MVC conference title to be handed out in 22 years.

100 butterfly — As mentioned above, the 100 butterfly projects to be an exciting head-to-head between Santiago and Duvenhage, two stars at their last conference championships. Santiago holds the advantage over Duvenhage heading into the meet with a 46.25. Duvenhage’s season-best is 46.70, but he’s got the faster lifetime best of the two, a 46.16 from 2023. This looks to be a two-man race for the title, but in terms of the team race, this is an important event for the Salukis. They own three of the top five times in the conference this year. Santiago leads the way, then it’s Benedek Andor in third at 47.84 and Nicolas Barrio Lanuza in fourth at 48.13.

200 breaststroke — This was a wide-open event last year, and that remains the case this year as once again, the reigning champion (Ball State’s Joey Garberick) has departed the NCAA and will not mount a title defense. After not putting any swimmers into the ‘A’ final last year, SIU has made significant improvements in this event as juniors and 2024 ‘B’ finalists Henrique Pacheco Januario and Faleiros are two of the four men sub-2:00 already this season. Pacheco Januario leads the MVC with his 1:58.34 from the Purdue Invitational, while Falerois sits 4th in 1:59.88. The other two sub-2:00 are returning ‘A’ finalists, including Missouri State’s Da Silva, last year’s runner-up and this year’s 100 breast top seed. He’s got a season-best of 1:59.26, a hundredth ahead of 2024 4th-place finisher Dulay.

200 butterfly — This is another event where last year’s MAC champion (SIU’s Eugene Khrypunov) won’t be in the mix this season. The Redhawks finished 2nd, 3rd, and 7th last season, and look primed to take full advantage of the opportunity in front of them. Miami-OH swimmers Cotton and Owen Haban sit 1st and 2nd in the MVC this season, with Cotton, the 2024 runner-up pacing the field at 1:47.19. Haban joined his teammate sub-1:48 with a 1:47.82 at midseason and the two have a lead of over a second on the field. But, returning ‘A’ finalists Missouri State’s Chris Bedsole and Ball State’s Liam Davis are still in range of the Redhawks and will be eager to move up from their respective 6th and 8th place finishes from a year ago. Miami-OH put three into the ‘A’ final and won the ‘B’ final in 2024; this season, they’ve got four swimmers in the top 10 season rankings.

SwimSwam’s Top 3 Picks

1. Miami (OH)
2. Southern Illinois
3. Missouri State

It won’t be considered a five-peat because of the conference shift, but the Miami-OH Redhawks still look to be the team to beat with the first MVC men’s team title in over twenty years on the line. Their top-end speed and depth look to be too much for any of the teams to overcome this season.

However, between Missouri State graduating the majority of their heavy impact class of 2024 and SIU making improvements in key events, it looks like the Salukis will have enough runway to jump ahead of Missouri State for 2nd place. It was a close race between the two last season, with Missouri State edging out SIU for 2nd by 22 points.