2025 Missouri Valley Conference Championships — Women
- February 26-March 1, 2025
- Northern Iowa — Waukee, Iowa
- SCY (25 Yards)
- Start Times: prelims – 10:30 am CT/finals – 6 pm CT
- Day 1: finals only – 6 pm CT
- Championship Central
- Participating Teams: Evansville, Illinois State, Indiana State, Little Rock, Missouri State, Southern Illinois, UIC, UNI, Valparaiso
- Defending Champions: Missouri State (7x)
- Live Results
- Livestream
Schedule
Wednesday, Feb. 26
- 200 medley relay
- Team diving event
- 800 freestyle relay
Thursday, Feb. 27
- 500 freestyle
- 200 IM
- 50 freestyle
- 1-meter diving
- 400 medley relay
Friday, Feb. 28
- 100 butterfly
- 400 IM
- 200 freestyle
- 100 breaststroke
- 100 backstroke
- 3-meter diving (9th-16th)
- 200 freestyle relay
Saturday, Mar. 1
- 1650 freestyle
- 200 backstroke
- 100 freestyle
- 200 breaststroke
- 200 butterfly
- 3-meter diving (1st-8th)
- 400 freestyle relay
2024 Final Standings
- Missouri State — 1463.5
- Indiana State — 1294.5
- Southern Illinois — 1126.5
- Illinois State — 897.5
- Northern Iowa — 835
- Little Rock — 772
- UIC — 753
- Evansville — 312
- Valparaiso — 206
Awards:
- Swimmer of the Year: Celia Pulido, SIU
- Freshman Swimmer of the Year: Claire Parsons, Indiana State
- Swimming Coach of the Year: Dave Collins, Missouri State
- Diver of the Year: Ciara McCliment, UIC
- Freshman Diver of the Year: Trista Thompson, UNI
- Diving Coach of the Year: Susan Bromberg, UIC
- Elite 17: Faith Laresen, UNI
2024 NCAA Qualifiers
SIU backstroker Celia Pulido was a revelation at the 2024 Women’s NCAA Championships, one season after former Saluki, Ruard van Renen, also a backstroker, led the way for the mid-majors at the 2023 Men’s NCAA Championships. Pulido swam the fastest 100 backstroke in mid-major history, 50.73, placing 7th at the championships. She was strong in the 200 backstroke as well, swimming the second-fastest mid-major 200 backstroke, 1:52.31, for 13th place. Her 16 points were the most by a mid-major swimmer at the women’s NCAA Championships.
Swimmers To Watch
Olivia Herron — Junior, Southern Illinois
This year, Olivia Herron has been the breakout Saluki. She hasn’t let up on the gas all season, continuing to break conference records in SIU’s final dual meet of the regular season. At that meet, Herron lowered her MVC record in the 100 breaststroke, breaking 1:00 for the first time with a 59.78. Then, she crushed her lifetime best in the 400 IM, swimming 4:12.96 and breaking Lily DeSpain’s former record, set at the 2024 MVC Championships.
This season, Herron has set four individual MVC records. In addition to her marks in the 100 breaststroke and 200 IM, Herron set records in the 200 breaststroke (2:09.13) and 200 IM (1:57.21). Her 200 breaststroke time likely punches her ticket to the 2025 NCAA Championships, though based on her season trajectory, it seems likely that she’ll soar even further under the 2024 invite time (2:09.55) this week.
Faith Larsen — Senior, Northern Iowa
Faith Larsen has controlled the women’s 50 freestyle for the past two years. Now, she aims to close out her conference championship career by three-peating in the event. She’s swum 22.66 and 22.50 to win the event title the last two seasons but has blown past those times already this season with an MVC-best and lifetime best of 22.48.
Larsen has also improved in the 100 freestyle, hitting a lifetime best 49.27 at the same meet. She won the ‘B’ final in this event last year after winning bronze in 2023, but this time has made her a favorite for the gold medal. Not only is it the fastest time in the conference this season, but it’s faster than Illinois State’s Emma Feltzer swam to win last year’s 100 freestyle crown (49.33).
Sami Roemer — Fifth-Year, Missouri State
A decorated performer at the MVC Championships, Sami Romer heads to Iowa for her final conference championships. She’s continued to improve in her final year of eligibility, clocking lifetime bests in the 100 freestyle (50.29), 100 butterfly (53.30), and 200 IM (2:00.58).
Roemer won silver in the 100 butterfly at the 2024 MVC Championships, then placed 14th in the 100 freestyle, and 15th in the 200 IM. This year, she projects to be a three-time ‘A’ finalist, as she’s top eight in her three primary events. Her new lifetime bests in the 200 IM and 100 fly have her ranked 2nd and 3rd in the conference, while her 100 freestyle is 7th.
Roemer has also been a key part of Missouri State’s relays. Last year, she helped the team win the 400 medley relay in an MVC record and win the 200 medley relay.
Claire Parsons — Sophomore, Indiana State
Claire Parsons had a strong showing at her debut MVC Championships last season. She stepped onto the podium twice, winning the 1650 freestyle (16:40.94) and taking bronze in the 500 freestyle (4:53.46).
She’s already improved in both events this season as she looks to return to the podium, clocking lifetime bests of 4:47.59/16:31.28 that rank her 2nd/1st in the MVC this season. Parsons has also swum a lifetime best in the 200 freestyle, clocking 1:48.32 at the Tim Welsh Classic, which places her 4th in the conference this season.
Showdowns
200 freestyle — It took a 1:47.42 for SIU’s Susana Hernandez Barradas to win the 200 freestyle last season as she and Missouri State’s Lana Janson both broke 1:48. This season, Hernandez Barradas has already been faster than her title-winning time, clocking a lifetime best 1:47.30. Further, two other women have joined her under the 1:48-mark: Little Rock sophomore Olivia Elgin (1:47.94) who’s broken her program record multiple times this season, and Indiana State’s Erin Cummins, the 2024 4th place finisher. Cummins’ Indiana State teammate Parsons looks set to join the action after winning last year’s ‘B’ final, while Janson, the 2024 runner-up, lurks in 6th seed with a 1:48.48.
200 butterfly — While last year’s 200 butterfly champion, DeSpain, has graduated, six of the eight ‘A’ finalists from last season are back in the mix. Indiana State’s Haley Halsall, last year’s 4th place finisher, leads the conference after posting a lifetime best 2:00.20 earlier this season. Meanwhile, defending silver and bronze medalists Kendra Preski (UIC) and Payton Smith (Missouri State) are 3rd and 4th in the conference this season, respectively, after swimming 2:01.83 and 2:02.00. With so much returning talent, it would be a tall ask for any newcomer to get involved but Indiana State freshman Gemma Dilks has done just that. An international swimmer, Dilks has transitioned to yards well and is 2nd in the conference after swimming 2:00.21—a hundredth behind her teammate Halsall’s season-best—at her midseason invite.
400 IM — Without the psych sheets, we don’t know if Herron will choose the 100 breaststroke or 400 IM on day three of the championships. Herron’s MVC record last month (4:12.95) puts her over six seconds ahead of the rest of the conference this season and this event will take on a different flavor if she bypasses it. Behind Herron’s swim, SIU’s Brooklyn Anderson and Indiana State’s Alexandria Cotter and Dilks are within a second of each other. Anderson (bronze) and Cotter (silver) are defending medalists in this race, while Dilks has mounted a strong freshman campaign that makes her a multi-event threat. 2024 ‘B’ final winner Fernanda Sanchez Gongora ranks 5th this season (4:20.45) while returning ‘A’ finalist Olivia Sala owns a season-best of 4:22.63. With so many Indiana State and Southern Illinois swimmers at the top of this event, this could be an important race for those teams, which are looking to snap Missouri State’s title streak.
SwimSwam’s Picks (Top 3):
Missouri State is chasing an eighth-straight title. The team knows how to show up for this meet and did so last year, beating Indiana State, the pre-meet favorites, by 169 points. The projected scoring has Indiana State comfortably winning this year’s conference meet by about 100 points over SIU, once again putting them into a strong position heading into the championships. Missouri State has also graduated four of their top five conference points-scorers from last season, making it a more challenging ask for the team to make up a projected 266-point gap.
Then, there’s the question of how the Salukis fit into this. Bolstered by NCAA qualifying worthy times from Pulido and Herron, SIU is projected to finish second. Both Indiana State and SIU own many top times in the conference this season, which is what’s making that gap to Missouri State so large, as projected scores are based on season-best times. If either team starts slipping from their seeds, that’s where Missouri State will be able to capitalize.
- Indiana State
- Southern Illinois
- Missouri State
