Selected as the favorite to capture the Missouri Valley Conference Championship, the Missouri State women’s swimming and diving team travels to the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Natatorium in Iowa City, Iowa, to compete against six other Valley schools for the conference championship crown on Feb. 15-18.
The conference championship takes place over the course of four days, beginning Wednesday, Feb. 15 with two final events. Thursday and Friday (Feb. 16-17), preliminary races are slated for 11 a.m. while the finals will begin at approximately 6 p.m. The final day of the championship begins with preliminaries at 10 a.m.Saturday morning and the finals taking place at 4 p.m.
Hosted by UNI, live streaming will be available during the finals each day of the championship, with coverage starting at 6:00 pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and 4:00 pm on Saturday.
Heading into the meet, Missouri State seeks its 13th conference title after falling to conference foe SIU at last season’s championship. The Salukis edged out Missouri State by half a point (799.5-799) to halt Bears’ attempt at achieving their ninth consecutive conference title.
Missouri Valley Conference Championships | |
Dates | Wed., Feb. 15 – Sat., Feb. 18 |
Location | Iowa City, Iowa |
Sites | University of Iowa Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Natatorium |
Wednesday, Feb. 15 |
FINALS @ 6 p.m. – 200 Medley Relay, 800 Free Relay |
Thursday, Feb. 16 |
PRELIMS @ 11 a.m. – 500 Free, 200 IM, 50 Free, 1 Meter Diving Prelims, 1 Meter Diving (9-16) FINALS @ 6 p.m. – 500 Free, 200 IM, 50 Free, 1 Meter Diving (1-8), 200 Free Relay |
Friday, Feb. 17 |
PRELIMS @ 11 a.m. – 400 IM, 100 Fly, 200 Free, 100 Breast, 100 Back, 3 Meter Diving Prelims FINALS @ 6 p.m. – 400 IM, 100 Fly, 200 Free, 100 Breast, 100 Back, 3 Meter Diving (9-16), 400 Medley Relay |
Saturday, Feb. 18 |
PRELIMS @ 10 a.m. – 200 Back, 100 Free, 200 Breast, 200 Fly, 1650 Free* FINALS @ 4 p.m. – 1650 Free*, 200 Back, 100 Free, 200 Breast, 200 Fly, 3 Meter Diving (1-8), 400 Free Relay |
Missouri State | Swimming & Diving Home Page |
Follow | Twitter (@MoStateSwim) |
* The 1650 Freestyle is a “time final” event. The fastest heat will be contested during the Saturdayevening Finals session. The remaining heats will be conducted at the end of the Saturday morning prelims session. The heats will run from fastest to slowest
Last Season’s MVC Championship
The Bears finished day one with a third-place total of 68 points, capturing second-place finishes in both the 200-yard medley relay and the 800 freestyle relay. The following day, Missouri State jumped into second place after Dora Kiss (500 free), Rebecca Amparano (200 IM) earned first-place finishes in their respective events.
On the third day of competition, the Bears picked up three individual titles and a victory in the 400 medley relay to advance into first place. Amparano, Emma Wall and Ibby Simcox each earned championship crowns while Sydney Zupan, Luaren Pavel, Kiss and Loretta Stelnicki dominated the 400 medley relay.
In a dramatic turn of events, SIU came back to beat the Bears by .50 points on the final day of competition, the closest margin of victory in Missouri Valley Conference Swimming and Diving Championship history. Nine Bears were honored as first-team selections while eight received all-conference honorable mention accolades.
MVC Top Times
Currently, Missouri State holds the top spot in eight different events, while boasting 19 top-three times this season. Seventeen Bears hold top-10 times in the MVC heading into the conference championship.
Sarah Allegri
100 back, 3rd, 55.13 | 200 back, 1st, 1:57.92
Haley Allen
100 back, 10th, 57.44 | 100 fly, 5th, 56.10 | 200 fly, 7th, 2:05.69
Sara Bacher
100 fly, 2nd, 55.19 | 200 fly, 2nd, 2:01.72 | 400 IM, 3rd, 4:22.20
Anna Bump
50 free, 4th, 53.52 | 100 breast, 4th, 1:03.43
Brooke Dreiling
1000 free, 3rd, 10:22.19 | 1650 free, 10th, 17:38.47
Hope Ernhart
50 free, 5th, 23.53 | 100 free, 5th, 51.31
Hanna Flanagan
100 fly, 10th, 56.92 | 200 fly, 6th, 2:05.43
Briana Horozewski
200 breast, 6th, 2:19.30 | 200 IM, 6th, 2:05.30 | 400 IM, 6th, 4:27.06
Quincy Howell
200 back, 10th, 2:04.53
Vikte Labanauskaite
500 free, 4th, 4:54.64 | 100 breast, 8th, 1:04.37 | 200 breast, 3rd, 2:16.75 | 400 IM, 5, 4:25.58
Brianna McCullough
1000 free, 5th, 10:27.11 | 1650 free, 7th, 17:31.38
Lauren Pavel
100 breast, 1st, 1:01.50 | 200 breast, 1st, 2:13.78 | 200 IM, 1st, 2:02.37 | 400 IM, 4:28.40
Josie Pearson
100 fly, 4th, 56.03 | 200 fly, 1st, 2:01.62 | 200 IM, 3rd, 2:03.21 | 400 IM, 4:19.64
Loretta Stelnicki
50 free, 3rd, 23.46 | 100 free, 3rd, 51.00 | 100 back, 7th, 56.39
Emma Wall
200 fly, 8th, 2:06.28
Sarah Wehrmeister
200 IM, 8th, 2:05.76
Sydney Zupan
100 free, 8th, 51.67 | 200 free, 3rd, 1:51.06 | 100 back, 1st, 54.95 | 200 back, 2nd, 1:57.23 | 100 fly, 1st, 54.77
NCAA Top Times
On the national level, senior Lauren Pavel is the lone Bear to boast a top-100 time. Sitting at No. 64 in the 100 breast, Pavel topped her personal record at the House of Champions invitational on Nov. 19, 2016 after swimming a time of 1:01.50 in the event. Her time bumped her to number two on the Missouri State all-time top-five list. Pavel holds another top-100 time in the 200 breast, this time ranking 47th with a time of 2:13.78, placing her third on the Bears’ all-time top times list.
Final Details
Hosted by UNI, action at the 2017 MVC Championship begins at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15 at the University of Iowa Recreation/Wellness Center Natatorium in Iowa City, Iowa. Live streaming will be available during the finals each day of the championship, with coverage starting at 6:00 pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Fridayand 4:00 pm on Saturday. For more information on the Missouri State swimming and diving team, visit www.missouristatebears.com or Twitter (@MoStateSwim).
News courtesy of Missouri State Athletics.
Good luck to Lauren Pavel and Brianna McCullough from MO State! Good luck to Jordan McCullough from UNI!