UNI swim and dive heads to Evansville for MVC Championships

UNI swimming and diving at 2026 MVC Championships

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — The UNI swimming and diving group is about to start postseason competitors on Wednesday because the Panthers head to Evansville, Indiana, for the 2026 Missouri Valley (MVC) Championships on the Deaconess Aquatic Center. 

Competition is about to begin Wednesday and run by way of Saturday because the convention conducts each a mixed males’s and girls’s championship meet for the primary time. Preliminary rounds will run starting at 10:30 a.m. CT, adopted by a closing session every evening beginning at 5:30 p.m. CT. The full meet could be streamed on the MVC YouTube channel, with reside swimming outcomes obtainable on the Meet Mobile app and Dive Meets. Click HERE to entry the MVC Championship hub.

The pre-championship ballot, as voted on by the convention’s head coaches and launched by the league workplace on Monday, picked Indiana State to repeat as MVC champions with six first-place votes, adopted by Southern Illinois in second, Missouri State in third and UIC in fourth. 

The Panthers will return to the pool for the primary time since late January once they captured seven first-place finishes on the Coyote Invite and two prime placements on the UNO Diving Invite. 

UNI returns a number of performers, together with Morgan Meyer and Abby Lear, who had been part of the 200-yard freestyle relay group that positioned first finally 12 months’s MVC Championship meet with a brand new convention file time. Meyer additionally positioned sixth within the 200-yard freestyle, whereas Sydney Aird returns for the 100-yard breaststroke, the place she posted a top-15 end finally 12 months’s championship. Elyse Brayton additionally returns for the Panthers after an eighth-place end within the 100-yard backstroke final season. 

On the boards, Erica Peters, Trista Thompson and Avery Hogan have led the Panthers this season, with Peters and Hogan each clinching spots within the NCAA Diving Zones competitors going down subsequent month in College Station, Texas. Peters notched a personal-best of 283.30 within the three-meter to punch her ticket, with Hogan scoring a 272.60 within the one-meter to safe a spot. Thompson has constantly positioned within the top-ten in competitions this season as nicely. 

2026 MVC SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS SCHEDULE (Women Only)

Wednesday, Feb. 25 (10:30 a.m. CT / 5:30 p.m. CT)

• 200-Yard Freestyle Relay
• 500-Yard Freestyle
• 200-Yard Individual Medley
• 50-Yard Freestyle
• 400-Yard Medley Relay

Thursday, Feb. 26 (10:30 a.m. CT / 5:30 p.m. CT)

• 100-Yard Butterfly
• 400-Yard Individual Medley
• 200-Yard Freestyle
• One-Meter Diving
• 200-Yard Medley Relay

Friday, Feb. 27 (10:30 a.m. CT / 5:30 p.m. CT)

• 200-Yard Butterfly
• 100-Yard Breaststroke
• 100-Yard Backstroke
• 800-Yard Freestyle Relay

Saturday, Feb. 28 (10:30 a.m. CT / 5:30 p.m. CT)

• 1,650-Yard Freestyle
• 200-Yard Backstroke
• 100-Yard Freestyle
• 200-Yard Breaststroke
• 3-Meter Diving
• 400-Yard Freestyle Relay

UNI swimming and diving motion could be adopted all season lengthy on social media on Facebook (UNI Swimming and Diving), X (@uniswimdive) and on Instagram (@uniswimdive). Schedules and rosters, together with the newest Panther information and data could be discovered on-line at UNIpanthers.com.