Swim and Dive Concludes Run at MVC Championships

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The final 4 days featured the 2026 Missouri Valley Conference Swim and Dive Championships in Evansville, and it was one other profitable run for Southern Illinois. The males’s squad completed in third place with a rating of 1,189.50, whereas the ladies completed because the occasion’s runner-up with their rating of 1,161. Meanwhile, a pair of Salukis walked away with particular person, end-of-year awards. 
 
“I am extremely proud of this team, both women and men,” says head coach Geoff Hanson. “This was our first combined championship in more than 20 years, and this group was really cohesive and brought the best out of one another. Over the four-day meet, we had so many amazing performances, individual wins, relay wins, and program records; it is hard to single any one out. A true team effort and a special group.”  

How it Happened

 

Day One – Wednesday

The first finals of the championships started with a MVC record-resetting win for the ladies’s 200-freestyle relay crew and their end of 1:30.32 because of the efforts of Susy Hernandez, Zaria Terry, Ava Rines, and Masha Zhukova. Olivia Herron then grabbed SIU’s first particular person championship of the occasion along with her 1:58.31 time and win within the 200-IM. 

 

Benedek Andor was the primary males’s champion for the Salukis, taking first place within the 200-IM together with his time of 1:44.63. Another particular person champion was present in Hernandez, who took the crown within the 50-freestyle along with her time of twenty-two.81. Southern closed day one out with a win within the 400-medley relay, the place Herron, Hernandez, Brooklyn Anderson, and Liseska Gallegos Gutierrez completed their swim in 3:37.11. 

 

Day Two – Thursday

Day two began with a damaged report for the Salukis, as Willem Huggins rewrote the MVC report e book for the 200-freestyle together with his prelims time of 1:35.72. 

 

Moving to finals, Carter Ruthven pulled off the win within the 100-butterfly because of his swim of 46.48. Anderson than introduced dwelling the win within the 400-IM along with her gold-medal swim of 4:15.65. 

 

Day Three – Friday

Herron added one other piece of {hardware} to assortment on Friday, grabbing gold within the 200-butterfly along with her end of 1:59.75. Gallegos then joined the winners’ circle after her 53.34 100-backstroke swim topped all of the opponents. Southern additionally grabbed a relay win on Friday with their males’s 800-freestyle relay crew, comprised of Huggins, Rodrigo Ramos Chávez, Juraj Barcot, and Alex Cimera. The 4 completed their swim in 6:25.92. 

 

Day Four -Saturday

The remaining day of the championships featured Gallegos grabbing one other championship, this time profitable the 200-backstroke with a time of 1:56.46. Herron additionally gained one other particular person occasion, putting first within the 200-breaststroke along with her time of two:11.01. Southern closed out the championship with a win within the males’s 400-freestyle relay with a time of two:53.90. 

 

End-of-Year Awards

Following the completion of the championships, two Salukis walked away with end-of-year awards from the convention. 

 

Herron was named the MVC Women’s Swimmer of the Year, marking the third straight season a Saluki has gained the award after Celia Pulido gained the earlier two titles. During the championships, Herron gained three particular person championships. The senior was named the MVC Women’s Swimmer of the Week 5 instances this common season. 

 

Additionally, Cimera gained the Men’s Elite 18 Award for a second straight season. The award is given by the convention to the student-athlete with the highest-cumulative grade-point-average competing on the finals web site of The Valley’s 18 crew championships. Cimera presently holds a 4.0 GPA in Aviation Management. 

 

Up Next

A number of postseason occasions nonetheless lie forward for the Salukis. If the crew is to ship any athlete to the NCAA Diving Zones, that takes place on March 9/11 in Michigan. Then, any Salukis certified for the NCAA Championships will journey to Atlanta on March 18 for the four-day occasion. 

 

Follow the Salukis

Keep up with all the most recent information and data on the swim and dive groups by following the them on X at @SIU_SwimDive, on Instagram at @siu_swimdive, and on Facebook at facebook.com/SIUSwimDive. Fans can even obtain the “Salukis” Mobile App on the App Store or Google Play Store.