UNI swim and dive: Hogan wins MVC three-meter diving crown

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — The UNI swimming and diving workforce wrapped up competitors on the 2026 Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Championships on Saturday with junior Avery Hogan capturing the three-meter diving title, capping a dominating weekend of motion for Panther divers.

Following the meet, Hogan was named the MVC’s Diver of the Year after additionally taking second within the one-meter competitors two days earlier, becoming a member of her sister Taylor Hogan, the 2022 MVC Diver of the Year as the primary pair of sisters in convention historical past to obtain the distinction.

UNI diving coach Bethany Hovland was additionally acknowledged because the MVC Diving Coach of the Year for a second consecutive season after main the Panthers to seven top-eight placements on the meet within the two diving occasions. She beforehand obtained the distinction in 2022 and 2025.

Northern Iowa finishes the 2026 MVC Championships in fifth place with 920 factors. Indiana State captured its second consecutive convention title, adopted by Southern Illinois in second and Missouri State in third.

HOW IT HAPPENED

In the diving effectively, Hogan’s career-best rating of 282.25 was sufficient to place the Waterloo, Iowa native atop the rostrum as UNI’s second-ever three-meter champion after her sister Taylor in 2022. Her rating was additionally sufficient to qualify her for the NCAA Diving Zones subsequent month in Texas after beforehand qualifying on the one-meter boards earlier this season. Senior Erica Peters in the meantime positioned third in one-meter motion (273.70), with Trista Thompson taking seventh (238.50).

Abigail Barkhurst took 14th place within the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 17:44.32, as Peyton Pasqualicchio adopted shut behind in sixteenth with a career-best time of 17:49.47, whereas Cassidy Miklos positioned twentieth (18:07.52). 

Morgan Raether completed in fifth for the Panthers within the 200-yard backstroke with a time of two:00.72, with Elyse Brayton taking twelfth (2:02.92), and Peyton Pasqualicchio in twenty fourth (2:08.17). Continuing with the 100-yard freestyle, Abby Lear claimed ninth for UNI with a time of fifty.80, as Averie Bilskemper would safe nineteenth in a career-best 51.29 seconds, whereas Morgan Meyer got here in at twenty fourth with a time of 51.95. 

In her A-final debut, Aspen Cole secured seventh within the 200-yard breaststroke with a career-best time of two:18.56, with Neriah Giedrys swimming a personal-best time 2:19.07 to take seventeenth, and Sydney Aird additionally swimming a personal-best time within the occasion at 2:20.27 to assert nineteenth. 

The evening concluded with the 400-yard freestyle relay the place the workforce of Raether, Lear, Bilskemper and Meyer took fifth within the occasion with a time of three:23.08, transferring them to seventh all-time in UNI rankings. 

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS

1. Indiana State (1,236)
2. Southern Illinois (1,161)
3. Missouri State (1,117)
4. UIC (1,054.50)
5. UNI (920)
6. Little Rock (869.50)
7. Illinois State (697)
8. Evansville (313)
9. Valparaiso (253)

FIRST TEAM ALL-MVC HONOREES

MVC HONORABLE MENTION TEAM SELECTIONS

Women’s Swimmer of the Year: Olivia Herron (Southern Illinois)

Women’s Freshman Swimmer of the Year: Grace Cummings (Indiana State)

Women’s Diver of the Year: Avery Hogan (UNI)

Women’s Freshman Diver of the Year: Ava Molina (UIC)

Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year: Josh Christensen (Indiana State)

Women’s Diving Coach of the Year: Bethany Hovland (UNI)

Elite 18 Winner: Molly Kroeger (UIC)

UP NEXT

Panther divers Erica Peters and Avery Hogan will return to motion on the NCAA Diving Zones, March Sept. 11 on the Rec Center Natatorium in College Station, Tex.

UNI swimming and diving motion might 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 might be discovered on-line at UNIpanthers.com.