TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State makes the trek down to Evansville, Ind. as the Sycamores prepare to take on the field at the 2024 Missouri Valley Swimming & Diving Championships hosted by Evansville at the Deaconess Aquatic Center over February 21-24.
 
The Sycamores are one of nine MVC teams vying for the conference championships and the Sycamores are looking to take the next step in their program development after last year's second-place result in Iowa City.
 
"We're excited to compete this week against a really strong field at the MVC Championships," head coach Josh Christensen said. "This team has done a tremendous job in both training and competition all season long. It's a special group that cares a lot about each other and is competing with a lot of confidence down the home stretch of the season. We're going to keep being the same team we've been all year, racing and diving for each other through all four days of competition."
 
Indiana State sits atop the conference rankings heading into the Missouri Valley Championships following the announcement of the MVC Pre-Championship Coaches Poll this past week. The Sycamores received four first-place votes and 76 points overall in the poll to finish ahead of defending champion Missouri State (four first-place, 74 points). Southern Illinois received the final first-place vote and 65 total points to round out the top-three in the poll.
 
ISU put together an impressive season featuring a wealth of depth including 18 athletes recording 47 spots among the Missouri Valley's top-10 times and scores across all events. The Sycamores have already set nine school records on the year with Claire Parsons (500, 1000, & 1650 Free), Chloe Farro (100 Free), Kaleigh Kelley (100 Fly & 100 IM), Ali Pearson (100 Breast), and Erin Cummins (200 Free) all posting new individual marks on the year.
 
Indiana State's depth and experience abounds throughout the roster. The Sycamores return four All-Conference performers from last year's team with Kaimi Matsumoto (100 Fly), Alexa Szadorski (100 Free), Bailey Betzer (1M Diving), and Zoe Smith (3M Diving) looking to reprise their roles. ISU also boasts the return of All-Conference Honorable Mention selections Esther Rydbeck Norden, Alexandria Cotter, Haley Halsall, Olivia DiRuzza, and Dorotea Bukvic to the pool deck as well.
 
The Sycamores broke through last season finishing second at the 2023 MVC Championships for the first time in program history. The second-place finish featured a school-record 1200.5 points and snapped a four-year stretch where ISU finished third overall in the standings.
 
Sycamores in the Top 10

• Chloe Farro – 50 Free (23.14, 2nd), 100 Free (50.02, 3rd)
• Kaleigh Kelley – 50 Free (23.39, 7th), 50 Fly (25.11, 4th), 100 Fly (53.91, 2nd), 100 IM (57.36, 3rd)
• Alexa Szadorski – 100 Free (50.59, 7th), 50 Breast (29.65, 6th), 100 Breast (1:02.71, 5th)
• Erin Cummins – 200 Free (1:48.96, 2nd), 500 Free (4:56.31, 5th), 1000 Free (10:09.90, 4th)
• Claire Parsons – 200 Free (1:50.49, 9th), 500 Free (4:51.86, 1st), 1000 Free (9:58.88, 1st), 1650 Free (16:52.20, 1st), 200 Back (2:02.18, 8th)
• Peyton Heagy – 200 Free (1:51.07, 10th)
• Haley Halsall – 500 Free (4:56.47, 6th), 1000 Free (10:17.12, 9th), 1650 Free (17:12.14, 7th), 200 Fly (2:01.19, 2nd)
• Esther Rydbeck Norden – 1000 Free (10:09.29, 3rd)
• Rose Parsons – 1000 Free (10:10.61, 5th)
• Alexandria Cotter – 50 Back (26.35, 10th), 200 IM (2:02.30, 3rd), 400 IM (4:21.25, 3rd)
• Olivia DiRuzza – 100 Back (56.34, 8th), 200 Back (2:01.61, 6th)
• Ali Pearson – 50 Breast (29.19, 3rd), 100 Breast (1:01.95, 3rd), 200 Breast (2:16.38, 6th)
• Kaimi Matsumoto – 50 Breast (29.75, 7th), 100 Breast (1:03.22, 7th), 200 Breast (2:16.73, 7th), 50 Fly (25.62, 7th), 100 Fly (55.31, 7th)
• Dorotea Bukvic – 200 Breast (2:14.36, 3rd), 200 IM (2:02.51, 4th), 400 IM (4:22.67, 4th)
• Raine Boles – 50 Fly (25.53, 6th), 200 Fly (2:05.18, 9th)
• Raz Harel – 200 Fly (2:03.98, 7th)
• Zoe Smith – 1M (278.83, 3rd), 3M (298.95, 3rd)
• Bailey Betzer – 1M (277.35, 4th), 3M (275.25, 7th)

Follow the Sycamores
For the latest information on Sycamore Swimming and Diving, visit GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Fans can also receive updates on Sycamore Athletics by downloading the March On App from the both the App Store and the Google Play Store.