EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Two races into the 2024 Missouri Valley Swimming and Diving Championships and Indiana State boasts a pair of podium finishes and ISU school records as the Sycamores started off the four-day meet at the Deaconess Aquatic Center on Wednesday evening.
The Sycamores set a new Indiana State record in both the 200-yard Medley Relay and the 800-yard Freestyle Relay on their way to finishing third overall in both events to sit on the podium in both relays. The strong start puts ISU second overall in the field with 108 points behind leader Missouri State (128) through the first two events.
Indiana State started off the opening 200-yard Medley Relay breaking the school-record mark set earlier this season as the the quartet of
Alexandria Cotter, Ali Pearson,
Kaleigh Kelley, and
Chloe Farro touched the wall in 1:40.42 to take third overall in the field.
ISU's B and C teams swam in an exhibition format with the B-team of Olivia DiRuzza,
Kaimi Matsumoto,
Raz Harel, and
Jordan Gruce finishing in 1:43.33, while the team of
Kate Reeves,
Dorotea Bukvic, Allie Barasch, and Ash Saple finished in 1:44.21.
The Sycamore diving team competed in a team exhibition with the trio of
Zoe Smith,
Bailey Betzer, and
Daniela Orta Castaneda all attempting one dive on both the 1M and 3M springboards. The ISU trio finished second overall in the unofficial scoring during the intermission.
The Sycamore relay teams closed out the opening day by breaking Indiana State's longest standing record in the 800-yard Freestyle Relay. The previous mark was set by Martina Marks, Marlene Pavlu Lewin, Cierra Campbell, and Blanca Saez-Illobre was set back on February 14, 2018, at the MVC Championships with the quartet establishing the standard at 7:23.72.
ISU's quartet of
Erin Cummins,
Peyton Heagy,
Alexa Szadorski, and
Claire Parsons shattered that mark by a full five seconds as the Sycamores touched the wall in 7:18.66 to place third overall in the field. Parsons was key for ISU down the stretch swimming the final leg in 1:48.98 to pass UIC to claim the final spot on the podium.
The B-Team of
Trista Bullock,
Haley Halsall,
Kamila Nowak, and
Rose Parsons went 7:33.91 in an exhibition to close out the day's events.
Top ISU Performers in Each Event
Head Coach Josh Christensen
Up Next
Indiana State continues the 2024 MVC Championships tomorrow morning with the preliminary qualification rounds in the 500-yard Freestyle, 200-IM, and 50-Freestyle, as well as the 1M Diving. The prelims start at 11:30 a.m. ET, while the finals of the events, as well as the 200-yard Freestyle Relay finals will be held tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. ET.
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,
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YouTube. Fans can also receive updates on Sycamore Athletics by downloading the March On App from the both the
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