ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Indiana State freshman swimmer Grace Cummings was recognized as the Missouri Valley Conference Freshman Swimmer of the Year and head coach Josh Christensen was voted the Valley's Women's Swimming Head Coach of the Year as the conference office released the postmeet awards following the conference championships held this past week in Evansville, Ind. at the Deaconess Aquatic Center.
 
Cummings opened the meet winning the 500-yard Freestyle event on Wednesday evening in posting an Indiana State school record-setting time of 4:45.98. She followed up three days later in Saturday's 1650-yard Freestyle, setting a school-record time of 16:17.25 in winning the event and becoming the first Sycamore swimmer in program history to meet the NCAA Standard to advance to the NCAA Championships.
 
Cummings becomes just the second Sycamore swimmer to earn MVC Freshman of the Year honors, joining teammate Claire Parsons who received the recognition following the 2024 MVC Championships.
 
Head Coach Josh Christensen was named the MVC Women's Swimming Coach of the year for the second consecutive season in guiding the Sycamores to the 2026 title. Indiana State posted three individual titles with Grace Cummings taking the 500-yard Free and 1650-yard Free events, while Ali Pearson topped the fieldi n the 100-yard Breaststroke. The Sycamores also topped the field in the 200-yard Medley Relay.
 
Overall, Indiana State totaled 1,236 points across the four-day meet to top both Southern Illinois (1,161) and Missouri State (1,117) in the meet.
 
The Sycamores placed 10 athletes on the Missouri Valley Conference First Team and had an additional 10 honorees on the Honorable Mention List. An athlete earned First Team status by finishing inside the top three in an individual event or competing on a winning relay team. Honorable Mention status is conferred by competing in an A-Final in an individual event.
 
Missouri Valley Swimming & Diving All-Conference First Team

• Anna Asplund      
• Raine Boles          
• Grace Cummings
• Haley Halsall
• Kaleigh Kelley
• Jecza Lopez
• Claire Parsons
• Ali Pearson
• Maria Saldana Riebeling
• Sahara Visscher

Missouri Valley Swimming & Diving Honorable Mention

• Kalli Agapios
• Raine Boles
• Erin Cummins
• Sophia Diaz
• Gemma Dilks
• Addison Johnson
• Kaleigh Kelley
• Claire Parsons
• Ali Pearson
• Maria Saldana Riebeling

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