Missouri State defended their title and won the 2011 State Farm MVC Swimming & Diving Championship by a large margin.  Many records were broken throughtout the Championship.

Final Scores:
Missouri State 944
Illinois State 735
Southern Illinois 616
Evansville 476.5
UNI 372.5

New MVC Records
200 Free Relay: Missouri State - Amber Green, Ali Stauffer, Janke Engelbrecht, Anna Ahlin (1:35.45, MVC/Championship/Pool Record)
200 IM: Brianna Willoughby, Missouri State (2:04.51, MVC/Championship Record)
50 Free: Amber Green, Missouri State (22.54, MVC/Championship/Pool Record)
200 Medley Relay: Missouri State - Chelsea Dirks-Ham, Renata Sander, Ali Stauffer, Amber Green (1:42.52, MVC/Championship/Pool)
200 Free: Amber Green, Missouri State (1:48.92, Championship Record)
100 Free: Amber Green, Missouri State (49.52, MVC/Championship/Pool Record)
200 Fly: Sarah Rendek, Illinois State (2:03.38, MVC/Championship Record)

Specialty Awards:
Co-Divers of the Year: Brittany Weigel, Southern Illinois and Sadie Wells, Evansville
Swimmer of the Year: Amber Green, Missouri State
Diving Coach of the Year: Eric Blevins, Evansville
Swimming Coach of the Year: Jack Steck, Missouri State

Day Three
Amber Green has already broken the 100 yard freestyle MVC, Championship and Pool record during this morning's preliminaries.  Sarah Rendek of Illinois State also broke the MVC and Championship record in the 200 yard butterfly.

The first title of tonight went to Southern Illinois' Kirsten Groome in the 1650 yard freestyle, taking first-place for the second-consecutive year.  Groome led from start to finish, touching in a time of 16:43.53.  Saluki teammate, Jenn Kwok, took the silver medal with her 16:54.22 finish.  Danielle Schumacher of Illinois State claimed third-place (17:02.49).

Anna Ahlin of Missouri State is making her mark.  The freshman claimed first-place in the 200 yard backstroke by 2.48 seconds.  Second-place went to Molly Gomberg of Illinois State (2:03.24) and Isabela Castro of Southern Illinois took third-place (2:03.90).

After breaking the 100 yard freestyle MVC, Championship and pool records during prelims this morning, Amber Green of Missouri State came out and did it again.  Swimming even faster in the finals, Green finished in 49.52 claiming gold.  The second-place finisher came out of lane eight.  Erica Halley of Illinois State touched in 52.07, shaving a little over 1 second from her prelim time.  Missouri State's Ali Stauffer took third (52.43), earning 16 points for the Bears.

In the 200 yard breaststroke, Kristin Geppert of Southern Illinois earned first-place with her 2:17.37 performance.  The underclassmen of Missouri State had a strong showing taking second and third.  Freshman, Renata Sander got the silver (2:18.32) with Melissa Oishi in third (2:20.61).

The 200 yard butterfly proved to be an exciting race.  At the end of the race, freshman Isabela Castro came out of lane 6 to claim the title (2:03.60) earning 20 points for the Salukis.  Sarah Rendek of Illinois State took second-place with her time of 2:04.42 and Amy Schaefer came in third (2:04.49).

Brittany Weigel of Southern Illinois comes away with the 3 Meter Diving Championship.  Her score of 264.80 earned 20 points for the Salukis.  Evansville’s Sadie Wells (258.75) and Illinois State’s Liza Perrino (247.65) took second and third place, respectively.

Missouri State took the last title of the night, the 400 yard freestyle relay.  The Bear’s team touched in 3:26.33, with Illinois State right behind them taking second (3:28.63).  Evansville came in third-place with their time of 3:29.04.

Final scores of the night: Missouri State 944, Illinois State 735, Southern Illinois 616, Evansville 476.5, UNI 372.5

Day Two
The Missouri State Bears are proving why they were picked first in the coaches pre-championship poll.  Chelsea Dirks-Ham, Renata Sander, Ali Stauffer and Amber Green quickly became the team to beat in the 200 yard medley relay.  Their 1:42.52 performance broke the MVC, Championship and Pool records.  This is the second consecutive year that the Bears' 200 yard medley relay team broke all three records.  The Southern Illinois relay team earned 34 points with their second-place finish (1:45.27) and Ilinois State took third (1:45.89, 32 points).

The 2010 Swimmer of the Year, Kirsten Groome, came from behind to win the 400 yard IM.  Groome touched in 4:24.58, defending her 400 yard IM champion title from last year.  Missouri State teammates Brianna Willoughby and Kaylee Steffen claimed second and third-place honors with times of 4:26.20 and 4:32.16, respectively.

The 100 yard butterfly was the closest race of the Championship and Illinois State claimed their first title with Sara Rendek's first-place performance.  The sophomore beat out last year's champion and touched in 56.85.  Right behind Rendek was Missouri State's Chelsea Dirks-Ham, touching in 56.86.  Third-place went to Amy Schaefer of Illinois State (57.18).

Once Amber Green pulled away from the pack in the 200 yard freestyle, she didn't look back.  The sophomore Bear set a new Championship record after finishing in 1:48.92.  Evansville senior, Christina Schmidgall took second finishing in 1:50.67 with Danielle Schumacher of Illinois State coming in third (1:51.35).

The trend tonight seems to be that the defending champions are reclaiming their titles.  Southern Illinois' Kristin Geppert took gold touching in 1:03.33, which beat her 2010 championship time.  Missouri State's Renata Sander came in second (1:03.79) and Southern Illinois' Marcela Teixeira third (1:05.20).

The underclassmen are getting in on the championship action.  Missouri State freshman, Anna Ahlin came in first in the 100 yard backstroke with a time of 56.80.  Missouri State's Chelsea Dirks-Ham and Evansville's Alexandra Howard came in second and third, respectively (57.16, 57.23). 

Missouri State finished the night how they started, winning the 800 yard freestyle relay.  Anna Ahlin, Dimi Drakopoulos, Hannah Molden and Amber Green finished in 7:30.37 to claim gold.  Amber Green sealed the deal for the Bears during the last leg of the relay.  Illinois State came in second (7:31.62) and Southern Illinois took third (7:35.63).

Scores after day two of competition: Missouri State 632, Illinois State 454, Southern Illinois 368, Evansville 334.5, UNI 262.5

Day One
Missouri State started the night off strong leading from the start in the 200 yard freestyle relay and finishing with a new MVC, championship and pool record.  The team of Amber Green, Ali Stauffer, Janke Engelbrecht and Anna Ahlin earned Missouri State's first gold with their time of 1:33.11.  Illinois State took second-place (11:34.97), Southern Illinois came in third (1:35.47) with Evansville and UNI taking fourth and fifth, respectively.

Southern Illinois' Kirsten Groome continued her dominance during the 500 yard freestyle.  Groome, the current championship and pool record holder, finished in 4:53.82 earning 20 points for the Salukis.  Missouri State's Dimi Drakopoulous took second-place (4:57.48, 17 pts.) and Evansville's Christina Schmidgall claimed third (4:58.06).

Missouri State controlled the pool in the 200 yard IM, breaking yet another record.  For the third consecutive year, Brianna Willoughby is the 200 yard IM champion.  Her time of 2:04.51 is a new MVC and Championship record, which have been in place since 2005.  Willoughby's teammates, Renata Sander and Anna Ahlin round out the top three with times of 2:06.41 and 2:06.43, respectively.

The trend of breaking records continues in the 50 yard freestyle.  Defending champion, Amber Green, claimed the gold again in record setting fashion.  A sophomore on the Bears' squad, Green broke the MVC, Championship and pool record touching in 22.54.  Luisa Silveira of Southern Illinois came in second-place with her time of 23.77 and Evansville's Michea Reinitz came in third (23.78).

In the one-meter diving competition, UNI sophomore, Bethany Olson took home the gold with her stellar performance.  Olson had a final score of 265.75, which was the top score by almost 14 points.  Evansville took the remaining top spots in Jennifer Childers and Sadie Wells (251.50, 241.60).

The final event of the night didn't disappoint.  The 400 yard medley relay was an exciting one with Missouri State coming out on top for the second year in a row with their time of 3:49.70.  Evansville came in second-place after touching in 3:50.66 with Southern Illinois right behind them at 3:50.78.

After one day of competition the scores are: Missouri State 289.5, Illinois State 196, Southern Illinois 179, Evansville 168, Northern Iowa 115.5

Pre-Championship Poll
In a unanimous vote, Missouri State has been named as the pre-championship favorite at the 2011 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Swimming & Diving Championship, February 17-19 in Carbondale, Ill., hosted by Southern Illinois University.

The Bears, who took home the title in 2010 by an impressive 275.5 point win margin, are the favorites going into this year’s championship by a five point margin over Illinois State, who received all of the second-place votes (20 points). Southern Illinois was ranked third with 15 points. 

Evansville, with ten points, and Northern Iowa, five points, round out the poll.

Missouri State swimmers hold the best times in 11 out of 14 individual events on the MVC Best List, in addition to the top times in three of five relay events.

Evansville divers Sadie Wells and Jennifer Childers hold the top two spots on the MVC Best List in both the one-meter and three-meter diving categories.

Bethany Olson of Northern Iowa currently holds the third best score in both the one- and three-meter diving events behind Evansville's top two divers.

Illinois State, led by sophomore Danielle Schumacher, posted top-three times in 9 out of 14 individual swimming events this season. Schumacher currently holds the best conference time in the 500-yard freestyle and is second to Missouri State swimmers in four other event categories.

The 2010 MVC Swimmer of the Year, Kirsten Groome of Southern Illinois, returns to the championship as a sophomore. Groome has recorded over 13 first-place times this season, posting season-best times in both the 1,000 freestyle and the 500 freestyle in her last meet going into the championships against Evansville.

MVC Pre-Championship Poll
1. Missouri State (5)
2. Illinois State
3. Southern Illinois
4. Evansville
5. Northern Iowa

First place votes in parentheses