For full race results, follow the link at the top of the page to Championship Central

Team Scores (Final)

981.5    Missouri State

706       Illinois State

680       Southern Illinois

432       Evansville

345.50   Northern Iowa

MVC Specialty Awards:

Swimmer of the Year: Kirsten Groome, Southern Illinois

Diver of the Year: Emily Gable, Southern Illinois

Swimming Coach of the Year: Jack Steck, Missouri State

Diving Coaches of the Year:  Joy Zhao, Southern Illinois/Jim Hueslkamp, Missouri State

New MVC Records:

500Free: Kirsten Groome, Southern Illinois (4:44.48, MVC/School/Pool Record)

200Medley Relay: Missouri State (1:44.08, MVC/Pool Record)

400IM: Kirsten Groome, Southern Illinois (4:19.84, MVC Record)

800Free Relay: Southern Illinois (7:30.42, MVC Record)

1000Free: Kirsten Groome, Southern Illinois (9:50.55, MVC/School/Pool Record)

1650Free: Kirsten Groome, Southern Illinois (16:15.49, MVC/School/Pool Record) 

First Team All-MVC (Athletes Placing Top Three in an Event) 

Honorable Mention All-MVC (Athletes Placing Fourth-Eighth in an Event)

Day Three Recap

Keeping up with her stellar performance, Kirsten Groome of Southern Illinois broke another 27 year-old record in the 1650-yard freestyle.  Groome's quick start and powerful stroke gave her the lead in which she never gave up.  Lapping all the other competitors, Groome touched in a time of 16:15.49 shattering the previous MVC, School and Pool records.  Groome's performance also broke the 1000-yard freestyle MVC, School and Pool records.  Missouri State's Dimitra Drakopoulos and Lauren Terzis of Illinois State came in second and third, respectively.

Missouri State's Chelsea Dirks-Ham won her fifth MVC title of the 2010 MVC Championships in the 200-yard breaststroke touching in 2:02.93.  Abby Girard of Northern Iowa claimed second-place with a time of 2:04.54 and Molly Gomberg of Illinois State came in third.

Therese Mattsson earns her third MVC title of the season by taking the 100-yard freestyle event in 50.81.  Missouri State's Amber Green and Matana Wellman took second and third-place with their times of 50.96 and 52.16, respectively. 

Missouri State's Fran Moody claimed the 200-yard breaststroke in tonight's competition swimming in 2:19.53.  Kristin Geppert of Southern Illinois was right behind her with a time of 2:19.57 and Missouri State's Brianna Wiloughby took third-place.

The Cinderella story of the night came from Lane 7 where Sarah Rendek of Illinois State came from behind and won the 200-yard butterfly with her time of 2:04.15.  Missouri State's Breanna Hollar touched in 2:07.15, earning her second-place and Sarah Coghlin of Illinois State took third-place.

Emily Gable of Southern Illinois took control of the 3-meter diving board tonight and came out on top with a final score of 279.20.  Two of Missouri State's divers, Chelsea Ray and Heather Fulton rounded out the top-three with their scores of 259.25 and 250.20, respectively.

Missouri State came away with another win in the 400-yard freestyle relay.  Brianna Willoughby, Chelsea Dirks-Ham, Amber Green and Matana Wellman finished in 3:25.43 to claim first-place.  Illinois State took second by only a few tenths of a second in front of Southern Illinois.   

Day Two Recap

Missouri State started the night off with a bang when the quartet of Chelsea Dirks-Ham, Fran Moody, Breanna Hollar and Amber Green broke not only the MVC record but the Pool record, that had been in place since 1988, with their time of 1:44.08 in the 200-yard Medley Relay team.  Southern Illinois took second-place with Illinois State a close third.

Kirsten Groome of Southern Illinois continued her streak of breaking records in tonight's competition with her first-place finish in the 400-yard IM.  Groome touched in 4:19.84, breaking the year old record of 4:26.54. Missouri State's Brianna Willoughby and Hilary Morrow took second and third-place, respectively.

Missouri State's Chelsea Dirks-Ham claimed first-place for the second year in a row in the 100-yard butterfly.  Dirks-Ham touched in 55.99, followed closely by second-place winner Jeanette Nolte (Illinois State) and third-place winner Michea Reinitz (Evansville)

Therese Mattsson won her first MVC title of the 2010 Championships in the 200-yard freestyle tonight with her time of 1:50.73.  Missouri State's Elizabeth Strother earned second-place honors from lane two with her time of 1:52.54 and Dimitra Drakopoulos was right behind her taking third-place.

Southern Illinois had a strong showing in the 100-yard breaststroke winning first and second-place.  Kristin Geppert improved on her prelim time touching in 1:04.44 and Marcela Teixeira was right behind her with her finish of 1:04.86.  Fran Moody from Missouri State came in third with her time of 1:05.13.

Chelsea Dirks-Ham of Missouri State became the MVC Champion for the third time in one night when she won the 100-yard backstroke in 56.29.  Northern Iowa's Abby Girard touched in 57.34 for second-place and Amber Green of Missouri State took third with her time of 57.56.

Heather Fulton of Missouri State stole the show with her performance in the one-meter diving.  With six dives, her score of 250.25 gave her a first-place finish.  Emily Gable of Southern Illinois came in second-place with a score of 238.95 with Illinois State's Katelyn Prorok close on her heels at a score of 238.65.

In an exciting 800-yard freestyle relay, Kirsten Groome, Tovah Gasparovich, Jenn Kwok and Therese Mattsson of Southern Illinois inched ahead of Missouri State to take first-place.  Therese Mattsson swam the anchor leg and came from behind to beat the Bears.  The Salukis' time of 7:30.42 was a new MVC record.  Missouri State touched in 7:30.93 and Illinois State came in third with their time of 7:35.90.

After two days of competition, Missouri State leads with 631.5 points, Illinois State in second (452 pts.), Southern Illinois in third (437), Evansville in fourth (301), and Northern Iowa in fifth (229.5).

The final day of competition will start on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. Central with the 1650-yard freestyle.   

Day One Recap

Missouri State took control of the 2010 State Farm MVC Championships early, winning four out of the five events held today.  The Bears got off to a great start winning the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:34.32.

After breaking the Championship record during prelims, freshman Kirsten Groome of Southern Illinois made a splash by setting a new MVC, School, and Pool record with her 4:44.48 finish in the 500-yard freestyle. Groome finished nearly eleven seconds in front of the second-place finisher. Dimitra Drakopoulos of Missouri State and Lauren Terzis took second and third-place, respectively.

Missouri State's Brianna Willoughby won the 200-yard Individual Medley for the second year in a row.  Willoughby's teammate, Fran Moody, came in second followed closely by Illinois State's Jeanette Nolte.  Willoughby touched in 2:05.58, Moody in 2:08.31, and Nolte in 2:08.34.

Amber Green was the second freshman of the night to earn an MVC title.  Green swam the 50-yard freestyle in a time of 23.30, followed closely (23.77) by second-place winner Therese Mattsson of Southern Illinois. Third-place was claimed by Tovah Gasparovich (23.96).

Chelsea Dirks-Ham, Fran Moody, Breanna Hollar, and Amber Green closed out the night for the Bears with their first-place finish in the 400-yard Medley Relay with a time of 3:48.05.  Southern Illinois came in second and Illinois State in third.

After one day of competition, Missouri State leads the team competition with 251.50 points, followed by Southern Illinois (168), Illinois State (159), Evansville (123) and Northern Iowa (91.50).

Action will resume at 11 a.m. Central on Friday with the 200-yard medley relay.

Pre-Championship Poll  

In a unanimous vote, Missouri State has been named as the pre-championship favorite at the 2010 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Swimming & Diving Championships, February 11-13 in Carbondale, Ill., hosted by Southern Illinois University.

The Bears are the favorites by a five point margin over Illinois State, who received all of the second-place votes (20 points). Southern Illinois was ranked third with 14 points.

Evansville, with ten points, and Northern Iowa (six points) round out the poll.

Missouri State has swimmers in the top-three times on the MVC Best List in 18 different events. This includes the top times in all five of the relay events.

Diver Chelsea Ray holds the best dive in the Valley for the one-meter dive and a close second score in the three-meter dive behind Evansville's Sadie Wells.

Host Southern Illinois holds ten top-times on the MVC Best List which includes all the individual freestyle events.

Kirsten Groome holds the top conference time in the 1000-yard freestyle by close to 10 seconds and in the 1650-yard freestyle she leads by almost 44 seconds.

Illinois State's Katelyn Prorok and Bethany Olson of Northern Iowa each have a top-five score in the one- and three-meter dives. Bethany Olson holds the conference's top scores for the one- and three-meter championship dives.