MVC Championship Day Three Preliminaries

Saturday, February 16

Carbondale, Ill.

10:00 AM

Southern Illinois University

MVC Championships Day 3 Prelims

02/16/2013 | 12:00:00 | Swimming & Diving

Feb. 16, 2013

By John Lock
SIUSalukis.com

Results

CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois women's swimming and diving team rapped up the final preliminary session of the Missouri Valley Conference Championship on Saturday afternoon, sending seven swimmers to A Finals for the finals session tonight at 4 p.m. at the Dr. Edward J. Shea Natatorium in the SIU Rec Center.

The Salukis started the prelim session off with a bang, posting three of the top four times in the 200-yard backstroke. A pair of newcomers led the way, with Katy Ovington (2:03.62) and Morgan Timms (2:03.62) finishing second and third. Hannah Pinion wasn't far behind, posting the fourth-best time of the preliminaries (2:03.83).

The Salukis also had the top three times in the B Final for the event, with Isabela Castro (2:05.06), Ella Otto (2:06.25) and Kristy Hinkle (2:06.53) taking the top three spots. With six scoring swimmers in the event, SIU has two more scorers than any other school.

The 100-yard freestyle needed a swim-off to determine the last spot in the A Final. Rachael Barry tied two other swimmers for the final spot in the A Final with a time of 52.61, and Barry went on to win the swim-off to earn her spot in the Championship Final. Shailey Brumley (52.66), Luisa Silveira (53.25) and Holly Johnson (53.44) will swim in the B Final.

Melissa Larocque made the A Final cut in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:23.68), while Jessica Anderson (2:30.01) will swim in the B Final. Castro (2:04.15) and Charlotte Davies (2:06.81) will swim in the A Final of the 200-yard butterfly, where Castro is the two-time defending MVC Champion.

The Finals session starts at 4 p.m., and a ceremony for seniors will take place immediately prior to the meet. The session will include all of today's preliminary events as well as the 1,650-yard freestyle, three-meter dive and 400-yard freestyle relay.