Southern Illinois University
MVC Women's Championships
MVC Championships: Day Four Finals
02/21/2015 | 12:00:00 | Swimming & Diving
MVC Championship Final Results 
By Elizabeth Robinson
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - For the first time in seven years, the Salukis came away with a second-place overall finish at the MVC Swimming and Diving Championships on Saturday at the Dr. Edward J. Shea Natatorium at SIU. The Salukis finished with 720 points overall, trailing Missouri State who took the title for the eighth year in a row at 815.
The Salukis came away with three conference titles on the day, beginning with the 1650-yard Freestyle, followed by Three-Meter Diving and the 400-yard Freestyle Relay.
"I couldn't be more excited for the girls," head coach Rick Walker said. "All the way across the board, nobody gave up, everybody kept their heads in the game, and I was just very pleased."
The Day Four finals session began and ended with excitement for the Salukis, as two of their conference titles book-ended the event.
SIU started the evening on a high note, clinching the top three spots for a conference title in the 1650-yard Freestyle, the first finals event of the day.
Freshman Kelsie Walker claimed the champion title, finishing first at 16:33.88, moving her to fourth all-time for the Salukis. Bryn Handley finished just seconds behind, with a 16:48.41 finish for second place. Helena Amorim rounded out the top three for the Salukis, finishing third at 16:55.91.
"When you start out a meet like that, people remember that almost the entire meet," Walker said. "I think you could really tell that for the first time in many years we were taking strides forward in learning how to win."
The Salukis' second conference title of the day came in Three-Meter Diving, as Kaixuan `Sherry' Zhang clinched the first-place position for the third consecutive year. Zhang's 449.10 score is a new MVC Championship record, along with an all-time SIU record and a Dr. Edward J. Shea Natatorium record.
Zhang was awarded with the MVC Diver of the Year Award as a result of her success. SIU diving coach (Joy) Chunhua Zhao was also recognized, receiving the MVC Diving Coach of the Year Award.
The Championships concluded on an equally exciting note as it began, with a thrilling 400-yard Freestyle Relay, where the Salukis secured a first-place, conference title finish.
On the second leg of the relay, Kelsie Walker jumped out to take the lead for the Salukis, following McKenna Avery's lead. Holly Johnson maintained the lead in the third leg, and Bryn Handley closed it out for the Salukis in a tight finish, clinching first place and the conference title at 3:23.81, just .14 seconds ahead of Evansville. SIU's finish claims an MVC Championship record, an all-time SIU record and a Dr. Edward J. Shea Natatorium record.
"When you finish with a relay like that, but you don't win the whole meet, the excitement of a team winning the meet kind of gets taken away a little bit because of the excitement of a win on a relay," Walker said. "What's remarkable is that three of those girls were freshmen, so I think we have a bright future."
Other notable performances for the day include Sarah James' second-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke, coming in at 2:01.10 behind Missouri State's Sydney Zupan at 1:59.22. Katy Ovington finished fourth, while Morgan Timms finished sixth.
Nicole Fuller, Hannah Johnson and Lauren Stockton each finished sixth in their races, competing in the 1650-yard Freestyle, 100-yard Freestyle and 200-yard Butterfly, respectively. McKenna Avery rounded out the Salukis in the A Finals, finishing seventh in the 100-yard Freestyle.
"For the first time in a long time we had a level moving vehicle instead of trying to limp our way through a meet," Walker said. "If you took a look over at our team, they were enjoying themselves and they just put it together very well."
A full recap of the MVC Swimming and Diving Championships action can be found on the Championship Central page by clicking here.
Players Mentioned
