Southern Illinois University
MVC Championships (WOMEN)
Salukis surge to third place on day two at MVC's
02/21/2019 | 9:01:00 | Swimming & Diving
Columbia, Mo. — Eight top-10 finishes propelled the Southern Illinois women's swimming and diving team to third place at the Missouri Valley Conference Championships through seven events.
The day two surge at the championship meet was led by Saluki divers Beibei Ji and Baobao Ji.
The twin sisters recorded the top-two scores in the preliminary round of the one-meter dive and kept the momentum going into the championship round. Beibei won the event for the second-straight year with a score of 290.20. Her sister Baobao dove to a score of 283.30 to take second.
The success on the diving boards shifted to the pool as several Salukis produced point-scoring performances.
Eden Girloanta, a spring semester enrollee, swam the second-fastest prelim time in the 500-yard freestyle (4:57.91) to qualify for the championship finals. In the finals, she swam to third place (4:54.79) to earn a podium spot. Right behind her in the finals race was senior Jordan Ries, who took seventh in the finals with a season-best time of 5:00.59. Juliana Carvalho competed in the B finals and won her heat with a personal-best mark of 4:59.23. Her time was good for ninth overall, which tallied on key points for Southern.
In the 200-IM, Emma Brazeau and Laura Carver both qualified for the championship finals with times of 2:03.36 and 2:03.62. Brazeau's qualifying time of 2:03.36 was a personal best and the fourth-fastest mark in SIU history. In the finals, the duo was once again neck-and-neck, as they finished sixth and seventh overall (2:02.88 & 2:03.78). Carver's mark of 2:02.88 bested Brazeau's prelim time and became the second-fastest in SIU history.
Jaqueline Rose turned in a personal-best time of 24.14 in the 50-yard freestyle to win the C Finals. She went on to place 17th overall. Her time was the fastest out of the four Saluki swimmers that competed in the event.
In the final event of day two, the Southern relay team of Rita Naude, Rose, Abigail Young and Ries swam to a sixth-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a season-best time of 1:35.32.
SIU is back in action tomorrow for day three at the MVC Championships, which will feature seven finals events. Prelims are set to commence at 11 a.m. and finals will start at 6 p.m.
Along with following the MVC Championship Central page, follow @SIU_SwimDive on twitter, @SIUSwimandDive on Instagram and Saluki Swimming and Diving on Facebook for the latest updates on the Salukis.
Players Mentioned
