Carbondale Reporter

Southern Illinois University (SIU) had a notable performance on the second day of the Women's Missouri Valley Conference Swim and Dive Championships, held in Waukee, Iowa. Despite their achievements, SIU slipped to second place in team standings behind Indiana State.

The day's events began with the 500-yard freestyle preliminaries. Fernanda Sánchez secured a spot in the A-finals by finishing seventh, while Ale Hoyos Horvath made it to the B-finals by placing 16th.

In the 200-yard individual medley (IM), Olivia Herron delivered a record-breaking performance with a time of 1:58.63, securing first place and setting a new MVC championship record. Liseska Gallegos Gutierrez followed closely as runner-up, joining Herron in the A-finals. Brooklyn Anderson and Tia Jankovics advanced to the B-finals.

Susanna Hernandez finished sixth in the 50-yard freestyle preliminaries, earning her place in the A-finals. Masha Zhukova and Ava Rines also qualified for the B-finals.

In one-meter diving preliminaries, Farida Moussa scored 246.50 points to finish fourth and advance to the A-finals.

During finals, Sánchez placed eighth in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:56.07. Herron dominated again in the 200-yard IM finals with a gold-winning time of 1:57.85, resetting her earlier championship record and nearing SIU's record by just 0.64 seconds. Gallegos captured silver behind Herron.

Hernandez finished sixth in the 50-yard freestyle finals with a time of 23.11.

Moussa led SIU's efforts in one-meter diving finals with a fifth-place finish scoring 253.35 points.

The day concluded with SIU's team winning the 400-yard medley relay event. The squad comprising Herron, Celia Pulido, Bea Padron, and Zaria Terry set new program, MVC, and MVC championship records with their time of 3:34.56.

The championships continue tomorrow with prelims starting at 10:30 a.m., followed by finals at 6 p.m.

Fans can follow updates on SIU swim and dive teams via social media platforms X (@SIU_SwimDive), Instagram (@siu_swimdive), Facebook (facebook.com/SIUSwimDive), or through the "Salukis" Mobile App available on both App Store and Google Play Store.