WAUKEE, Iowa - Missouri State women's swimming & diving finished third in both relay events on the opening night of the 2025 Missouri Valley Conference Women's Swimming & Diving Championships. The Bears earned bronze medals in the 200-yard medley relay and the 800-yard freestyle relay and sit in third after the first day of the meet.

The Bears started this season's championships with a third-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay. Caitlyn Friebe, Cabrini Johnson, Samantha Roemer and Lana Janson combined for a time of 1:39.51, the fastest by MoState this season to beat the quartet's previous best of 1:40.47 from the House of Champions Invitational in November. 

Southern Illinois, who last season had a record time in the event disallowed due to a false start, redeemed the sour start from last season by winning gold with an MVC record time of 1:36.84. The Salukis relay team of Celia Pulido, Olivia Herron, Maria Padron Salazar and Susana Gabriela Hernandez Barradas reset the MVC championship record set by the Bears in 2022. Missouri State had won the event each of the last four years entering this season.

Missouri State also finished third in the 800-yard freestyle relay. Janson, who had just anchored the 200 medley relay about an hour earlier, opened up a lead in the first 100 yards before the same Saluki lineup from the previous event took the lead and never looked back. Janson, Sophia Coleta, Makenzie Kurre and Ainsley Jenkins finished with a time of 7:19.49, the sixth-fastest time in the event in program history. The conference medal was Kurre's first in her career.

Southern Illinois (7:12.16) broke Missouri State's conference record it set last year by .03 seconds. SIU also snapped MSU's seven-year winning streak in the event.

The second day of the 2025 MVC Women's Swimming & Diving Championships starts Thursday morning with the prelim session starting at 10:30 a.m. CT and the finals session beginning at 6:00 p.m. CT. All sessions of the championships can be viewed on the UNI Athletics YouTube channel.

Standings after Day 1
1.    Southern Illinois - 128
2.    Indiana State - 112
3.    Missouri State - 108
4.    Little Rock - 104
T-5. UIC - 96
T-5. Illinois State - 96
T-5. Northern Iowa - 96
8.    Valparaiso - 84
9.    Evansville - 44

Tomorrow's Events

Day 2: Thursday, Feb. 27
Prelims: 10:30 a.m. CT (Watch)
Finals: 6:00 p.m. CT (Watch)
- 500-yard Freestyle
- 200-yard Individual Medley
- 50-yard Freestyle
- 1-meter Diving Prelims (Watch) B-Final (Watch)
- 400-yard Medley Relay