WAUKEE, Iowa - Missouri State Women's Swimming & Diving maintained its third-place positioning at the end of the second day of the 2025 Missouri Valley Conference Swimming & Diving Championships at Waukee Community School District Natatorium on Thursday.

The Bears opened the finals session by winning the B- and C-Finals of the 500-yard freestyle. Ainsley Jenkins led the field to the wall in the B-Final with a time of 4:54.58, down nearly four seconds from her prelim time from earlier in the day (4:59.12). Her finals time was good for ninth overall in the event, up from her 17th-place result in last year's championships.

In the race prior, last year's ninth-place finisher Sophia Coleta won the C-Final with a time of 4:57.76, followed next by teammate Makenzie Kurre (4:59.63). Both improved by at least 4.5 seconds from their prelim races. They finished the event 17th and 18th, respectively.

Lindsey Hervey was Missouri State's top 500 free finisher in sixth with a personal best time of 4:54.74. She improved by one spot from her seventh-place finish in last season's 500 free conference championship event. UIC took the top two spots in the event, led by Molly Kroeger (4:47.20) to snap MSU's seven-year winning streak in the event.

MoState had three swimmers in the A Final of the 200-yard individual medley. Last year's MVC 200 IM silver medalist Lana Janson led the Bears in fourth with a time of 2:02.10. Samantha Roemer (2:02.25), the league's 200 IM silver medalist in 2021, finished fifth. Olivia Sala (2:02.36) finished sixth in the 200 IM, up from 13th last season. Southern Illinois' Olivia Herron set the Valley record in the 200 IM with a 1:57.85 to win gold.

Caitlyn Friebe was the Bears' top finisher in the 50-yard freestyle (23.48) in 16th. Cameryn Johnson was the other Missouri State representative in the event and came 23rd with a time of 23.82.

The Bears finished fourth in the 400-yard medley relay to end the swimming portion of the night. Friebe, Cabrini Johnson, Roemer and Kurre put together the sixth-fastest time in the event in program history with a 3:39.84, less than half a second off of Illinois State's 3:39.49 for the final spot on the podium. Southern Illinois paced the field by over four seconds with a time of 3:34.56 to upend the previous championship record set by the Bears last season (3:37.10).

In diving, Courtney Stanbury snagged the final spot in the A-Final of the 1-meter dive by 2.5 points over Northern Iowa's Erica Peters. The senior Bears came away with an eighth-place showing in the A-Final (240.30). Maggie Arceneaux finished with a 13th-place result (241.10), followed by Grace Affeldt with a 225.80 score for 15th, up from 23rd last season.

The 2025 MVC Women's Swimming & Diving Championships continues Friday with the penultimate day of competition starting with the prelim session at 10:30 a.m. CT. The finals of each event will begin at 6:00 p.m. All sessions of the championships can be viewed on the UNI Athletics YouTube channel.

Standings After Day 2
1.    Indiana State - 492.5
2.    Southern Illinois - 441
3.    Missouri State - 379
4.    Northern Iowa - 360.5
5.    UIC - 326
6.    Little Rock - 296
7.    Illinois State - 247
8.    Valparaiso - 124
9.    Evansville - 103

Tomorrow's Events

Day 3: Friday, Feb. 28
Prelims: 10:30 a.m. CT (Watch)
Finals: 6:00 p.m. CT (Watch)
- 100-yard Butterfly
- 400-yard Individual Medley
- 200-yard Freestyle
- 100-yard Breaststroke
- 100-yard Backstroke
- 3-meter Diving Prelims, Consolation (Watch)
- 200-yard Freestyle Relay