The season drew to a close with the conclusion of the  2018 Missouri Valley Conference Swimming and Diving Championship.
The final standings were: Missouri State- 799 , Southern Illinois- 672.5, UNI- 487.5, Indiana State- 477, Illinois State- 370.5, Little Rock- 363.5, Evansville- 225, Valparaiso- 110.
“I am proud of the way this team fought and stayed together this season,” said head coach Rickey Perkins. “We went through a lot of growth and change this season. The team we started off as is very different than the team we are today.”
The evening kicked off with a recognition of the senior class of 2018. Evansville celebrated their senior class of Courtney Coverdale, Danielle Freeman, Jessi Hildebrand, and Kasey Rein. All four women have been with the Aces for the entirety of their college career, though fifth-year senior Freeman took a season hiatus to compete with Aces Softball.
The competition began with the 1650 freestyle. Freshman Emily Lane led the way for the Aces with a 23rd place finishing 18:01.20. Junior Megan Schremp followed shortly in 25th with 18:07.57, and sophomore Ashton Adams clocked 18:10.57 for 26th.
Sophomore Kristy Kupfer saw the consolation final of the 200 backstroke. She took 15th place with a final time of 2:07.03. Junior Sam Gowdy returned this evening to take the win in the C Final for 17th place, her time a 2:07.25.
Danielle Freeman performed in her usual fashion in the final of the 100 freestyle. The senior dropped nearly half a second from her preliminary time to record a 50.47 and take her place on the podium in 4th place. Sophomore Emma Hennessy took 24th place with a 53.55. Junior Kaylee Gubricky recorded a career-best 54.14 in the morning preliminary.
In the morning’s preliminary of the 200 breaststroke, freshman Sarah Alexander clocked in a career-best 2:37.36.
The 200 butterfly saw no shortage of Aces this evening. Junior Kristen Myers and freshman Kara Steward represented in the consolation final. Myers took 13th place with a time of 2:07.83, while Steward immediately followed at 2:07.84 for 14th, Senior Kasey Rein took 21st with a 2:17.40, over a 2-second drop from her preliminary time.
The Championship closed with the presentation of specialty awards. Freeman received MVC All-Conference Honorable Mention while senior diver Courtney Coverdale received MVC All-Conference First Team.
Coach Perkins ended the season with a quote from Maya Angelou: “I have learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
Perkins will return with men’s swimming and diving at the end of the month to travel to Oxford, Ohio for the 2018 MAC Championship.
