IOWA CITY, Iowa – The 2022 Missouri Valley Conference Swimming & Diving Championships wrapped up on Saturday night with four members of the University of Evansville earning honorable mention all-MVC honors, as seniors Jessie Steele (Houston, Texas/Klein), Fae Keighley (Johannesburg, South Africa), and Maggie Franz (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) and junior Sage Moore (Lexington, Ohio/Lexington) all garnered all-Valley laurels.
Steele earned honorable mention all-MVC honors by placing fourth overall in the 100-yard Freestyle with a personal-best time of 50.39, cutting over six-tenths of a second off of her career-best time and moving her into the third-fastest position in UE history. Franz placed sixth and Keighley placed eighth in the three-meter diving competition with scores of 236.00 and 225.95, respectively, to earn honorable mention all-MVC honors. While Moore finished eighth in the conference in the 200-yard Breaststroke with a time of 2:20.59 to earn honorable mention all-MVC honors.
“This was a great way to close out the Valley Championships, with the highlight of the night being Jessie finishing fourth in the 100 free with a big drop in time,” said UE head swimming coach Stuart Wilson. “Overall, the team has been great all season, and it is a fitting way to end the year by going out with a bang!
“I want to thank our seniors for representing UE with heart and pride! You made a mark on the program, and I know that every one of them will be successful in their next step in life.”
Overall, Evansville produced one first team all-MVC performer in junior Maya Cunningham (Yakima, Wash./Eisenhower) and eight honorable mention all-MVC competitors at the 2022 Valley Championships. Evansville also had success in the Valley’s “B Finals” for a majority of the week, and that continued on Saturday, as both Cunningham and junior Sarah Jahns (Lilburn, Ga./Parkview) won the “B Finals” races in the 200-yard Butterfly and 200-yard Backstroke events, respectively.
While the main portion of the 2022 swimming and diving season concluded Saturday night with the MVC Championships, a select few Purple Aces have qualified to compete in the CSCAA National Invitational Championship, which will take place in March in Elkhart, Indiana. A full list of competitors for the NIC will be announced at a later date.
