IOWA CITY, Iowa – University of Evansville junior Iryna Tsesiul (Minsk, Belarus) placed sixth Friday night in the women’s 100-Yard Backstroke, and junior diver Madison Rollett (Evansville, Ind./Reitz) won the consolation final in the three-meter event, to highlight a strong day of competition for the Purple Aces at the 2023 Missouri Valley Conference Championships in Iowa City, Iowa.
Tsesiul advanced to Friday night’s final by placing seventh in the preliminary round in the 100 Back with a time of 55.53. She then dropped 0.34 seconds off of her time Friday night in the final to place sixth overall with a time of 55.19 – the second-fastest women’s 100 Back time ever at UE, behind only her own school record mark of 55.05.
“Iryna has really had a great week here at the championships, and did a tremendous job today in the 100 Back,” said UE head swimming and diving coach Stuart Wilson. “She was really locked in tonight in the final, and it was great to see her earn a sixth-place finish!”
Rollett, meanwhile, placed tenth out of 31 competitors in Friday’s preliminary round of the three-meter diving competition to earn a spot in the eight-person consolation final. Rollett cruised to the consolation final title by posting a score of 256.95, to beat UNI’s Taylor Hogan by over 18 points.
“Madison really stepped up her game this week,” said UE assistant head coach for diving Dustin Bredemeier. “With the addition of Marshall and UIC to the conference, the level of diving in the MVC has really risen this year, and I thought that Madison did a great job of stepping up her level of competition this week. She really showed what she was capable of tonight in the consolation final.”
Senior Maya Cunningham (Yakima, Wash./Eisenhower) finished second in the consolation final and tenth overall in the women’s 400 IM with a time of 4:25.96 – actually the eighth-fastest time in Friday night’s finals. UE also had three swimmers reach the “C Final” in the women’s 100-Yard Breaststroke, as senior Allison McDonald (1:04.85), sophomore Mari Müller (1:06.48) and senior Sage Moore (1:06.53) all earned the “C Final” start.
Team-wise, UE placed eighth in the 400-Yard Medley Relay, as Tsesiul, McDonald, sophomore Sveva Brugnoli (Rome, Italy) and senior Sonsoles Aguayo (Jerez, Spain) posted a time of 3:49.79.
The MVC Championships will conclude on Saturday with action in the 200-Yard Backstroke, 100-Yard Freestyle, the 200-Yard Breaststroke, 200-Yard Butterfly, the 1,650-Yard Freestyle, and the 400-Yard Freestyle Relay. Preliminary round action will begin at 10:30 a.m., with finals set for 6 p.m. Fans can watch the action live at www.youtube.com/@UNIAthleticsPanthers/streams, while also following along on the Meet Mobile App for live results.
