IOWA CITY, IOWA – The podium was filled with Aces this evening as the women's swimming and diving squad continued the 2017 Missouri Valley Conference Championship with the first set of individual events.

"I am humbled by what they did tonight. They were an amazing team from start to finish, the whole day," said head coach Rickey Perkins. "We had a lot of best times across the board. I'm just grateful for what they've done. The girls in the 500 did awesome; the girls in the 200 IM, again, amazing. The girls in the 50 freestyle, for Danielle to get second, she didn't have the best breakout, but she made everything else work for her. And then Michaela, just her consistency overall from start to finish was awesome for her. Most importantly, what Courtney did, and then that relay at the end. Those splits were probably some of the fastest splits we've ever had. Michaela came home in a 22.6, the fastest split of the whole meet. It's really amazing. It's fun. Hopefully tomorrow we'll continue to have fun and enjoy this journey that we're on."

The 500 freestyle was the first event slated for the night. Participating in the finals were freshmen Aine Scholand and Kristy Kupfer with times of 5:00.51 and 5:09.67, good for 12^th and 20^th place respectively. Scholand's time was a season best. In this morning's preliminary session, sophomore Bridget Sheridan clocked in at a 5:18.89 for a season best time.

The 200 IM came next on the schedule. Senior Taylor Davidson represented the Aces in finals with a 23^rd place finish at a 2:10.74. Her preliminary time of 2:09.47 was a season best.

Junior Danielle Freeman and senior Michaela Kent both competed in the A-Final of the 50 freestyle and represented well. Freeman clocked in at 23.04, a half second drop from her preliminary time, to earn second place. Kent took seventh place spot on the podium with a 23.34. Freshman Emma Hennessy clocked in a 24.08 for 20^th place, and Sam Gowdy's 24.33 was a lifetime best time good for 22^nd place.

The highlight of the night came in the form of junior Courtney Coverdale, eight-time MVC Diver of the Week. Coverdale took to the boards tonight seeded first after the morning's preliminary round. She came out on top with a final score of 275.35. Her title is the first diving championship Evansville has taken in at least fifteen years. Junior Kasey Rein took 10^th place with 188.85 points, and freshman Alyssa Vonder Haar placed 13^th with 165.80.

"Courtney dove awesome tonight, and all day," said diving coach Andy Brown. "She was in a great position for finals. She went out and really stepped up her game and competed just the way that we always talked about. She worked really hard for this moment and she decided to take it. And she took it."

To top off an already successful night, the 200 Freestyle Relay team of Freeman, freshman Emma Hennessy, sophomore Kristen Myers, and Kent outtouched the Southern Illinois relay by a mere two tenths of a second to score a third place finish and the final spot on the podium. Their final time was 1:33.10. Kent's final split of 22.6, a lifetime best, was the fastest of the meet, and would have been good for first place in the individual event.

Junior Jessi Hildebrand participated in the Evansville C Relay and clocked in a 25.45, a lifetime best 50 freestyle mark. Additionally, sophomore Kaylee Gubricky earned a best time with a 24.00 split on the B Relay.

The Aces currently sit in fourth place with 153 points, ahead of Illinois State at 117.5, Arkansas Little Rock with 108, and Indiana State with 68. Missouri State leads the pack with 296.5 points.

The Aces return tomorrow with the 400 IM, 100s of the strokes, and the 200 Freestyle. The preliminary round begins at 11 a.m. CST and finals at 6 p.m. CST.
 

• INFO: For all of the latest information on University of Evansville swimming and diving, visit the sport page on GoPurpleAces.com or follow the program on Twitter via @UEAthleticsSWIM. 

 

• DONATE: For information on giving to UE Athletics or its individual athletics programs, visit the DONATE tab on the top of GoPurpleAces.com. 

 

• TICKETS: To purchase tickets for University of Evansville athletics events, log on to GoPurpleAces.com and click on the TICKETS tab on top of the page.