The University of Evansville swim and dive team has been gearing up for the Missouri Valley Women’s Championships that will be held this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at Southern Illinois in Carbondale, Ill.

“I am excited for these girls,” says head coach Rickey Perkins. “They have worked extremely hard and I think the payoff is going to be there for them. It is going to be a great meet and we always have fun.”

Seniors Taryn Brelage, Melissa Claycomb, Ashli Heck, Nicole Uhrin, and Colleen Ward will conclude their Evansville careers with the MVC Championships. These seniors have many accomplishments among them. Uhrin ranks in the top ten MVC standings for her performances in the 100 and 200 butterfly. Brelage is a two-time all-conference honorable mention, Claycomb is a former MVC Diver of the Week, Heck has been a MVC Scholar Athlete, and Ward set team-high’s for the 100 and 200 free in the 2006-07 season.

The Aces’ freshmen are strong competitors. Christina Schmidgall leads the Aces in many events. The freshman is the current team and MVC leader in the 1000 free with a time of 10:35.89. Schmidgall also picked up her first MVC Swimmer of the Week this season. Freshman Kristyn Benter is the team leader in the 50 and 100 free. Diane Threlkeld is sixth in the MVC in the 100 back and also has a team best in that event. Kaitlyn Sluka has a team best in the 200 back, which is also fifth best in the MVC standings. On the diving board, freshman Jennifer Childers holds second place in the one-meter and fourth place in the three-meter in the MVC standings.

The SBC Men’s Championships will be held Feb. 28-Mar. 1 in Nashville, Tenn.