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

“This should be a great meet for the girls,” said head coach Rickey Perkins. “They have been working really hard and look sharp in practices. Hopefully we can carry that excitement into the conference meet and come away with some good times.”

A 2008 MVC All-Conference selection, sophomore Christina Schmidgall will go into the championships with five of the Aces’ best times and several top-10 times in the conference. Freshman Hannah Quast kicked off the season with a MVC Swimmer of the Week selection for her efforts against Southern Illinois and has continued her consistency throughout the season.

The Aces will look to their three upperclassmen in juniors Nicole Lodewyk, Anna Luecke, and Ady Sekely for leadership. Luecke and Sekely were chosen as MVC Scholar-Athletes last season while Lodewyk has improved many of her personal times from last season. The Aces have several strong competitors including freshmen Alexandra Howard, Bridget Niezer, Alexandra Spata, and Kassandra Beseau who have all had top times for the Aces this season.

Sophomore Jennifer Childers and freshman Ashley Altmeyer will represent UE on the diving board. Both have had success this season with Altmeyer having her best score against conference opponent Southern Illinois. Childers had her best three-meter dive of the season against No. 23 Kansas.

The Sun Belt Conference men’s championships will be held Feb. 19-21 in Nashville, Tenn.