Salukis Win 2007 Missouri Valley Conference Swimming and Diving Championship

CARBONDALE, Illinois, February 10. THE Southern Illinois women's swimming and diving team had another successful day on the final day of the 2007 State Farm Missouri Valley Championships. The Salukis won five of the six finals events during the evening session, giving them a final score of 894 and the conference title.

Missouri State came in second with a final score of 807.5. Illinois State finished third with 740.5. Northern Iowa placed fourth with a score of 382 and Evansville finished fifth with 314.

The Salukis collected three awards following the meet, Swimmer of the Year (Julie Ju), Diver of the Year (Cristina Curtuneanu) and Diving coach of the Year (Chunhua Zhao).

Missouri State's Allison Zeller won the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:03.35. SIU's Kelly Dvorak (2:04.68), Danielle Quarry (2:07.89) and Samantha Dvorak (2:08.59) finished third, fourth and fifth in the A final, respectively.

Liz Navistsky placed fourth, 12th overall, in the B final with a time of 2:15.16.

The Salukis swept the top three spots in the 100-yard freestyle A final. Julie Ju (51.18) finished first, Isabel Madeira (51.39) followed in second and Therese Mattsson (51.40) took third. Tovah Gasparovich finished in eighth-place with a time of 53.84.

Nora Bunford gave the Salukis another first-place finish with her 2:22.48, 200-yard breaststroke finish. Keli Kramer placed fifth in the event with a time of 2:27.63.

SIU collected another first-place finish when Rachel Winius won the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:04.72. Also competing in the A finals were Abby Blank (2:09.12), Lisa Jaquez (2:09.87) and Kasey Fernandez (2:10.35).

Gabriela Flores finished second, tenth overall, with a time of 2:11.41 in the B final.

Christina Curtuneanu not only finished in first place in 3-meter diving, she broke an MVC Championship record with a score of 311.65. The previous record of 283.65 was set by Stacey Arkovich of Missouri State in 2006.

The Salukis capped off an impressive performance, winning the final event of the evening, the 400-yard freestyle relay. The SIU team made up of Isabel Madeira, Tovah Gasparovich, Therese Mattsson and Julie Ju finished with a time of 3:27.48.

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