Feb. 13, 2012

By John Lock
SIUSalukis.com

ST. LOUIS - The SIU women's swimming and diving team was picked second in the Missouri Valley Conference pre-championship poll, the league announced Monday. Southern Illinois will host the MVC Championship on Feb. 16-18 in the Dr. Edward J. Shea Natatorium.

Hannah Pinion leads the 200 and 400-yard individual medleys. Kirsten Groome leads the 1650-yard freestyle, and the Salukis also hold the top time in the 200 freestyle relay. SIU athletes hold top-five spots in 13 individual events.

Five Salukis combined to earn six MVC Athlete of the Week honors, tied with Evansville for the most in the conference this year. Groome and Pinion both earned Swimmer of the Week honors, as did Kristin Geppert. Freshman Pamela Benitez earned Swimmer of the Week laurels twice this season and has won 12 individual events in 13 races. Brittany Weigel was the lone Saluki to earn a Diver of the Week honor.

Missouri State was chosen as the unanimous favorite. The Bears have won the MVC Championship eight times in the last nine years. The only other team to win the conference in that span was Southern Illinois in 2007.

The preliminaries will start at 11 a.m. each day, and the finals will start at 6 p.m. each day. All-session tickets are $25, and single-session tickets are $7. Tickets can be bought in advance here.

MVC Pre-Championship Poll
1. Missouri State (5)
2. Southern Illinois
3. Illinois State
4. Evansville
5. Northern Iowa
*First place votes in parentheses