EVANSVILLE, Ind.—The UIndy swimming & diving team completed an historic performance at the 2023 Great Lakes Valley Conference Championships Saturday night. The Greyhound women captured their first-ever conference title, while the men took runner-up honors. The women brought home the hardware after a string of five consecutive second-place finishes at the conference meet.
All told, UIndy combined for 21 gold medals – 11 women's and 10 men's – on the way to five major awards, including Women's Coach of the Year
Brent Noble and now back-to-back Men's Swimmer of the Year
Cedric Buessing.
GLVC MAJOR WOMEN'S AWARDS
Swimmer of the Year: Claire Conover, Drury
Diver of the Year:
Mikaela Starr, UIndy
Freshman of the Year:
Mika Heideyer, UIndy
Coach of the Year:
Brent Noble, UIndy
GLVC MAJOR MEN'S AWARDS
Swimmer of the Year:
Cedric Buessing, UIndy
Co-Divers of the Year:
Cade Hammond &
Julio Osuna, UIndy
Freshman of the Year: Connor Bichsel, Missouri S&T
Coach of the Year: Daniel Murphy, Missouri S&T
SATURDAY
The UIndy finished off the GLVC meet with a pair of gold medal performances Saturday evening. Before being crowned the league's Freshman of the Year,
Mika Heideyer won her third individual event title of the week, matching the fifth-fastest 100 free time in school history with a 50.07.
Fittingly, the women's capped their championship performance with a gold-medal swim in the 400 freestyle relay. Heideyer and
Johanna Buys – who took silver in the 100 free – were joined by
Andrea Paaske and
Leticia Vaselli, combining for a 3:21.60 to win the team's third relay event of the meet and seal the win over runner-up Drury.
In between, the women racked up 106 points by taking second through fifth place in the 200 back.
Kaitlyn McCoy led the UIndy contingent with a silver-medal time of 1:58.24.
Cedric Buessing wrapped up a stellar meet with a dominating performance in the 1650 fee. He posted an impressive time of 15:02.54 to set a new school record, securing his third gold medal of the meet and all but clinch his second straight GLVC men's Swimmer of the Year award.
Julio Osuna led a pack of Hounds on the 3-meter diving board. He earned a school-record 644.00 points in 11 dives to take gold, while
Cade Hammond earned silver and
Jason Lenzo secured fourth. Osuna and Hammond went on to share GLVC Men's Diver of the Year accolades.
The Greyhound men went 2-3-4 in the 100 free, with
Jeron Thompson winning silver and
Joao Silva bronze.
OTHER NOTABLES
2nd-
Emilia Colti-Dumitrescu, 1650 free
2nd-
Celina Schmidt, 200 breast
3rd-
Mia Krstevska, 200 back
3rd-
Christian Hedeen, 1650 free
3rd-
Sebestyen Bohm, 200 breast
4th-
Diego Mas, 100 free
4th-
Karolina Dubcakova, 1650 free
4th-
Andrea Gomez, 200 back
4th-
Liki Prema, 200 breast
5th-
Brynhildur Traustadottir, 1650 free
5th-
Stanislaw Chalat, 1650 free
5th-
Isabella Revstedt, 200 back
5th-
Karolina Dubcakova, 200 breast
7th-
Jamie Glover, 1650 free
7th-
Bartek Swiderski, 200 back
8th-
Sydney Balint, 200 breast
FRIDAY
Senior
Jeron Thompson was the catalyst for a pair of event titles Friday night, giving the veteran five GLVC gold medals for his career. A native of The Chaguanas, Trinidad & Tobago, Thompson set both UIndy and GLVC records with a winning-time of 46.31 in the 100 back. He later anchored the 200 free relay team to gold, as he,
Aqeel Joseph,
Diego Mas and
Joao Silva combining for a 1:18.13 – just .03 off the meet mark.
The UIndy women also topped the podium in the 200 free relay.
Johanna Buys,
Julia Magierowska and
Leticia Vaselli notched their second straight gold in the sprint relay, while
Isabella Revstedt earned her first.
Mikaela Starr destroyed both the school and GLVC records on the 3-meter board, winning the gold with an impressive 11-dive total of 518.50.
Kaitlyn McCoy won the 100 back, breaking her own school record with an A-cut time of 53.37. She of one of five Greyhounds to finish in the top six, as UIndy racked up an impressive 134 points in the women's 100 back alone.
Cedric Buessing notched his third gold of the meet by winning the GLVC's 500 freestyle race for the second straight year. He too bested his own school record as well as the conference mark with a 4:20.66. Meanwhile,
Christian Hedeen collected his second silver medal in as many distance events, improving his B-cut time with a 4:26.23.
Liki Prema made it back-to-back conference titles in the men's 100 breaststroke, while the UIndy women placed four swimmers in the top eight, including
Celina Schmidt (silver) and Buys (bronze).
OTHER NOTABLES
3rd-
Alexis Lumaj, 3-meter
T-3rd-
Isabella Revstedt, 100 back
T-3rd-
Julia Magierowska, 100 back
4th-
Brayden Cole, 100 breast
4th-
Andrea Gomez, 200 fly
4th-
Serge Ahadzhanian, 200 fly
5th-
Emilia Colti-Dumitrescu, 500 free
5th-
Mia Krstevska, 100 back
6th-
Brynhildur Traustadottir, 500 free
6th-
Caroline Reinke, 100 back
6th-
Sydney Balint, 100 breast
6th-
Sebestyen Bohm, 100 breast
6th-
Kael Yorke, 200 fly
6th-
Sarah Kerbrat, 3-meter
8th-
Bartek Swiderski, 100 back
8th-
Anahi Schreuders, 100 breast
THURSDAY
Several milestones were hit on the third day of the meet, but the brightest star for the Hounds was
Mika Heideyer. The Fort-de-France, Martinique native captured two event titles, winning the 100 butterfly and the 200 free in a span of about 70 minutes.
Her 100 fly time of 54.57 matched the school record set by current teammate
Johanna Buys last year, while her 200 free mark of 1:48.42 set a new meet mark.
The aforementioned Buys secured silver in the 100 fly, while
Julia Magierowska (4th),
Caroline Reinke (6th) and
Andrea Paaske (7th) made it five Hounds in the top eight.
Cedric Buessing also broke a GLVC record with his gold-medal swim in the 400 IM. The sophomore from Germany earned his second consecutive conference title in the event, touching in 3:46.16.
Senior
Jeron Thompson took the silver in the men's 100 fly. His 46.29 snapped the school record while also hitting an automatic qualifying time.
UIndy tallied two more medals on the diving boards, with
Cade Hammond grabbing the gold and
Jason Lenzo the bronze on the 3-meter. Hammond put up an impressive score of 614.25, good for both school and conference records.
Once again, the night finished with relay races as both UIndy teams earned silver in the 400 MR.
Kaitlyn McCoy,
Celina Schmidt,
Julia Magierowska and
Johanna Buys combined forces for a time of 3:41.04 – just .17 back of first – while
Bartek Swiderski,
Liki Prema,
Kael Yorke and
Diego Mas fell less than a second shy of gold at 3:10.43.
OTHER NOTABLES
2nd-
Kaitlyn McCoy, 400 IM
4th-
Kael Yorke, 100 fly
6th-
Andrea Gomez, 400 IM
8th-
Brynhildur Traustadottir, 200 free
9th-
Serge Ahadzhanian, 200 free*
UIndy won both B finals in the 400 medley relay
* won the B final; fourth-fastest time in school history
WEDNESDAY
Diego Mas claimed the 50-free crown, out-sprinting the league's fastest swimmers with a lightning-quick time of 19.60 to edge McKendree-speedster Gregg Lichinsky by just .03 seconds. The mark set a new GLVC record and matched his own program best – one he set back at the
House of Champions meet in November. The performance also gave the Greyhounds their first gold in the high-profile event since 2014.
Johanna Buys made it back-to-back conference titles in the women's 50 free, touching in 22.71. Right behind was teammate
Leticia Vaselli, whose season-best 23.15 was good for runner-up.
UIndy also went 1-2 in the 1000 free, highlighted by sophomore
Cedric Buessing's continued success on the league's biggest stage. The reigning GLVC Men's Swimmer of the Year earned his second straight gold in the event with a school-record and NCAA A-cut time of 9:01.69. Teammate
Christian Hedeen secured silver with a 9:11.87, improving both his personal best and B-cut times.
Though the gold went to McKendree, the Greyhounds scored big points in the women's 1000. UIndy claimed second through fifth place, including a silver-medal swim from
Emilia Colti-Dumitrescu and a bronze from
Karolina Dubcakova, to amass a whopping 106 team points.
Kaitlyn McCoy repeated as the women's 200 IM champ. The 2021 national runner-up in the event, McCoy outpaced a trio of Drury Panthers with a winning time of 2:00.01.
Meanwhile on the boards, the Hounds started the diving events by nabbing two more medals.
Mikaela Starr and
Alexis Lumaj earned gold and silver, respectively, on the 1-meter. It marked the second career GLVC title for Starr, who also won gold two years ago on the 3-meter board.
The Greyhounds' capped the night with a pair of podium finishes in the always-exciting 200 medley relay.
Julia Magierowska,
Celina Schmidt,
Mika Heideyer and Vaselli combined for a gold-medal time of 1:41.52, out-touching Drury by nine-tenths of a second. In the final race of the evening,
Jeron Thompson,
Liki Prema,
Serge Ahadzhanian and Mas claimed silver with a 1:26.00, falling just .13 seconds shy of McKendree's winning time.
OTHER NOTABLES
4th-
Brynhildur Traustadottir, 1000 free
5th-
Joao Silva, 50 free
5th-
Jamie Glover, 1000 free
5th-
Celina Schmidt, 200 IM
6th-
Sarah Kerbrat, 1-meter
7th-
Stanislaw Chalat, 1000 free
7th-
Andrea Gomez, 200 IM
TUESDAY
The meet kicked off Tuesday evening with the men's and women's finals of the 800 freestyle relay, with both events netting a medal for the Hounds. The women's quartet of Heideyer, Vaselli, McCoy and
Brynhildur Traustadottir claimed the silver, while the men's team of Buessing, Ahadzhanian, Hedeen and Silva took bronze.
