EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Saginaw Valley State University swimming and diving concluded competition at the NCAA Division II National Championships on Saturday, March 14. The Cardinals competed in two events on the final day and were highlighted by Lexi Hieber's fourth All-America performance of the meet. Her efforts helped lead SVSU to the best team finish in program history, placing 19th overall.
Carolina Bononi Heinz led off the day for the Cardinals in the 100-yard freestyle, finishing 45th in the preliminaries with a time of 54.01 to wrap up her three-event week. Bononi Heinz also competed in the 800-yard freestyle relay earlier in the meet alongside Andrea Bustos, Samantha Fowler, and Hieber.
Hieber followed with a 13th-place finish in the 1650-yard freestyle, touching the wall in 17:05.71 to earn Second Team recognition. It marked her third individual national honor and fourth overall of the week after earlier Second Team finishes in the 500-yard freestyle and the 800-yard freestyle relay. Hieber also secured First Team honors with a seventh-place finish in the 1000-yard freestyle, the highest finish at nationals in program history for the women's team. The performance also ties Justin Ott for the best national finish ever by a Cardinal after Ott placed seventh in the 1-meter dive during the 2020-21 season.
Season Recap: The four national honors tie the women's program record for most in a single season, matching the 2016-17 team. Hieber also ties Amanda Thielen's program mark with four honors in one season, surpassing Thielen with three individual performances compared to two. Her three individual finishes are the most by a Cardinal in a season across both the men's and women's programs, surpassing Alejandro Robles Ruiz's two individual finishes in 2023-24. Robles Ruiz totaled three additional relay honors that season for the most overall by a Cardinal.
As a team, the Cardinals set eight program records during the season, five by the women and three by the men, while the men also broke an SVSU pool record.