Year 3 Starts Now: UTRGV Swimming & Diving Wants Another Jump

Year 1 established the program.

Year 2 showed us what it could become.

Now comes Year 3.

UTRGV Swimming & Diving made a noticeable jump last season, scoring 271.5 points at the MPSF Championships after scoring 132 at the WAC Championships the year before. The Vaqueros increased their scoring entries from seven to 13 and finished the season with 15 program records.

UTRGV hasn’t arrived yet. The Vaqueros still finished 10th at the MPSF Championships.

But for a program entering only its third season, the direction is worth watching.

And this weekend, we get our first look.

Four Vaqueros to Watch

Manou Meulebeek, Junior

If we’re starting anywhere, it’s on the diving boards.

Meulebeek finished fifth on 1-meter and seventh on 3-meter at the MPSF Championships, earning Second Team All-MPSF honors in both events. She then advanced to the NCAA Zone D Championships for the second consecutive season.

She also represented the Netherlands internationally over the summer.

Head coach Betsy Graham has identified Meulebeek as one of UTRGV’s leaders entering Year 3.

The next step?

Seeing how much closer she can get to the NCAA Championships.

Annaleagh Stahl, Junior

If Meulebeek is the name to know on the boards, Stahl may be the one to watch in the pool.

Stahl delivered UTRGV’s best individual swimming finish at the MPSF Championships, taking ninth in the 200 backstroke with a program-record 1:59.80.

Graham also identified Stahl as one of the team’s returning leaders.

Now she gets a chance to help set the standard for a young roster.

Sarah Bull, Sophomore

Bull’s freshman season gave us plenty to build on.

She contributed at the conference championships and now enters Year 2 as one of the Gray team’s captains for the Orange & Gray meet.

That’s a pretty quick jump from newcomer to leadership role.

Now we’ll see if Bull can turn a promising freshman season into a sophomore jump.

Ellinor Plant, Sophomore

Plant gave us a reason to pay attention to UTRGV’s distance group.

As a freshman, she established program records in the 1,000 freestyle (10:42.62) and 1,650 freestyle (17:48.34) and scored at the MPSF Championships.

Now she gets a full second season to build on it.

Newcomer to Watch: Eirini Natsiou

UTRGV has an interesting newcomer class, but Natsiou’s résumé stands out.

The newcomer from Greece competed with the Greek Junior National Team, won multiple national championships and was part of a Greek junior-record 4x100 freestyle relay at the 2023 Mediterranean COMEN Cup.

Her background is primarily in sprint freestyle and butterfly.

Now we get to see how that translates to college swimming.

And she isn’t the only newcomer worth following.

Australian diver Madelaine Bailey brings national-level experience. Louise Deroide arrives from France with a breaststroke background and French Junior Championships experience, while Texas diver Kiyana Perez brings two high school state appearances and AAU Nationals experience.

The Rest of the Roster

There’s more behind the headliners.

Dia Henderson returns after making an immediate impact as a freshman, while Olivia Votava owns UTRGV’s 100 butterfly record.

Ida Rudelius, Jaydy Jay, Madiana Lofgren, Sasapin Sarawas, Chloe Siegrist, Lauren Uribe, Samantha Hill, Alexia Gonzalez and AJ Rogers give UTRGV additional experience in the pool.

The current roster also includes Ellie Bailey and Gabriella Ruiz.

That’s 21 Vaqueros entering Year 3.

First Look at Year 3

This weekend isn’t about wins and losses.

It’s about seeing what UTRGV has.

The Orange & Gray competition begins with diving before Friday’s pentathlon, where every swimmer races five 100-meter events: freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and individual medley.

Saturday shifts into a more traditional meet format.

Then the real schedule begins with the Rice Fall Splash on Oct. 9-10.

That’s when we’ll start getting better answers.

Diamond DITV Final Word

UTRGV more than doubled its conference championship points from Year 1 to Year 2, produced 15 program records and sent Meulebeek back to NCAA Zones.

But the Vaqueros still finished 10th in the MPSF.

That’s what makes Year 3 interesting.

UTRGV has established a standard. Now we find out how much higher this program can go.