ELKHART, Ind. -- Cumberlands' (Ky.) Bella Hoare won the 500-yard freestyle national championship today at the 2026 NAIA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships at the Elkhart Health & Aquatics Center.

The national title helped Cumberlands climb to third overall at the midway point of the championship with 167 points. Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) is seventh with 98 points, followed by Indiana Wesleyan in 12th with 47 points and Shawnee State (Ohio) in 18th with seven points.

Keiser (Fla.) leads the championship with 238 points, and SCAD Savannah is second with 188 points.

Hoare captured her first national title with a time of four minutes and 56.45 seconds. The national championship is the 19th individual national title in Cumberlands' history.

Hoare's teammate Juliana Lopez Morales finished fourth in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:01.75, while Lindsey Wilson's Nathalie Medina finished in 6th with a time of 5:04.35.

All three individuals earn NAIA All-American honors -- reserved for the top eight finishers in each event.

In all, Mid-South Conference women's swimmers and divers earned six individual all-American honors, while two relay teams earned the honor.

Lindsey Wilson's Natalia Gorska picked up a fourth-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle. She touched the wall in 23.43 seconds.

Cumberlands' Morgan Schraudner and Indiana Wesleyan's Macy Schmidtgall finished third and fifth, respectively, in the 3-meter diving finals. Schraudner scored 253.5 points, while Schmidtgall tallied 209.75 points.

Cumberlands and Lindsey Wilson finished sixth and seventh in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Cumberlands edged the Blue Raiders with a time of 1:35.85, while Lindsey Wilson ended in 1:36.48.

The championships continue on Friday with 100 butterfly, 400 IM, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke, and 400 medley relay.