Gators Women’s Swim and Dive prep for National Championships

After a strong showing at the SEC Championships and NCAA Diving Zones, 11 Gators will be competing in the Women’s NCAA National Championships. The Championships run from Wednesday until Saturday in Atlanta.

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Swimming

Nine Gator swimmers qualified for the national championships with their season-best times and four relays qualified, too.

Freshman Anna Auld will compete in the 400 IM on Thursday and the 1650 free on Saturday. Joining Auld in the 400 IM are sophomore Mabel Zavaros and junior Kathleen Golding. Additionally, Elise Bauer, Leah DeGeorge and Tylor Mathieu will join Auld in the 1650 free.

Bauer, who is competing in her second national championships, will also be swimming in the 500 free, which she finished in 19th-place as a freshman in 2021. Mathieu joins Bauer in the 500 free for the second-straight year. Mathieu finished in 11th-place in the 500 free in 2021.

Two of the nine Gators will be competing in the 50 free, 100 free and 200 free events.

Talia Bates qualified in all three events for the second-straight year with times of 22.01 (50 free), 47.96 (100 free) and 1:44.72 (200 free). In 2021, Bates won silver in the 200 free with a time of 1:43.49.

Freshman Ekaterina Nikonova joins Bates after qualifying with times of 22.16 (50 free), 48.28 (100 free) and 1:44.83 (200 free).

To round things out individually, sophomore Amanda Ray will compete in the 200 fly for the second-straight year.

Relay-wise, the 200 free relay and 400 free relay qualified by hitting the qualifying standard, while the 800 free relay and 400 medley relay qualified with provisional standard times.

Diving

Two Gators qualified for diving championships after their performances at the NCAA Diving Zones during the week of March 7.

Maha Amer will be competing in the 1-meter, 3-meter and Platform events. At Zones, Amer qualified for the three events with a ninth-place finish in the 1-meter (563.10), a sixth-place finish in the 3-meter (673.50) and a ninth-place finish in the platform (511.05).

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Additionally, Carina Lumia qualified for the 3-meter springboard, her first ever NCAA Championship appearance. Lumia placed 10th at Zones with a score of 583.80 to qualify.

Ticket CLINCHED x 2⃣

Maha & Carina finish in the Top-10 to secure their spot at NCAAs! #GoGators pic.twitter.com/lAhzZEaCWX

— Gators Swimming & Diving (@GatorsSwimDv) March 8, 2022

National Championships’ Schedule

The national championships kick off Wednesday with the 200 medley relay and 800 free relay. The full schedule of events can be found here.