Razorbacks Ready For NCAA Championships
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ATLANTA – Arkansas begins competition Wednesday at the 2016 NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships at Georgia Tech’s McAuley Aquatic Center.
Arkansas (9-1) opened championship season with a ninth-place finish at the 2016 SEC Championships in Columbia, Missouri on Feb. 16-20. The Razorbacks totaled 491 points which is the third-highest point total at the SEC Championships in program history and the most since 594 in 2013.
The Razorbacks will be represented by two individual swimmers, one diver and two relay teams. The national meet runs through Saturday night.
Seniors Anna Mayfield and Maddie Monroe are among 281 Division I swimmers that will participate in individual events. Mayfield will compete in the 200 and 500-yard freestyle, and 200-yard backstroke, while Monroe will take the pool in the 50, 100, and 200-yard freestyle events.
Mayfield, Monroe, senior Nina Drolc and sophomore Chelsea Tatlow will represent the Razorbacks in the 800-yard freestyle relay. Mayfield, Monroe and Drolc will also join junior Natalie Burnett in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Sophomore Nicole Gillis is among 41 divers that will compete in the diving championships. Gillis will represent the Razorback diving corps on both the 1m and 3m springboards.
The first day of competition will feature the 800-yard freestyle relay at 5 p.m. Starting Thursday, preliminaries for each session begin at 9 a.m. followed by finals at 5 p.m. Complete coverage of all five days will be streamed through AtlantaSwimming.com. Additionally, ESPN3.com will stream finals sessions Friday and Saturday. ESPNU will air a two-hour show at 6 p.m., Tuesday, March 29.
Making her fourth NCAA Championships appearance and her third as an individual, Mayfield leads Arkansas’s individual record holders with three program records, including the 500-yard freestyle, 100 and 200-yard backstroke, and 18 top-five all-time performances. In addition, she is a member of three of four NCAA “A” cut relay times in program history. At the 2015 NCAA Championships, Mayfield swam in four individual events. She tied for 22nd place in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:53.68.
Drolc also is making her fourth NCAA Championships appearance. She and Mayfield are joined by Missy Allert (1990-93) as the only three swimmers in program history to accomplish qualifying for four NCAA Championships. Drolc was a member of the Razorbacks’ 200 and 400-yard freestyle relay teams at last year’s NCAA Championships.
This will be Monroe’s third-straight appearance at the NCAA Championships. Last year, Monroe took 54th place in the 200-yard freestyle (1:48.29) and swam to a 55th place finish in the 100-yard freestyle (49.64). The Godfrey, Illinois native holds the program record in the 200-yard freestyle (1:46.05) and 100-yard freestyle (48.71) along with being a member of three of four NCAA “A” cut relay times in program history.
The 800-yard freestyle relay team of Drolc, Mayfield, Monroe, and sophomore Chelsea Tatlow earned an automatic bid when it notched an NCAA “A” cut time of 7:06.08 at the 2016 SEC Championships on Feb. 16. The quartet’s mark ranks second in program history and is Arkansas’s fourth ever “A” cut.
This will be Tatlow’s second-straight NCAA Championships appearance. Last year, Tatlow was the first Arkansas freshman to qualify for the NCAA Championships in an individual event in seven years. She competed in the 200 and 400-yard individual medley, and 200-yard backstroke. Tatlow also was a member of the 800-yard freestyle relay team.
The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Monroe, Drolc, Burnett and Mayfield earned a spot with a provisional qualifying time of 3:17.52. Burnett will make her NCAA Championships debut.
Last week at the NCAA Zone D Diving Championships at Texas A&M’s Student Recreation Center Natatorium in College Station, Texas, Gillis earned her first career NCAA bid when she posted a 12-dive total of 651.60 to take sixth overall in the 3m springboard event. The Johannesburg, South Africa, native is the first Arkansas diver since Madison Palmer in 2008 to qualify for NCAAs. She also produced a top-10 finish in the 1m springboard event.
Last year, the Razorbacks tied for 44th place at the NCAA Championships.
For more information on Arkansas swimming and diving, follow @RazorbackSD on Twitter.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS (All times CT):
WEDNESDAY
Finals – 5 p.m.
800 Freestyle Relay
THURSDAY
Prelims – 9 a.m.
Diving Trials – 1 meter – 11:30 a.m.
15 minutes following trials: 1-meter diving consolation finals
Finals – 5 p.m.
200 Freestyle Relay Consolation
200 Free Relay Final
500 Free Consolation
500 Free Final
200 IM Consolation
200 IM Final
50 Free Consolation
50 Free Final
One meter diving finals
400 Medley Relay Consolation
400 Medley Relay Final
FRIDAY
Prelims – 9 a.m.
Diving Trials – 3 meter – 11:15 a.m.
15 minutes following trials, the three-meter diving consolation finals will occur
Finals – 5 p.m.
400 IM Consolation
400 IM Final
100 Butterfly Consolation
100 Fly Final
200 Free Consolation
200 Free Final
100 Breaststroke Consolation
100 Breast Final
100 Backstroke Consolation
100 Back Final
3-meter diving finals
200 Medley Relay Consolation
200 Medley Relay Final
Prelims – 9 a.m.
Platform Diving Trials – 11:15 a.m.
15 min following trials, platform consolation finals will occur
2:45 p.m. – 3:50 p.m. Freestyle early heats begin
3:50 p.m. – Free last heat of timed finals
Finals – 5 p.m.
200 Back consolation
200 Back Final
100 Free Consolation
100 Free Final
200 Breast Consolation
200 Breast Final
200 Butterfly Consolation
200 Fly Final
Platform Diving Finals
400 Free Relay Consolation
400 Free Relay Final
