AUBURN, Ala. – The 2019 Women's NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships begin Wednesday night in Austin, Texas, with the 800 freestyle relay from the Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
Auburn has nine invited individuals plus four relay alternates in Austin, where head coach Gary Taylor's team is in search of a Top 10 finish for the first time since the 2012 season.
"Our women rise to the occasion in big moments," Taylor said. "As you look at our eight swimmers and one diver we have opportunities to score points."
Auburn's nine invited athletes bring plenty of experience to the meet as five of them have previously earned NCAA All-America honors (top 16 finish), led by Aly Tetzloff's eight, Julie Meynen's five and Erin Falconer's four.
On the pre-selection psych sheet, Auburn has three top-8 relays and well as three top-8 individuals in Falconer (200 free – 7th; 200 back – 7th), Claire Fisch (50 free – 8th) and Tetzloff (100 back – 5th; 100 fly – 6th).
Auburn's 800 free relay, which is the lone event on Wednesday, is ranked ninth.
"We have the ability to score Top 8 in all five relays," Taylor said. "Relays are big points. You go Top-8 and that sets you up for a Top 10 finish right there."
Auburn goes into the championships with a lot of momentum, having set four school relay records and winning three events (200 free – Falconer, 100 back – Tetzloff, 400 free relay) at the SEC Championships. In total, Auburn tallied 17 individual Top-8 finishes and three top-2 relay finishes at the SEC meet.
"As good as they were at the conference meet, there are opportunities for them to be better at NCAAs," Taylor said. "Relay starts and relay exchanges were good but there is an opportunity to be a little bit better there."
The Championships will be available to watch on ESPN3 and live stats and scoring will be available through texassports.com and divemeets.com and the Meet Mobile.
-- War Eagle –