AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn women will send nine swimmers to the 2020 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Athens, Georgia, later this month.
The group, selected Wednesday, includes three seniors (Robyn Clevenger, Claire Fisch, Julie Meynen), two juniors (Carly Cummings, Sonnele Oezteurk), one sophomore (Emily Hetzer) and three freshmen (AJ Kutsch, Averee Preble, Abbey Webb).
"I think it's an awesome group to represent Auburns swimming and diving," Auburn head coach Gary Taylor said. "You've got a lot of elite individuals in there from sprint to middle distance to endurance. It's a really hard-working, dedicated group that has their eyes on the biggest prize that being NCAAs. So I'm really excited about the group that we're taking over there."
Of the nine selected, six – Clevenger, Cummings, Fisch, Meynen, Oeztuerk and Hetzer – also represented Auburn at last year's NCAA Championships. Led by Fisch with six, the group earned a total of 16 All-America honors and helped lead the Tigers to a 12th-place finish.
Cummings, who only swam in relays last year, solidified her spot this year with a career-best swim in the 200 breaststroke (2:08.22) at the NCAA Last Chance Qualifier this past weekend. Her time set a new Auburn record in the event.
All five of Auburn's relays are also eligible to compete at the NCAA Championships. At the SEC Championships last month, the team's 200 and 400 freestyle relays both won gold and broke the conference and school records. Their times in the two relays still stand as the fastest in the nation to this point in the season.
Auburn's list of NCAA participants could grow next week at the Zone B Diving Championships where senior Alison Maillard and freshmen Ashlynn Sullivan and Gretchen Wensuc will compete in hopes of advancing to NCAAs. Maillard won the SEC championship in the 1-meter event and also finished second on 3-meter.
The NCAA Championships will be held Wednesday, March 18 through Saturday, March 21.