AUBURN, Ala. – The NCAA Women's Championships begin Wednesday night in Atlanta, and the Auburn women, ranked No. 18 nationally, will be well-represented at the meet with 10 individual qualifiers and all five relays competing.
"We have 10 women individually qualified, which is the most we've had since 2016 here at Auburn," Auburn head coach Ryan Wochomurka said. "We're returning with relays this year – we have all five relays qualified. When you look at where things are seeded and if you score out the psych sheet, there's a lot of opportunity for us to continue to move up."
The Tigers had eight qualify on the women's side a year ago but failed to score any points at the NCAA Championships. The goal this year is to not just be content with making it but to improve on their seed times and earn swims in the finals.
Of the 10 individual qualifiers, four competed for Auburn at NCAAs last year. It's a group that includes seniors Carly Cummings and Emily Hetzer, junior Averee Preble and sophomore Hannah Ownbey.
Graduate transfer Mykenzie Leehy also competed at the NCAA Championships last year for Houston where she made the finals in the 100 and 200 freestyle, but the other five Tigers in the meet will be making their NCAA debut with sophomore Meghan Lee and freshmen Avery Bargeron, Anastasia Makarova, Lexie Mulvihill and Avery Bargeron.
Unlike last year when the Auburn women had no relays qualify, the Tigers will have all five relays competing this year, including the 200 medley relay and 800 freestyle relay on Wednesday, the opening night. Rebekah Hamilton, Payton Marvin, Emma Steckiel and Claudia Thamm all traveled with the team as relay alternates.
"Perhaps most importantly at a meet like this is having the relays back into the equation," Wochomurka said. "Relays are double points at a championship meet like this and really the epitome of the team focus where if you want to talk about being in the top 10 in the country, top five in the country, all five of those relays play a significant role."
The NCAA Women's Championships will begin Wednesday night at 5 p.m. CT with the two relays. For the next three days of competition, prelims are set for 9 a.m. CT with finals at 5 p.m. CT. Prelims and finals from each day will be streamed live on ESPN3.
Wednesday, March 16
200 Medley Relay
800 Free Relay
Thursday, March 17
500 Free: Emily Hetzer
200 IM: Meghan Lee, Hannah Ownbey
50 Free: Mykenzie Leehy, Lexie Mulvihill
200 Free Relay
Friday, March 18
400 IM: Hannah Ownbey
100 Fly: Avery Bargeron, Lexie Mulvihill
200 Free: Emily Hetzer, Mykenzie Leehy
100 Breast: Carly Cummings, Anastasia Makarova
100 Back: Meghan Lee, Ellie Waldrep
400 Medley Relay
Saturday, March 19
1650 Free: Emily Hetzer, Averee Preble
200 Back: Meghan Lee, Ellie Waldrep
100 Free: Mykenzie Leehy, Lexie Mulvihill
200 Breast: Carly Cummings, Anastasia Makarova, Hannah Ownbey
200 Fly: Avery Bargeron
400 Free Relay