AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn women will send 14 swimmers to this year's NCAA Championships with 10 individual qualifiers and four relay alternates. It's the most individual qualifiers since the Tigers had 11 in 2016, and it's tied for the third-most individual qualifiers among SEC teams this season.
The individual qualifiers include seniors Carly Cummings (100 Breast), Emily Hetzer (500 Free) and Mykenzie Leehy (200 Free), junior Averee Preble (1650 Free), sophomores Meghan Lee (100 and 200 Back) and Hannah Ownbey (400 IM), and freshmen Avery Bargeron (200 Fly), Anastasia Makarova (100 Breast), Lexie Mulvihill (50 Free) and Ellie Waldrep (100 Back).
This will be the third NCAA Championships appearance for both Cummings and Hetzer. Both also qualified for NCAAs in 2020 before the meet was canceled. Cummings finished 30th in the 100 breaststroke last year while Hetzer took 21st in the 500 freestyle.
Preble and Ownbey also swam for Auburn at the 2021 NCAA Championships. Ownbey competed in three events with her best finish coming in the 400 IM (23rd).
This will be the first NCAAs at Auburn for Leehy, but the graduate transfer from Houston made the B Final in both the 100 and 200 freestyle a year ago. This will be the third straight year Leehy has qualified for the meet and her second time competing.
It will be the NCAAs debut for Lee and the four freshman who qualified – Bargeron, Makarova, Mulvihill and Waldrep. Lee qualified in both the 100 and 200 backstroke and currently holds the 19th-fastest time in the country in the 200 back. She and Bargeron made an A Final at last month's SEC Championships while Makarova and Waldrep made a B Final.
Auburn will also send junior Claudia Thamm, sophomores Payton Marvin and Emma Steckiel, and freshman Rebekah Hamilton as relay alternates for the NCAA meet.
The 2022 NCAA Women's Championships is set for March 16-19 and will take place from the McCauley Aquatic Center in Atlanta, Georgia.
INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIERS
Avery Bargeron, Freshman
Carly Cummings, Senior
Emily Hetzer, Senior
Meghan Lee, Sophomore
Anastasia Makarova, Freshman
Lexie Mulvihill, Freshman
Hannah Ownbey, Sophomore
Averee Preble, Junior
Ellie Waldrep, Freshman
RELAY ALTERNATES
Rebekah Hamilton, Freshman
Payton Marvin, Sophomore
Emma Steckiel, Sophomore
Claudia Thamm, Junior
Auburn boasts 10 qualifiers for NCAA Women’s Championships
