For the second year in a row, 10 Minnesota swimmers and divers will compete in their individual events as well as all five relays at this week’s women’s NCAA Championships in Columbus, Ohio. With the national meet set for Wednesday through Saturday, this year’s event marks the 13th straight year that 10 or more Gophers have qualified to participate. On their rise to being one of the most consistent programs in the country over the last decade, Minnesota has recorded a top-15 finish in 11 of the last 12 NCAA meets.

Wednesday’s 5 p.m. finals of the 800 freestyle relay starts the meet. The next three days will begin with prelims at 9 a.m.  and finals at 5 p.m. The meet will be streamed live and free via Buckeye Vision with the exception of Friday and Saturday finals, which are scheduled to stream on WatchESPN or ESPNU.

“Our swimmers and divers prepared their entire careers for the opportunity to be in competitions like this one,” said head coach Kelly Kremer. “This year’s NCAA meet will be the best ever contested and we can’t wait to compete.”

Sophomore Sarah Bacon leads Minnesota in the diving well, coming off a first-place finish in the 3-meter and third place on the 1-meter at Zone diving. The Big Ten 1-meter champion will be joined by teammates Kristen Hayden and Morgan Justus. Hayden qualified for the meet with a 10th place finish on the 1-meter, 12th on the 3-meter and fourth on the platform. Justus snuck into the field on the final day of the Zone D meet following a ninth-place finish on the platform.

Danielle Nack will be the lone senior to lead the Minnesota squad, having qualified for three individual events. After not dropping a 100 butterfly race in the regular season before posting a Big Ten runner-up finish, Nack holds the seven seed in the 100 fly with an A cut time of 51.15 In the 200 fly she is 16th with a seed time of 1:54.72 and 20th in the 50 free.

Sophomore Tevyn Waddell joins Nack in the 100 fly, making her NCAA butterfly debut earning a 52.31 seed time. Waddell returns to the 100 back completion on the big stage after earning All-American Honorable Mention last year in the event, placing 12th.

Freshman Mackenzie Padington is making her NCAA Championships debut, although the newcomer is no stranger to the big stage after competing with the Canadian national team this past summer at the FINA World Championships. Padington, qualified for three individual events at this year’s meet all in the freestyle stroke. Highlighting the schedule is her 200 free swim, where she holds the 17th seed with a school record time of 1:44.15, which she recorded back at the Minnesota Invitational earlier in the year.

Sophomore Lindsey (Horejsi) Kozelsky returns to compete in the breaststroke events after the All-American finished second in the 100 breast and 11th in the 200 breast last year. Kozelsky has her work cut out for her as the number two seed, having to go neck-in-neck with Indiana’s Lillia King, who holds the number-one seed in the 100 breast. At the Big Ten meet, Kozelsky posted a school record time of 57.91 just behind King.

Junior Zoe Avestruz heads back to the NCAA Championships for individual events for the second year in a row. Avestruz was selected to swim in the 50-yard freestyle and 100 free. With a qualifying time of 59.53, junior Rachel Munson also qualified for the 100 breast event. Chantal Nack will also swim one individual event in the 200 back with a seed time of 1:53.51.

The Gophers will send all five relays for the NCAA Championships with some of the best qualifying standard times in program history, following a record-shattering performance at the Big Ten meet. Highlighting the team events is the medley relays, where the Gophers hold the fourth best qualifying time. In the 200 the Gophers come in at 1:35.06 while holding a 3:28.96 in the 400 medley relay event.