Michigan
NCAA Championships
Wolverine Women Set for NCAA Championships in Athens
3/18/2024 2:50:00 PM | Women's Swimming & Diving
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 13-ranked University of Michigan women's swimming and diving team will travel to Athens, Ga., to take on the best in the country at the NCAA Championships at Gabrielsen Natatorium. The four-day meet will start on Wednesday (March 20) at 6 p.m. with the opening relays. The remaining three days will feature preliminary heats that will start at 10 a.m. with finals commencing at 6 p.m. Diving will get started on Thursday (March 21) with trials beginning at 12:15 p.m. and consolation finals getting underway at 5:15 p.m. All four days will be streamed live on ESPN+.
Notes
• Fifteen swimmers and one diver will make the trip south to take part in the NCAA Championships. Twelve qualified for individual events while four will travel as part of a relay team. Of the 11 individual swimming competitors, five of them have qualified for multiple events.
• Katie Crom punched her ticket to NCAAs in three events: 200-yard butterfly, 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle. Crom won Big Ten titles in the 200 fly and 500 free. Crom posted a 200 free time of 1:43.93 to earn an NCAA bid. The sophomore will enter as a top-20 seed in all three individual races.
• Freshman Hannah Bellard joins Crom as a three-time qualifier after a impressive debut season for the Maize and Blue. Bellard ranks inside the top 10 in Division I in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:53.21. Bellard will also compete in the 500-yard freestyle and 400-yard IM in her first championships appearance. Â
• Reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year Stephanie Balduccini will look to add to her long list of accolades. Balduccini will race in the 100 and 200-yard freestyle races against the top competition in the country. Balduccini's top 100 free time of 47.26 leads the Big Ten and puts her firmly in the mix for a national title as the sixth-best time nationally. Her season-best 200 free mark of 1:43.30 checks in as the 15th in the nation and grants her the No. 13 seed in the event at the championships.
• Another freestyle specialist, junior Lindsay Flynn will head to Athens to compete in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle events. Flynn posted B cut times in both events and will be one of three Wolverines to take part in the 50-yard sprint.
• Rounding out the multi-event qualifiers is sophomore Brady Kendall. Kendall will head to Georgia as a top-20 seed in the 50-yard freestyle with a top mark of 21.84. Kendall also earned her way to the national championships in the 100-yard butterfly by registering a time of 51.79.
• Juniors Natalie Kan and Kathryn Shanley each earned a bid to the national championships. Kan will compete in the 100-yard butterfly with an entry time of 51.88. Shanley made the cut in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a mark of 16:14.82. Devon Kitchel posted a 200-yard IM time of 1:55.78 at the Last Chance Meet on March 3 to punch her NCAA ticket.
• Three seniors will be making the trip to the Peach State. Kathryn Ackerman will hit the pool for the 400-yard IM, and Casey Chung and Claire Newman will compete in the 100-yard backstroke and 50-yard freestyle, respectively.
• Kiarra Milligan earned her way to NCAAs in the three-meter dive by finishing eighth overall at the NCAA Zone C Diving Championships on Friday (March 15).
Players Mentioned
