Florida Women’s Swim and Dive Team Take on the NCAA Championship

The Florida Women’s Swim and Dive team will send nine members to the most important meet in college swimming, the NCAA meet. Nine women from the team have qualified for the championship in Columbus, Ohio at Ohio State. The meet starts today on March 14th and will go on until March 17th.

The men’s championship will make their splash the following week, March 21st-24th in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Just ☝️ more sleep until the start of the 2018 Women’s NCAA Championships! 😄🤩#GoGators pic.twitter.com/7zdMmQ7WYN

— Gators Swimming & Diving (@GatorsSwimDv) March 13, 2018

Who Qualified?

Taylor Ault, Emma Ball, Hannah Burns, Sherridon Dressel, Savanna Faulconer, Kelly Fertel, Amelia Maughan, and Sydney Sell all had the qualifying times in their respective events. Diver Brooke Madden also joined them by qualifying in three different events.  She finished in the top nine in the women’s platform with a score of 465.95. She also was ninth in the 1-meter final and 10th in the 3-meter final with scores of 549.95 and 590.95, respectively. Kahra Williams, a junior, was selected as an alternate in the women’s 1650 free and a qualifying time of 16:14.39. The Gators also have three relays, the 800 free, the 200 medley, and the 400 free relay.

Everyone on this qualifying squad has participated in an NCAA meet, except for two of them. Sophomore Sherridon Dressel and Freshman Taylor Ault are making their first appearances at the championships as individuals.

The Stanford University Cardinals are predicted to win the meet as they are ranked first in the country. The Gators are currently ranked 17th.

How to Watch

The meet will be aired on ESPNU for the Friday session. Saturday’s events will be either streamed on ESPN3 or on ESPNU at 6 PM.

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