Alabama
Women's NCAA Championships
11 Swimmers Earn Spot on Alabama Women's NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship Roster
3/4/2020 3:09:00 PM | Swimming & Diving
The Crimson Tide contingent includes SEC Champions Rhyan White and Kensey McMahon, who are seeded in the top-two at the national championships in their specialties
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama women qualified 11 swimmers and four relays for the upcoming NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, which will be held in Athens, Ga., March 18-21, marking the Crimson Tide's largest contingent heading to the national championships in more than 25 years.
Under first-year head coach Coley Stickels, Alabama more than doubled its number of individual qualifiers from last season, with a list that includes sophomores Rhyan White and Kensey McMahon who are seeded in the top two in their specialties. White has the nation's No. 1 time in the 200 backstroke heading into the national championships and is ranked second in the 100 backstroke, while McMahon is second in the 1,650 freestyle.
McMahon and White are both making their second trip to nationals, while junior Flora Molnar is making her third. Sophomore Kalia Antoniou and senior Allie Surrency both made the national championships for the second year in a row. Sophomores Morgan Scott and Julia Wolf are making their first trip to NCAAs for Alabama and second overall after transferring to the Capstone from Indiana following last season.
Senior Alexis Preski, junior Kaila Wong and sophomores Morgan Liberto and Cat Wright are all making their first appearance at the national championships. The Tide is also lined up to swim the 200 and 400 freestyle and medley relays in Athens.
Alabama has the opportunity to add to its NCAA squad early next week when the UA divers will look to qualify at the NCAA Zone B Championships March 9-11 in Athens, Ga. The field for men's NCAAs will be announced on March 11.Â
Head Coach Coley Stickels Says
"We're obviously pleased to be sending this many swimmers to the national championships. What's most exciting to me is the number of individual events we have the potential to swim during the week and the fact that we qualified four relays that will all be in the hunt for points. These women have worked extremely hard all season and we saw that begin to pay off at the SEC Championships. Now we want to keep things going and close strong with a great showing at the NCAA Championships."
Going to the Show
- White qualified in the 100 and 200 backstrokes and the 100 butterfly. She is the SEC record holder in the two backstroke events and is the school record holder in all three. She also won the 2020 SEC championships in the 100 and 200 backstrokes and was the SEC runner-up in the 100 butterfly.
- McMahon is entered in the 500 and 1,650 freestyles, events where she holds the school record. She won the 2020 SEC title in the mile, taking first by more than seven seconds.
- Molnar is slated to swim 100 butterfly and freestyle. She is the school record holder in the 100 freestyle and is ranked second all-time at UA in the 100 butterfly.
- Scott is entered in the 50 and 200 freestyles. She is the school record holder in the 200 and is ranked second all-time at UA in the 50.
- Antoniou advanced to nationals in the 50 and 100 freestyles. She is ranked third all-time at Alabama in both.
- Preski qualified in the 400 individual medley, where she holds the school record, and the 500 freestyle, where she is ranked third all-time at UA.
- Wong earned a berth in the 100 breaststroke where she is ranked fourth all-time at UA.
- Surrency earned a spot in the 50 freestyle, an event where she is ranked fourth all-time at UA.
- Liberto punched her ticket in the 200 backstroke. She is ranked second all-time at UA in the event.
- Wright and Wolf are heading to the NCAA championships as part of the Tide's relay contingent.
- Outside of Preski and Liberto, everyone on the Tide's NCAA roster could see duty on one or more of the Tide's four relays at the championships.
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Players Mentioned
