Program-Record-Tying Nine Women's Swimmers Earn Individual Bids to NCAAs

Program-Record-Tying Nine Women's Swimmers Earn Individual Bids to NCAAs

2/28/2018 11:34:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving, Swimming & Diving

COLUMBIA, Mo. – A program-record-tying nine members of the Mizzou women's swimming team earned invitations to the 2018 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships, the NCAA announced on Wednesday (Feb. 28). Seniors Sharli Brady (Burlington, Ky.), Erin Metzger-Seymour (Westminster, Colo.), Hannah Stevens (Lexington, Ohio) and Kira Zubar (Chaska, Minn.), juniors Kylie Dahlgren (Victoria, Minn.), Courtney Evensen (Golden Valley, Minn.) and Annie Ochitwa (Highlands Ranch, Colo.), sophomore Haley Hynes (Lee's Summit, Missouri) and freshman Sarah Thompson (Collierville, Tenn.) will represent the Tigers at the Championships, March 14-17, at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion in Columbus, Ohio.

The nine individual swimming invitees tie last year's total for the most in program history, and is tied for third-most among Southeastern Conference schools.

Missouri is also eligible to swim all five relays: the 200 free relay, 400 free relay, 800 free relay, 200 medley relay and 400 medley relay. The Tigers' relay-only swimmers include junior Maddie Gehrke (Clive, Iowa), and freshmen Sammie Jo Porter (Flower Mound, Texas), Lauren Savoy (Highland Village, Texas) and Emily Snyder (Canton, Ga.).

Savoy is officially the sixth individual alternate for the Championships, as she narrowly missed an invitation in the 200 breast.

Mizzou's divers will vie for NCAA Championship bids next week at the NCAA Zone D Diving Championships, March 5-7, in Minneapolis, Minn.

Stevens earned bids in both the 100 and 200 back events for the fourth-consecutive season. The 2017 NCAA 100 back bronze medalist, Stevens enters the Championships ranked seventh in the 100 back and 12th in the 200 back, and is eligible to swim the 50 free. The senior has one first team and three honorable mention individual All-America honors to her name, highlighted by last year's third-place finish in the 100 back.

Brady made it a perfect four-for-four in Championship invitations after bids in three events, the 200 fly, 200 IM and 400 IM. She enters the meet ranked seventh in the 400 IM, 12th in the 200 fly and 17th in the 200 IM. Brady owns one first team and five honorable mention honors in her career, including a seventh-place finish in the 400 IM at last year's Championships.

In her first season competing at Missouri, Ochitwa earned her third career NCAA invite after she garnered berths in her freshman and sophomore seasons at Arizona. The junior made the cut in three different events, and is seeded 10th in the 100 free, 18th in the 100 fly and 32nd in the 50 free. As a freshman at Arizona, she claimed one first team and one honorable mention accolade, with finishes of ninth in the 100 fly and 14th in the 50 free.

Zubar will make her third individual appearance at the NCAA Championships after qualifying in both the 500 and 1650 free. The junior is the 24th seed in the 500 free and the 28th seed in the 1650 free, Zubar can also swim the 200 free at NCAAs. She took home honorable mention All-America honors in the 500 free a season ago.

Metzger-Seymour concludes her Tiger career with her second individual NCAA invite, with a bid in the 200 free. She enters the meet as the 34 seed in the 200 free, and can also swim the 100 fly and 100 free at the meet. Metzger-Seymour, who swam on a pair of honorable mention relays at last year's NCAAs, finished a career-best five in the 200 free at the recent SEC Championships.

Also earning her second Championships berth is Hynes, who punched her NCAA bid in the 100 back, where she enters the meet as the 13th seed in the event. Also eligible to swim the 50 and 100 free, Hynes placed 29th in the 100 back at the 2017 NCAA Championships as a freshman.

A trio of Tigers claimed the first NCAA berths of their career, Dahlgren, Evensen and Thompson.

Dahlgren made the cut in the 200 IM, where she enters as the 35-seed in the event. She is also able to swim the 100 and 200 back at the meet.

A big swim at SECs helped Evensen claim an NCAA bid in the 1650 free, where she ranks 32nd in the event. She took home fifth-place at the SEC Championships in the event after dropping more than 13 seconds off her previous best time. Evensen is also eligible to race the 200 and 500 free at NCAAs.

Thompson became the seventh freshman women's swimmer to earn a Championships berth in Head Coach Greg Rhodenbaugh's tenure with Mizzou. Thompson, who claimed an invite in the 50 free after a personal-best time at Mizzou's Last Chance Meet last weekend, enters NCAAs tied for 37th in the event, and can also race the 100 free and 100 back.