IRVINE, Calif. - As the calendar flips to the dog days of August, competition never stops for Mizzou swimmers. Twenty-two Tigers are set to compete in the 2014 Phillips 66 National Championships, beginning Aug. 6 at the William Woolett Jr. Aquatic Center in Irvine, Calif.
The event will function as the USA National Team selection for the 2014 Pan Pacific Championships, 2014 Jr. Pan Pacific Championships, 2015 World Championships, 2015 World University Games, and 2015 Pan American Games. The meet will span five days, concluding Aug. 10.
On the men's side, senior Sam Tierney will be the most active in the pool, qualifying for four events including the 50 breast, 100 breast, 200 breast and the 200 IM. Tierney is seeded 21st in the 200 breast in front of 65 other swimmers.
Fellow seniors Austin Fish, Eegan Groome and Andrew Phillips will also be in attendance. Fish is slated to compete in just the 200 back, Groome the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle, and Phillips is entered in the 200 fly and 200 back.
Sophomore Carter Griffin highlights the rest of the pack. He boasts a 1:59.39 qualifying time in the 200 back, seeding him 10th among over 90 competitors. Preliminaries of the 200 back will take place on Thursday, Aug. 7. Griffin will also swim in the 50 back and 100 back.
Juniors Michal Rokita, Daniel Graviss and Matthew Margritier will also hit the pool at the National Championships, along with sophomores Michael Chadwick, Andrew Sansoucie, Eddie Mapel and Nick Davis and former Tiger Logan Mosley. The squad seeks quality experience against the best competition the nation has to offer before the 2014-15 season kicks off.
On the women's side, nine Tigers are heading out to Irvine, Calif., Senior Danielle Barbiea is entered in five events: the 50 free, 100 free, 100 back, 50 fly and 100 fly. Barbiea is seeded 10th in the 50 fly and 11th in the 100 fly (59.81).
Sophomore Katharine is set to swim three events at the Champions and is seeded 14th in the 50 breast and 18th in the 100 breast. Ross is coming off a stellar freshman campaign in which she earned two NCAA All-America honorable mention honors at the NCAA Championships.
Incoming freshman Hannah Stevens secured three top-25 seed times in the 50, 100 and 200 back. Her 100 back seed time of 1:01.98 puts her 20th in the 50 back entering the meet, ahead of more than 50 athletes.
Senior Danielle Spradlin, juniors Madison Bridges, Anna Patterson, Abby Duncan and Lauren Stoeckle and sophomore Ellie Suek will also swim at the Championships. Patterson is entered in the 50 free, 100 free, 200 free and 100 fly, while Duncan and Stoeckle are set to go in all three breaststroke events.
Mizzou has also entered squads in both the men's and women's 400 free relay and the men's and women's 400 medley relay. The women's 400 medley `A' relay team enters the event with the top seed behind a time of 4:07.71.
2014 Phillips 66 National Championships Schedule
Preliminaries begin at 9:00 a.m. PT and Finals begin at 6 p.m. PT.
Wednesday, Aug. 6
200 Butterfly
100 Freestyle
Women's 800 Freestyle
Men's 1500 Freestyle
4x100 Freestyle Relay
Thursday, Aug. 7
200 Freestyle
200 Breaststroke
200 Backstroke
50 Butterfly
Men's 4x200 Freestyle Relay
Friday, Aug. 8
400 Individual Medley
100 Butterfly
50 Breaststroke
50 Backstroke
Women's 4x200 Freestyle Relay
Saturday, Aug. 9
400 Freestyle
100 Breaststroke
100 Backstroke
4x100 Medley Relay
Sunday, Aug. 10
Women's 1500 Freestyle
200 Individual Medley
Men's 800 Freestyle
50 Freestyle