COLUMBIA, Mo. – Four members of the Mizzou women's swimming team earned invitations to the 2020 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships, the NCAA announced on Wednesday (March 4).

Senior Jennifer King (Glasgow, Scotland), junior Sarah Thompson (Collierville, Tenn.), sophomore Megan Keil (Derby, Kan.) and freshman Meredith Rees (Colorado Springs, Colo.) will represent the Tigers at the Championships, held March 18-21 at Gabrielsen Natatorium in Athens, Ga.

Missouri is also eligible to swim four relays: the 200 free relay, 400 free relay, 200 medley relay and 400 medley relay.

Mizzou's divers will vie for NCAA Championship bids next week at the NCAA Zone D Diving Championships, March 9-11, in Dallas, Texas.

Thompson earned her third NCAA invite in as many seasons. She made the cut in three different events, and enters the meet seeded fifth in the 50 free, seventh in the 100 back and 22nd in the 100 free. Thompson, who earned finishes of fourth in the 100 back and fifth in the 50 free at the recent SEC Championships, qualified in the 100 back in 2019 and the 50 free as a freshman in 2018. She holds Mizzou's 50 free record and ranks third all-time in the 100 free and fourth in the 100 back and 200 back. 

Also earning her third Championships berth is King, who punched her NCAA bid in the 200 back, where she enters the meet as the 28th seed in the event. Also eligible to swim the 100 back and 200 IM, King placed ninth in the 200 back and 17th in the 100 back at the 2020 SEC Championships.

Keil, who swam as a relay-only swimmer at last year's NCAAs, claimed the first individual invite of her Tiger career with a berth in the 50 free. The 22nd seed in the event, she can also swim the 100 free at the meet. The sophomore solidified her NCAA spot thanks to a career-best 22.07 at SECs, where she took ninth in the event.

In her first season of collegiate swimming, Rees punched her NCAA Championships ticket with a bid in the 100 back. She enters NCAAs seeded 16th in the race, as well as 39th in the 200 back and 54th in the 100 fly. Rees placed 12th in the 100 back, 22nd in the 100 fly and 23rd in the 200 back at last month's SEC Championships.

2020 NCAA WOMEN'S SWIMMING QUALIFIERS
(Ranking and qualifying time in parenthesis)

Relays
200 Free Relay (5th, 1:27.39)
400 Free Relay (19th, 3:14.88)
200 Medley Relay (7th, 1:35.61)
400 Medley Relay (19th, 3:32.58)

Megan Keil
50 Free (22nd, 22.07)
100 Free (64th, 49.22)

Jennifer King
200 Back (28th, 1:53.43)
100 Back (47th, 53.14)
200 IM (71st, 1:59.80)

Meredith Rees
100 Back (16th, 52.09)
200 Back (39th, 1:54.48)
100 Fly (54th, 53.13)

Sarah Thompson
50 Free (5th, 21.53)
100 Back (7th, 51.07)
100 Free (22nd, 48.15)