COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Mizzou men's swimming program qualified five Tigers to the 2020 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships, the NCAA announced on Wednesday (March 11).

Seniors Nick Alexander (St. Louis, Mo.), Daniel Hein (Sycamore, Ill.) and Micah Slaton (Austin, Texas) and sophomores Jack Dahlgren (Victoria, Minn.) and Danny Kovac (Fort Collins, Colo.) will represent the Tigers at the Championships, held March 25-28, at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis, Ind.

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.

In the diving well, freshman Leonardo Garcia Varela (Cali, Colombia) punched his NCAA ticket at this week's NCAA Zone D Diving Championships. 

Alexander earned the third individual invitation of his career with bids in two different events. He enters the meet seeded seventh in the 200 IM and 14th in the 200 back, and will also swim the 100 fly. At the recent Southeastern Conference Championships, Alexander broke Mizzou's 200 IM record as he earned runner-up honors in the event. He also placed seventh in the 200 back and ninth in the 100 fly at the meet.

Also claiming his third NCAA Championships individual berth is Hein, who qualified in the 100 back and 100 fly, and is eligible to swim the 200 back. He comes in at 15th in the 100 fly, 25th in the 100 fly and 36th in the 200 back. Hein, who set Mizzou's 100 back record at last year's NCAAs, claimed three top eight finishes at last month's SECs, placing third in the 100 back, seventh in the 100 fly and eighth in the 200 back.

For the second season in a row, Slaton earned an invite to NCAAs, with berths in the 200 fly and 100 fly. The senior is seeded 15th in the 200 fly and 26th in the 100 fly. He claimed a runner-up finish in the 200 fly at the 2020 SEC Championships, and placed 10th overall in the 100 fly.

Kovac qualified for NCAAs for the second time in as many seasons. The sophomore recorded invites in the 200 IM and 100 fly and will also compete in the 100 free. He is seeded in the top 11 in both invited events, as he comes in eighth in the 200 IM and 11th in the 100 fly. The 2020 SEC 100 fly champion, Kovac became only the second men's swimmer in program history to claim an SEC crown. He also earned finishes of third in the 200 IM and 10th in the 100 breast at SECs.

Dahlgren also made it a perfect two-for-two in NCAA Championships bids as he earned invites in the 200 back and 200 free, and can also swim the 500 free. The sophomore used a personal-best 1:39.93 swim in the 200 back at Mizzou's NCAA Qualifier to secure his spot in that event and to seed him sixth overall in the field. He also comes in seeded 29th in the 200 free and 57th in the 500 free. Dahlgren placed ninth in the 200 back, 10th in the 200 free and 13th in the 200 fly at SECs.

2020 NCAA MEN'S SWIMMING QUALIFIERS
Invited Event (Ranking and qualifying time in parenthesis)

Relays
200 Free Relay (19th, 1:17.66)
400 Free Relay (14th, 2:50.79)
800 Free Relay (19th, 6:19.11)
200 Medley Relay (14th, 1:24.76)
400 Medley Relay (15th, 3:06.48)

Nick Alexander
200 IM (7th, 1:42.49)
200 Back (14th, 1:40.58)
100 Fly (39th, 46.35)

Jack Dahlgren
200 Back (8th, 1:39.93)
200 Free (29th, 1:34.07)
500 Free (57th, 4:22.39)

Daniel Hein
100 Back (15th, 45.75)
100 Fly (25th, 45.86)
200 Back (36th, 1:42.24)

Danny Kovac
200 IM (8th, 1:42.60)
100 Fly (11th, 45.29)
100 Free (39th, 42.90)

Micah Slaton
200 Fly (15th, 1:42.01)
100 Fly (26th, 45,91)