The inaugural University of West Florida women’s swimming and diving team achieved another first on Wednesday, as the NCAA announced its official selections to the Division II swimming and diving national championshipsMarch 12-15 in Geneva, Ohio. The Argonauts will have four swimmers at the national meet, and two Argonaut divers will compete at the NCAA diving qualifying meet on Tuesday, March 11.
“I’m extremely proud of our young ladies for being selected to the NCAA championships,” said UWF head coach Andrew Hancock. “It’s an incredibly difficult meet to qualify for and one that has gotten much more challenging over the last few years. We’re excited to be going to the meet. We’re certainly not going to be there just as spectators; we expect to do very well at the meet and mix it up with the best that Division II has to offer.”
Peggy de Villiers (Somerset West, South Africa/Drury) automatically qualified for the NCAA nationals with an A-cut time of 54.84 in the 100 Fly. She also qualified with a time of 23.30 in the 50 Free and a time of 50.96 in the 100 Free. The sophomore will go into the championships with the seventh best time in the meet for the 100 Fly, the ninth best time in the 50 Free and 11th best time in the 100 Free.
Anna-Marie Macht (Markkleeberg, Germany/Darton State) qualified for nationals with the ninth best time in the nation in the 400 IM (4:23.95) and the 14th best time in the 200 IM (2:03.69). She will also be eligible to compete in the 100 Breast (1:04.06) and 200 Breast (2:18.97) with NCAA B-cut times in those events.
The Argos’ 200 Free Relay team of de Villiers, Macht, Emily Mitchell (Allen Park, Mich./Darton State) and Carla Robles (Miami, Fla./Coral Reef HS) qualified with the 11th best time in the nation at 1:34.56. Because Mitchell and Robles were on a qualified relay team, they will also be eligible to compete in events in which they posted NCAA B-cut times. Robles (23.96) and Mitchell (24.12) both posted B-cuts in the 50 Free.
UWF relay teams posted NCAA B-cut times in the 200 Medley Relay (1:44.34), 400 Medley Relay (3:48.98), 400 Free Relay (3:27.74) and 800 Free Relay (7:36.99) during the season. The four Argonaut swimmers invited to nationals will be eligible to compete as a relay team in those four events as well.
UWF divers Josie McKee (Canton, Ohio/Malone) and Meghan Zets (Grovetown, Ga./Grovetown HS) both posted scores high enough to compete at the NCAA qualifying meet on March 11. McKee posted qualifying scores in both events, the 1 Meter (462.45) and 3 Meter (462.60) competitions. Zets qualified at the 1 Meter height and had a season-best score of 426.10.
A total of 22 divers will advance from the qualifying meet to the NCAA nationals the following day on Wednesday, March 12. The top 11 divers in each of the two events at the qualifying meet will advance, and the remaining spots will be filled with at large selections.
For information on all UWF athletics, visit www.GoArgos.com.
This release was provided to swimswam courtesy of UWF Swimming & Diving.
