Last year, 13 Bears earned an invite to NCAAs on the swimming side, of which 9 remains on the team for this season:OBear073akaSMFan said:
Excluding the divers that's 8 swimmers so far into the NCAAs. Hoping the Stanford meet we will be able to squeeze more into qualifying before the Pac-12 meet. Looks like Ali Harrison is on the cusp in both breast event though not sure she would even swim the relay events if she made the NCAAs. Also hoping Robin & Chenova gets through for the depth in the 800 relay. They both seem close to qualifying and with the added incentive of swimming against Ledecky this might push them through.
- Kathleen Baker 100 back, 200 back, 200 IM
- Amy Bilquist 50 free, 100 back, 200 back
- Keaton Blovad 100 back, 200 back, 200 IM
- Chenoa Devine 500 free, 1650 free
- Marina Garcia 100 breast, 200 breast (graduated)
- Valerie Hull 50 free
- Celina Li 200 IM, 400 IM, 200 fly (graduated)
- Katie McLaughlin 200 free, 500 free, 200 fly
- Maddie Murphy 50 free, 100 fly
- Farida Osman 50 free, 100 free, 100 fly (graduated)
- Noemie Thomas 100 fly, 200 fly
- Kristen Vredeveld 50 free, 100 free, 200 free (graduated)
- Abbey Weitzeil 50 free, 100 free, 200 free
Doubtful someone will earn an invite this Friday, as everyone will likely be swimming tired, unrested, unshaved and in a practice suit - would dearly love to be proven wrong tho lol.
Yes, Friday's meet will involve an intense rivalry with much school pride at stake hehe - but ultimately relatively meaningless in the bigger picture.
Those on the cusp of qualification will be saving their best efforts for the conference championships beginning 21 Feb.
Our Bears will just give their best during the dual v. the furdettes, whilst in the middle of heavy training, fighting hard to get their hands to the wall first and slugging it out all the way to the end of the meet, trying to garner some valuable points for their teammates.
So, 8 Bears projected to safely make it into NCs - Thleen, Abbey, Billy, Katie, Nono, Madds, Sarah, Keeks.
Would reckon that Ali, Chenoa, Robin, Val have really good chances of boarding the bus or rather plane to Columbus on 14 March as they are currently pretty close, which would bring our swimmer tally up to 13, equalling last season's. Add Phoebe & Briana on the diving side, and that would be quite a decent squad.
Actually would be blinking brill if Sophie (100 back) & Dannie (100 breast, 400 IM) could squeak in as they aren't that far off in the aforementioned events. Probably won't score in their froski year, but the experience would be so great for the pair
Took the liberty to add the season bests for Bears with a "B" qualifying cut to bearz012's list below, for reference:
------
50 free: 22.22 (NCAA A: 21.80; NCAA B: 22.99)
- Abbey Weitzeil: 21.44
- Amy Bilquist: 21.99
========
- Maddie Murphy: 22.35
- Valerie Hull: 22.51
- Noemie Thomas: 22.80
- Katie McLaughlin: 22.90
- Jasmine Mau: 22.97
100 free: 48.54 (NCAA A: 47.53; NCAA B: 49.99)
- Abbey Weitzeil: 46.95
- Amy Bilquist: 47.94
========
- Keaton Blovad: 48.99
- Valerie Hull: 49.06
- Robin Neumann: 49.20
- Maddie Murphy: 49.25
- Katie McLaughlin: 49.75
200 free: 1:45.26 (NCAA A: 1:43.30; NCAA B: 1:47.99)
- Abbey Weitzeil: 1:44.41
- Katie McLaughlin: 1:44.92
- Amy Bilquist: 1:44.95
========
- Robin Neumann: 1:45.33
- Keaton Blovad: 1:46.87
500 free: 4:41.27 (NCAA A: 4:36.30; NCAA B; 4:47.79)
- Katie McLaughlin: 4:39.45
========
- Chenoa Devine: 4:42.63
- Robin Neumann: 4:43.50
1650 free: 16:15.95 (NCAA A: 15:53.50; NCAA B: 16:30.59)
- N/A
========
- Chenoa Devine: 16:25.27
100 back: 52.60 (NCAA A: 51.16; NCAA B: 55.09)
- Kathleen Baker: 50.62
- Amy Bilquist: 51.62
- Keaton Blovad: 52.39
========
- Sophie Krivokapic-Zhou: 53.84
- Aislinn Light: 54.25
200 back: 1:53.82 (NCAA A: 1:50.99; NCAA B: 1:59.19)
- Amy Bilquist: 1:50.48
- Kathleen Baker: 1:50.62
========
- Keaton Blovad: 1:55.31
- Sophie Krivokapic-Zhou: 1:57.87
- Aislinn Light: 1:58.52
- Robin Neumann: 1:58.86
- Courtney Mykkanen: 1:59.06
100 breast: 1:00.26 (NCAA A: 58.85; NCAA B: 1:02.49)
- N/A
========
- Ali Harrison: 1:00.54
- Abbey Weitzeil: 1:00.98
- Dannie Dilsaver: 1:01.89
200 breast: 2:10.40 (NCAA A: 2:07.18; NCAA B: 2:15.99)
- N/A
========
- Ali Harrison: 2:10.92
- Maija Roses: 2:14.02
- Dannie Dilsaver: 2:14.02
- Sarah Darcel: 2:14.91
100 fly: 52.41 (NCAA A: 51.19; NCAA B: 54.49)
- Noemie Thomas: 50.77
- Katie McLaughlin: 51.78
- Maddie Murphy: 52.03
========
- Ali Harrison: 53.32
- Kathleen Baker: 54.21
200 fly: 1:56.34 (NCAA A: 1:53.80; NCAA B: 1:59.59)
- Noemie Thomas: 1:54.12
- Katie McLaughlin: 1:55.03
========
- Sarah Darcel:1:57.35
- Sophie Krivokapic-Zhou: 1:58.96
200 IM: 1:57.21 (NCAA A: 1:55.00; NCAA B: 2:01.59)
- Kathleen Baker: 1:53.24
- Sarah Darcel: 1:56.69
- Keaton Blovad: 1:57.08
========
- Dannie Dilsaver: 1:58.59
- Ali Harrison: 2:00.84
400 IM: 4:10.49 (NCAA A: 4:04.70; NCAA B: 4:19.39)
- Sarah Darcel: 4:06.58
========
- Dannie Dilsaver: 4:12.46
- Chenoa Devine: 4:15.98
------