Among other NCAA tournaments and championship games taking place this weekend, the women’s swimming and diving team was hard at work at its own NCAA Championships, which began on Wednesday afternoon and concluded Saturday evening in Austin, Texas. 

The meet was hosted by the University of Texas’ Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center. Stanford took home their third consecutive NCAA Championship title under coach Greg Meehan. 

The Gophers finished in 11th place at the end of the weekend, but brought home multiple All-American nominations, plus one NCAA champion diver.

Junior diver Sarah Bacon was named an All-American in one-meter and three-meter diving, and won the one-meter diving NCAA Champion title with a final score of 363.20. The score and finish in the one-meter diving event maintained her status as the NCAA champion in that event. She improved her finish in the three-meter diving event by five spots from last season when she finished in eighth.

Sophomore Mackenzie Padington received All-American honors and won a bronze medal for her third place finish in the 1650-yard freestyle. Her final time in the race, which is nearly a mile long, was 15:47.16. 

Senior Zoe Avestruz, along with sophomore Emily Cook and juniors Tevyn Waddell and Lindsey Kozelsky, also earned All-American honors for their performance in the 400-yard medley relay. Individually, Kozelsky swam a 2:07.77 in the 200-yard breaststroke and received an honorable mention for her performance. 

Women’s diving also performed well in their competition over the weekend. Junior Kristen Hayden earned honorable mention All-American honors after she placed 20th overall in three-meter platform diving with a score of 246.45 after five dives. 

Men’s swimming and diving is gearing up for its own NCAA Championships, which will also be hosted by the University of Texas at Austin. Their competition will begin this Wednesday, March 27 and will end on Saturday, March 30. The final rounds of each day of competition will be broadcasted on ESPN3.