Minnesota Swim and Dive: Nine Gopher Women at NCAA Championships

The Minnesota Gophers are sending nine women to the NCAA Championships this week. The events begin Wednesday and are being hosted by Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Georgia.

The main even for the Gophers will be 5th year senior Sarah Bacon trying to win her 5th and 6th individual NCAA Championships. She won both the 1 and 3 meter spring board events at the NCAA Championships in 2021, and had previously won the 1 meter two prior times. Bacon recorded the high score in both events in the Zone D regionals in Madison two weeks ago.

The Gophers will begin action Wednesday night in the 200 medley relay and the 800 free relay. The Gophers 200 medley relay comes in with the 19th ranked time of 24 teams in the finals, and the Gophers 800 free relay comes in ranked 20th of 24 teams.

The 200 medley relay will take place at 5PM and the 800 free relay at 5:58 PM.

Thursday it will be Bacon and Joy Zhu in the 1 meter diving competition, Megan Van Berkom seeded 8th in the 200 IM, Hannah Cornish seeded 43rd in the 50 free and the 200 Free Relay seeded 12th. Prelims begin at 9 AM and the finals begin at 5 PM.

Friday Bacon and Zhu compete in the 3 meter event, Van Berkom is seeded 7th in the 400 IM, Cornish is seeded 47th in the 200 free, Emma Lezer is seeded 23rd in the 100 breaststroke, and the Gophers 400 medley relay team is seeded 24th. Again prelims begin at 9 AM and the finals begin at 5 PM.

Saturday it will just be Zhu competing in the 10 meter platform diving event, while Cornish is seeded 25th in the 100 Free, Lezer is seeded 48th in the 200 breaststroke, Van Berkom is seeded 10th in the 200 butterfly, and the Gophers 400 free relay team is seeded 23rd. Once more prelims begin at 9 AM and the finals begin at 5 PM.

All action will stream live on ESPN3 and ESPN U will air a two hour recap show at 6PM, Wednesday, March 30.

Good luck to the Gophers and hopefully Sarah Bacon can bring home some additional NCAA Championships!