The No. 5 Texas A&M Women’s swimming and diving team will be competing in the 2015 NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships March 19-21 at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The Aggies will bring 18 athletes, which is the most in team history.
Sixteen Aggie swimmers qualified for the events, which is tied for the second most in the country with the University of California, Berkeley and two shy of defending NCAA Champion, Georgia. The 16 swimmers are tied for the most in school history, matching last year’s total.
The freshman Aggies making the trip are Lisa Bratton, Bethany Galat, Beryl Gastaldello, Esther Gonzalez, Kristin Malone and Laura Norman. The sophomores include Sarah Gibson, Franko Jonker and Sycerika McMahon. The juniors are Claire Brandt, Ashley McGregor and Meredith Oliver. The seniors are Kelli Benjamin, Sammie Bosma, Sarah Henry, Lili Ibanez and Emily Neubert.
Eight of the sixteen swimmers have swam at the NCAA Championships before, including Bosma, Brandt, Henry, Ibanez, Jonker, McGregor, McMahon and Oliver.
Sophomore Aggie diver Madison Hudkins will also travel to North Carolina after she earned second place in the one-meter dive at the Zone D Championship, finishing with 617.50 points.
Beryl Gastaldello will look to earn a few medals after her performance in the SEC Championships, in which she won the 100 fly and broke the SEC record. She also finished third in the 50 yard freestyle, taking down the school record.
The women finished second as a team in last month’s SEC championships behind Georgia.
The Aggies will look to finish in the top ten overall for the ninth straight year at the NCAA Championships. The past two years they registered fourth place.