Eight Gator swimmers invited to women's NCAA Championships

Sophomore Hannah Burns is back for another appearance at the NCAA Championships.

Eight Gator swimmers invited to women's NCAA Championships

Thursday, March 2, 2017 | Women's Swimming & Diving

Florida can also add divers with qualifying performances at next week's zone meet

By: Layne Weitzel

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Eight Gator swimmers have received an invitation to this month's 2017 Women's Swimming & Diving NCAA Championships, per the NCAA release this week.

Emma Ball, Hannah Burns, Savanna Faulconer, Kelly Fertel, Autumn Finke, Kay Sargent, Sydney Sell and Alyssa Yambor-Maul advanced to the national championships based on their season-best times in seven events.

Burns qualified for NCAAs last season as a freshman, while Finke and Yambor-Maul have competed on the big stage for three of their four years at UF. Ball, Faulconer, Fertel, Sargent and Sell will be making their first NCAA appearances.

NAME	EVENT	TIME	STANDARD
Emma Ball	100 back	52.49	B
Hannah Burns	400 IM	4:08.65	B
Savanna Faulconer	500 free	4:41.08	B
	400 IM	4:07.24	B
Kelly Fertel	200 IM	1:57.60	B
	400 IM	4:07.45	B
Autumn Finke	1650 free	16:06.64	B
Kay Sargent	400 IM	4:10.78	B
Sydney Sell	200 back	1:53.57	B
Alyssa Yambor-Maul	200 fly	1:55.68	B

UF's quartet of freshmen (Ball, Faulconer, Fertel and Sargent) tie for the second-most rookies out of the 62 teams with selected swimmers (California and Georgia each have four qualified freshmen).

Additionally, Kelsey Dambacher is listed as a meet selection alternate in the 200 free with a B-standard time of 1:45.49.

Although they were not "invited" to NCAAs in these events, each Gator can potentially add an optional event in which they've met the minimum time standard.

NAME	OPTIONAL EVENT	TIME	STANDARD
Emma Ball	50 free	22.82	B
Hannah Burns	200 IM	2:00.23	B
	200 breast	2:14.28	B
Savanna Faulconer	200 breast	2:14.57	B
Kelly Fertel	200 breast	2:14.43	B
Autumn Finke	500 free	4:43.89	B
Kay Sargent	200 fly	1:59.31	B
Sydney Sell	100 back	53.45	B
	200 IM	2:00.84	B
Alyssa Yambor-Maul	100 back	53.93	B
	100 fly	53.68	B

Florida also hit the qualifying standard in the 800 free relay with an aggregate time of 7:05.26.

With the Gator divers competing in zones early next week, UF can potentially add more names to their NCAA women's roster. Diving invitations will be released Sunday, March 12 with the conclusion of all five zone diving meets.

The 2017 Division I Women's Swimming & Diving NCAA Championships run from Wednesday, March 15 to Saturday, March 18 in Indianapolis.

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