Relay Teams Earn NCAA A Cut Qualifying Times on Third Day of SEC Championships
2/19/2025 8:41:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving, Swimming & Diving
ATHENS, Ga. – University of Missouri swimming and diving men's and women's 200 free relay teams earned NCAA A Cut qualifying times on the third day of competition at the 2025 SEC Swimming and Diving Championships. In all, four MU athletes qualified for finals Wednesday at Gabrielsen Natatorium.
The women's 200 free relay of Sierra Smith, Zara Zallen, Katie Kuehn and Grace Hanson set an NCAA A Cut time of 1:28.22. The mark is their season best and landed them a sixth-place finish.
The men's 200 free relay earned a NCAA A Cut time in time trials after the conclusion of the meet. Luke Nebrich, Grant Bochenski, Ethan Vance and Darden Tate finished the relay in 1:16.37, setting the second fastest time in program history.
"We're well into competition now on day three, but with the prelim final, we're really excited about four B finals in a meet where we knew it was going to be tough," Mizzou head coach Andrew Grevers said. "Between diving and swimming, we had a great day and then started things off right with two amazing relays. Women getting the NCAA A cut is a huge step in bringing more athletes to the NCAA competition. On the men's side, we didn't quite put it together in the first relay, but we got the points we needed. We reset, came back for the time trial and got the A-cut. All in all, it was a truly successful day on a day where the events weren't our strengths."
Nebrich swam the second-fastest men's 50 free time in program history, placing him at 11th in the finals. The freshman's 19.02 swim puts him only behind Michael Chadwick's 18.97 record set in 2017.
Smith also qualified for the women's 50 free with a 22.20 swim in prelims and finished 16th in 22.39 in finals.
Continuing his strong performance, Bochenski swam 19.40 in the preliminary round of the men's 50 free and followed it with a 19.41 swim in the final.
Diving saw its highest score of the competition so far with Megan Jolly's 288.10 score in women's 3-meter diving. The mark tied Jolly for 11th place.
Karolina Bank swam 1:58.10 in the preliminary round of the women's 200 IM to qualify her for the conference final where she placed 16th (2:00.13). Bank's time is the sixth fastest in Mizzou women's history.
UP NEXT
The Tigers are competing in the 2025 SEC Swimming and Diving Championships, February 17-22, in Athens. Mizzou will also host the Mizzou Qualifier, March 1-2, at Mizzou Aquatic Center.
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