OCALA, FL. - The Little Rock women's swimming and diving team will close out its season this week at the CSCAA National Invitational Championship, held March 12–14 at the Florida Aquatics Swimming & Training (FAST) facility in Ocala, Florida. The three-day meet will feature NCAA Division I programs from across the country competing in preliminary sessions in the morning and finals in the evening each day.
Fans can follow the action throughout the weekend as the meet will be live streamed, and tickets for spectators are available for purchase online here.
The Trojans enter the national meet with one of the deepest groups in program history after a strong showing at the Missouri Valley Conference Championships. Head coach Nathan Townsend believes the team is ready to carry that momentum into the final meet of the season.
"NICs is a meet we always really look forward to because it gives us a chance to celebrate so much of the success we've had throughout the season," said head coach Nathan Townsend. "This year we had numerous qualifiers (I believe the most in program history) and we're headed there with our strongest group yet.
"It's a challenging meet because the turnaround from conference is so quick, but our team has consistently found ways to go a little bit faster when we get there.
"We're excited about the opportunity to race outside in Florida, soak up some sunshine, and put an exclamation point on what has already been an extremely successful season."
Competition begins Thursday with events including the 50 backstroke, 500 freestyle, 50 butterfly, 200 individual medley, 50 breaststroke and 50 freestyle, followed by the 400 medley relay during the evening finals session.
Little Rock will have swimmers competing across multiple events throughout the three-day meet.
Day one will feature Amara Addison racing in the 50 backstroke and 50 butterfly. Megan Stewart will compete in the 50 butterfly and 200 individual medley, while Ginny Williams is scheduled for the 500 freestyle and 50 butterfly. Lena Vandenberg will swim the 50 butterfly and 50 freestyle. Gabby will compete in the 50 backstroke, 50 breaststroke and 50 freestyle, while Adara will race the 50 breaststroke. Anna Nishizaki will also represent the Trojans in the 200 individual medley.
On day two, Stewart and Nelanee will compete in the 400 individual medley, while Williams and BiBi will swim the 200 freestyle. Adara and Gabby will race the 100 breaststroke, and Addison will compete in the 100 backstroke.
The final day of competition will feature several Trojans across multiple events. Williams, Stewart, Gabby and Nishizaki will swim the 100 individual medley. BiBi will compete in the 200 backstroke, while Williams, Lena Vandenberg and Gabby are scheduled for the 100 freestyle. Nishizaki, Stewart and Adara will represent Little Rock in the 200 breaststroke, and Nelanee will compete in the 200 butterfly.
Relay events throughout the meet include the 200 and 400 medley relays, the 800 freestyle relay and the 400 freestyle relay, where the Trojans will look to add additional scoring opportunities.
For Little Rock, the National Invitational Championship provides one final opportunity to compete against top programs from across the country and cap off an already successful season on the national stage.
For the latest information on Little Rock Swimming and Diving, make sure to check out LRTrojans.com. You can also find the team on social media at @LittleRockSwim on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
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