2018 National Championships Start Tomorrow for Stags and Athenas

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CLAREMONT, Calif. – Fourteen members of the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's and women's swimming and diving teams will compete in the 2018 NCAA National Championships beginning tomorrow at the Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis, Ind. Three Stags will compete in the Championships, while a total of 11 Athenas are making the trip for this year's National Meet.

The meet gets started on Wednesday morning at 10:00 a.m. ET/7:00 a.m. PT with the trials for the 500 Free, 200 IM, 50 Free, 200 Medley Relay, and three-meter diving. The first National Champions of the week will be crowned in the evening session on Wednesday beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET/3:00 p.m. PT.

See below for a preview of the Stags and Athenas competing in the National Champions:

Day One

Live Video  |  Live Results

Prelims: 10:00 a.m. ET/7:00 a.m. PT

Finals: 6:00 p.m. ET/3:00 p.m. PT

What to Watch on Day One:

Day One of the National Championships begin with CMS competing in five of the nine events on Wednesday. Mia Syme (CMC) gets the day started in the 500 Free, she recorded her seed time 4:57.37 at the SCIAC Championships where she earned earned First Team All-SCIAC honors. The freshman enters the Championship with the 17th-fastest time in the field.

Kendall Hollimon (CMC) also gets his Championships started with the men's three-meter diving prelims and finals taking place on Day One. Hollimon is making his second-trip to Nationals and is a returning All-American in the event, finishing fourth last season with 522.25 points. Hollimon has been dominate all season, sweeping the SCIAC Championship diving competitions and earning his spot at Nationals by winning the three-meter competition at the Texas Regional.

Like Hollimon, Jocelyn Crawford (CMC) enters her second NCAA Championships and begins her week on Wednesday in the 50 Free. Crawford's seed time of 23.40 ranks her seventh in the field entering the race. Crawford's rank in the 50 Free is the highest of any CMS swimmer in action this week.

Sam Willett (CMC) is also in action on Day One, taking on the field in the 200 IM. Willett's prelim will be his first career action at the NCAA Championships. While his primary event (200 Back) will not come until Saturday, Willett will compete in the 47-swimmer field in the 200 IM.

The Athenas will wrap-up Day One with Jocelyn Crawford, Natalia Orbach-Mandel (HMC), Claire Bacon-Brenes (SC), and Janet Tran (CMC) competing in the 200 Medley Relay. CMS comes into the Championship as the 17th-ranked team in the field in the relay with a seed time of 1:44.84. The relay will be the first of five relays for the Athenas on the week.

Day Two

Live Video  |  Live Results

Prelims: 10:00 a.m. ET/7:00 a.m. PT

Finals: 6:00 p.m. ET/3:00 p.m. PT

What to Watch on Day Two:

The Athenas will compete in a pair of relays to bookend Day Two at the National Championships. CMS is seeded in the top-15 of both the 200 Free Relay as well as the 400 Medley Relay. The day will begin with the team of Jocelyn Crawford, Laura Dickinson (CMC), Riley Hoffman (CMC), and Natalia Orbach-Mandel taking on the field in the 200 Free Relay. Their seed time of 1:34.53 was achieved at the SCIAC Championships just a month ago and places them 11th in the field heading into the race.

Crawford and Orbach-Mandel will team-up with Bryn Edwards (CMC) and Janet Tran for the 400 Medley Relay later in the day. CMS enters that race ranked 14th in the field with a time of 3:49.99.

Maia Presti (SC) will step on the board for the first time at the National Championships this year in the one-meter diving competition. Presti is making her third trip to Nationals and is looking to improve upon her 10th-place finish (406.70 points) in the one-meter from last year. Presti finished in second-place in the event at the NCAA Regionals to punch her ticket to the Championships this season.

Henry Limm (HMC) will also be in action on Day Two in his best event, the 400 IM. Limm comes into the Championships ranked eighth in the field with a mark of 3:55.61. Limm record his seed time at the SCIAC Championships last month, earning Second Team All-SCIAC and setting a new school record in the process.

While not their primary events, Claire Bacon-Brenes and Mia Syme will also be in action on Thursday in the 100 Fly and 200 Free, respectively. Bacon-Brenes enters the 100 Fly with a seed time of 1:02.98 while Syme brings a seed time of 1:54.67 into the 200 Free.

Day Three

Live Video  |  Live Results

Prelims: 10:00 a.m. ET/7:00 a.m. PT

Finals: 6:00 p.m. ET/3:00 p.m. PT

What to Watch on Day Three:

Day Three of the Championships will be headlined by Jocelyn Crawford, who brings the ninth-fastest seed time into the 100 Back with a mark of 55.99. She set that time in the prelims of the SCIAC Championships before earning Third Team All-SCIAC honors in the finals.

For the men, Kendall Hollimon will complete his diving schedule with the one-meter competition while Henry Limm and Sam Willett will compete in the 200 Fly and 100 Breast, respectively.

Bryn Edwards and Claire Bacon-Brenes will both be in action in the 100 Breast for the only event all week that will feature two CMS swimmers. Edwards and Bacon-Brenes are separated by just seven hundredths of a second on their seed times with marks of 1:04.53 (Edwards) and 1:04.60 (Bacon-Brenes). They finished second and third in the SCIAC Championships in the event.

The Athenas will wrap-up Day Three with the team of Allie Umemoto (SC), Emma Stacy (SC), Natalia Orbach-Mandel, and Riley Hoffman competing in the 800 Free Relay. The team enters the race with the 17th-ranked time in the field. They achieved their seed time of 7:36.26 while winning the SCIAC Championship in the event by over six seconds.

Day Four

Live Video  |  Live Results

Prelims: 10:00 a.m. ET/7:00 a.m. PT

Finals: 6:00 p.m. ET/3:00 p.m. PT

What to Watch on Day Four:

The National Championships will wrap-up with the best individual races for Sam Willett, Mia Syme, and Claire Bacon-Brenes. Syme will begin the final day with the 1650 Free. She is the 10th-ranked swimmer in the field with a seed time of 17:04.54. Her seed time is also a personal best that she earned in the SCIAC Championships while winning the event by nearly 15 seconds last month.

Sam Willett will take the pool in his third, and final, event of the week with the 200 Back. Willett enters the race as the 16th-ranked swimmer in the event with a seed time of 1:49.01, which he achieved at the CMS vs. Pomona-Pitzer dual back in early December.

Claire Bacon-Brenes' best individual event of the week is the 200 Breast. She enters the event with a seed time of 2:20.37 and is ranked 19th in the field. Henry Limm  will also compete in the 200 Breast on the men's side. He enters the race unranked, but holds a seed time of 2:03.23. Jocelyn Crawford will complete her National Championships with a swim in the 100 Free. She enters her final event of the week with a seed time of 53.48 and will look to improve on her time of 52.53 in the prelims of the event last season.

Miai Presti will also wrap-up her week on the three-meter diving board before the 400 Free Relay caps off the Championships. Riley Hoffman, Natalia Orbach-Mandel, Emma Stacy, and Janet Tran will compete for the Athenas. They enter the relay with the 14th-ranked seed time of 3:28.70.

Check CMSathletics.org throughout the week for updated scores and information as the Stags and Athenas compete in Indianapolis.