The Hillsdale College women's swimming and diving team is sending multiple athletes to the NCAA DII National Championships this week for the first time since 2009.
Sophomore Elise Mason is making her second trip to the national meet after competing in three events last season, while teammate and classmate Megan Clifford earned her first-ever trip this season.
While competition at the NCAA DII Championships, hosted this year at the Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis, Indiana, officially opens tonight with the 800 freestyle relay, for the Chargers the competition will begin on Wednesday morning when Mason takes to the pool at 10 a.m. for the 1,000 yd freestyle race.
Mason is once again competing in all three events she swam in last year's NCAA DII Championships -- the 500 freestyle, 1,000 freestyle and 1,650 freestyle. The sophomore qualified for the meet in the 1,650 freestyle, while her B-cut times in the 500 and 1,000 allow her to join the competition in both events. She's currently seeded 30th in the nation in the 1,000 freestyle, which she swims on Wednesday morning; 45th in the 500 freestyle, with preliminaries scheduled for Friday morning at 10 a.m., and 25th in her specialty race, the 1,650 freestyle, which will be contested on Saturday evening at 6 p.m.
Clifford, meanwhile, qualified in the 200 butterfly, and will contest prelims in the event in the morning session on Friday, March 10. The sophomore is seeded 16th in the nation in the event and will look to be one of the 16 swimmers to make the finals scheduled for the evening session on Friday.
The top eight swimmers in each event will earn first-team All-American honors, while ninth through 16th place earns honorable mention All-American status. Mason and Clifford are swimming to become Hillsdale's first All-American honorees since Anika Ellingson in the 100 breaststroke in 2019.
You can follow all the action at the NCAA Championships with live stats here. The NCAA also will be livestreaming all five days and nine sessions of competition in the 2023 NCAA DII Championships at this link as well. Additionally, we will be posting updates on hillsdalechargers.com later at night after each event.