3 Hawkeyes Qualify for NCAA Championships

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Three University of Iowa women’s swimmers – senior Kelsey Drake, sophomore Mallory Jump, and freshman Alyssa Graves – have qualified for the 2021 NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships.

It is the second straight season Drake has earned a spot at the premiere collegiate meet, while Jump and Graves will be making their NCAA Championships debuts.

The meet will be held March 17-20 at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Drake qualified in the 200-yard butterfly for the second straight season after swimming a time of 1:57.42 at the Big Ten Championships last week. The Marion, Iowa, native has the 41st best time in the field. She will also compete in the 100 fly and 200 IM, sitting 50th (53.19) and 67th (1:59.47) in the field.

Jump earned her spot in the field after swimming an Iowa school record time of 52.30 seconds in the 100-yard butterfly en route to a sixth-place finish at the Big Ten Championships. The St. Charles, Illinois, native sits 31st in the event heading to Greensboro. Jump, a Purdue transfer, will also compete in the 200 fly (1:58.67) and 200 IM (1:59.93), where she has the 47th-best time in the 200 fly and 57th-best in 200 IM.

Graves qualified for her first NCAA Championships by swimming a time of 16:21.34 in the 1,650-yard freestyle at the Big Ten Championships. The Wisconsin native ranks 37th nationally in the event heading into the championships. She will also be the third Hawkeye to compete in the 200-yard butterfly as her time of 1:57.99 ranks 43rd in the field.

The 200 IM will be contested on March 18, the 100 fly will take place on March 19, and the 1,650 free and 200 fly will occur on March 20. Prelims will start at 9 a.m. (CT).

Diving qualifiers will be determined by performances at Zone Diving Meets, which will take place from March 7-13. Iowa’s Sam Tamborski, a 2020 CSCAA All-American and NCAA qualifier, will dive in the NCAA Zone D Diving Championships from March 11-13 in Lexington, Kentucky.