ST. LOUIS – Six student-athletes from the University of Missouri-St. Louis men's and women's swimming teams have earned berths to compete at the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships next month in Evansville, Ind. The selections for the meet were announced Wednesday evening by the NCAA.
All six of the qualifiers reached the meet in individual events at the national competition, which runs March 10-14 at the Deaconess Aquatic Center in Evansville, Ind.
Justice Beard earns her third straight berth to the National Championship stage after earning first team All-America honors last year in the 500, 1,000 and 1,650-yard freestyle events. She finished second in the 1650 last season, fourth in the 1000 and fifth in the 500 and swam the anchor league of the 400 free relay squad.
Beard enters this year's championship meet as the top seeded swimmer in the 500, 1000 and 1650 free events and is ninth in the 200 free. She earned an automatic qualifying time in the first three events.
Audrey Lantz is making her third appearance on the national stage after qualifying last year in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays. This season she is seeded 13th in the 50 free, 22nd in the 100 fly and 43rd in the 100 free.
Ella Lantz joins her sister, Audrey, in making her third appearance at the national championships. She competed in the preliminary races of the 100 and 200-yard backstrokes placing 28th in the 200 back and 31st in the 100 back. E. Lantz enters the national meet seeded 17th in the 100 back with a time of 55.29.
Romina Itzkovich is making her second appearance at the NCAA Championships after swimming in the 200 free relay at last year's meet. She is seeded 17th in the 200 individual medley heading into the championships.
Uxue Ortiz de Pinedo makes her first appearance on the national stage qualifying in the 200 breast where she is seeded 22nd in the event.
Aaron Wicklund returns to the national championship stage after qualifying for nationals in 2024. He is seeded 21st in the 200 breast, 25th in the 400 IM and 36th in the 200 IM.
UMSL's women's team will swim in all five relays at the national meet. Those relays are the 200 free, 400 free, 800 free, 200 medley and 400 medley.
