THE SCHEDULE
at 2016 NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships
Tuesday-Saturday, March 8-12 • All Day
IU Natatorium • Indianapolis, Ind.
Live Video • Live Results • Tickets

Nineteen members of the UC San Diego men's and women's programs arrived in Indianapolis, Ind., on Sunday, March 6, for the 2016 NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships. The meet will be held for the second straight year at the IU Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI, with the University of Indianapolis and the Indiana Sports Corp serving as co-hosts. The Triton contingent consists of 12 women's swimmers, four men's swimmers, three women's divers, and five coaches. The diving trio will first go through a pre-qualification meet on Tuesday, March 8, with all three diving from both the one-meter and three-meter springboards beginning at 7 a.m. PT to try to qualify for the main draws. The championships get underway on Wednesday, March 9, and run through Saturday, March 12.

Both the Triton men's and women's squads head into the NCAA Championships coming off of an eighth straight Pacific Collegiate Swimming and Diving Conference (PCSC) title. The Triton women, ranked second nationally, finished 8-6 in dual meets this season. The fourth-ranked UCSD men completed the dual schedule at 5-4.

CHAMPIONSHIP COVERAGE
All sessions of the NCAA Division II Championships can be watched live online, free of charge, at NCAA.com. Live results will also be available here. All links can be found in the Schedule/Results section on the swimming and diving page. In addition, tune in to Championship Central at UCSDtritons.com for behind-the-scenes coverage and follow the Tritons on Twitter (@UCSDtritons, @UCSDSwimDive) for photos, results and more.

TICKET PRICES
All-session and single-session tickets for the championships are on sale. All-session passes range from $30 to $70, and single-session tickets range from $10 to $15 for finals events. Tickets may be purchased online at www.ncaa.com/tickets. The championships include a diving pre-qualification meet on Tuesday, which is free and open to the public.

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS PREVIEW
UCSD head coaches Corrie Falcon and Daniel Perdew have 12 swimmers on the women's side and four men at their disposal this week at the NCAA Championships. The UCSD women placed sixth a year ago, their first time outside the top five in 15 years at the Division II level. The Tritons have 11 third-place efforts and two fourths. The Triton men tied for 18th in 2015 after back-to-back seventh-place showings, which came off of successive national runner-up efforts in 2011 and 2012.

UCSD has the third-largest women's swimming contingent, behind only perennial power Drury of Springfield, Ill., and defending champion Queens of Charlotte, N.C. Wingate (11), also located in North Carolina, and Lindenwood (10), of St. Charles, Mo., are the only other teams with double-digit swimmers. The Drury women have taken the top prize in six of the last nine seasons. Thirty-eight squads have sent around 180 female swimmers to the meet in all.

Queens ended Drury's 10-year reign atop Division II men's swimming and diving last March. Queens has qualified 10 swimmers and Drury nine, while Lindenwood leads with 12. A total of 157 men's swimmers will represent 31 different programs.

TRITON CONTINGENT
The women's group is led by co-captain Colleen Daley and fellow fourth-year senior Naomi Thomas, who have earned their fourth invitations. Dari Watkins, the only fifth-year senior in either the men's or women's program, will be making her third appearance and second straight. Juniors Jaimie Bryan and co-captain Natalie Tang are three-for-three. Senior Maddy Huttner, a second-year transfer, and sophomores Angie Phetbenjakul and Julia Toronczak (Santee/West Hills HS), are two-time qualifiers. First-timers earning spots are sophomores Haley Hamza, Haley Murphy and Jayna Wittenbrink, and true freshmen Reagan Eickert and Lily Maxfield. Hamza, an alternate as a freshman a year ago, was unable to travel due to injury. UCSD will compete in all five relays on the women's side.

Divers Brooke Abrantes (Santee/Santana HS), Allyson Cohen and Patty Sullivan will go through a pre-qualification meet in both the one- and three-meter springboard competitions on Tuesday, March 8, beginning at 7 a.m. PT, vying to make the main draw in either event. Cohen is a two-time qualifier as a senior, while Abrantes and Sullivan are freshmen.

The men's quartet is made up of juniors Michael Cohn (Solana Beach/Grossmont College) and Chandler Pourvahidi, alongside sophomores Kevin Fink and Kevin Wylder. It marks a third berth in three years for Pourvahidi, and second for Cohn and Wylder. Fink is in his first NCAA field.

CHAMPIONSHIPS PROGRAM
A total of 42 events will be contested in Indy, with 21 women's and 21 men's. That includes five relays and two diving events on each side. Women's races take place before the men's. Preliminaries begin each morning at 7:30 a.m. PT, with the evening finals sessions getting underway at 3 p.m. PT.

The swimming starts on Wednesday with the 1000 free, 200 IM, 50 free and 200 medley relay. Chandler Pourvahidi is seeded fourth in the 1000, and will swim in the final, fastest heats after 3 p.m. PT. Colleen Daley is the No. 2 seed in the 50 (school-record 22.98), with fellow co-captain Natalie fifth (23.14). Both the Triton women (third) and men will be in the 200 medley relay. Thursday's slate is made up of the 200 free relay, 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free and 400 medley relay. Kevin Wylder is in the 100 fly as the third seed, with a school-record mark of 46.97. The Triton women are No. 3 in the 200 free relay.

Friday will see the 500 free, followed by the 100 back, 100 breast, 200 fly and 800 free relay. Wylder is the No. 4 seed in the 200 fly (1:46.90). Dari Watkins is seeded third in the 200 fly (SR 2:00.07), and the UCSD women second in the 800 free relay (SR 7:20.17).

The NCAA Championships will come to a close on Saturday, March 12, with the 1650 free, 100 free, 200 back, 200 breast and 400 free relay. Michael Cohn is No. 4 in the 200 back (SR 1:44.92). Daley is fourth in the 100 (SR 50.29), with sophomore Julia Toronczak sixth in the 200 back (1:59.41). The UCSD women are the No. 2 seed in the 400 free relay (SR 3:23.10).

SCORING AND ALL-AMERICA
The standard NCAA 16-place scoring will be used this week. Individual: 20-17-16-15-14-13-12-11; 9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. Relays: 40-34-32-30-28-26-24-22, etc. Those swimmers, either in individual or relay events, who place first through eighth as a result of appearances in championship finals, earn All-America recognition. A finish of ninth through 16th from consolation finals, is good for All-America honorable mention.

MIGHTY 1090 INTERVIEWS
Mighty 1090 AM talent Jordan Carruth is conducting flavorful interviews with UC San Diego student-athletes and coaches on a weekly basis, and they are definitely worth a listen. The station has launched a page dedicated to UCSD athletics, where you can find all of the archived interviews. Here are the links to swimming and diving interviews:
• Watkins (12/31/15)
• Daley (2/17/16)
• Coach Falcon (3/2/16)

ALL-AMERICANS ON ROSTER
UCSD returns 16 All-Americans in 2015-16, led by co-captain Colleen Daley as a 10-timer, and fellow senior Naomi Thomas at five. Also back are Jaimie Bryan (4), Natalie Tang (4), Chandler Pourvahidi (3), Dari Watkins (3), Catherine Woo (3), Cole Heale (2), Maddy Huttner (2), Michael Cohn (1), Julian Jacobs (1), Paul Li (1), Angie Phetbenjakul (1), Stephanie Sin (1), Julia Toronczak (1) and Zachary Yong (1). Howie Chang, Sierra Gage, Michael Leung, Sasha Mitrushina, Kyle Nadler and Kevin Wylder have garnered All-America honorable mention. Of that group, Daley, Thomas, Bryan, Tang, Pourvahidi, Watkins, Huttner, Cohn, Phetbenjakul, Toronczak and Wylder will have the ability to add to their totals in Indianapolis this week.

A SEASON AGO
On the women's side, UCSD placed sixth at the 2015 NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships last March in Indianapolis, Ind. The Triton men tied for 18th. Both wrapped up a seventh consecutive PCSC crown.

NATIONAL RANKINGS
The fourth College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA)/TYR Top 25 Poll for the NCAA Division II, voted on by eight CSCAA member coaches, was unveiled on Feb. 3. In it, the UCSD women remained in the No. 2 spot, while the men moved up from fifth to fourth.

BOYT HONORED AT SALUTE TO THE CHAMPIONS
Triton sophomore Reilly Boyt was recognized at the 70th Annual Salute to the Champions at the Town and Country Resort & Convention Center on Tuesday, Feb. 16. Boyt, out of Fort Collins, Colo., was named by the San Diego Hall of Champions as its Challenged Athlete of the Year for 2015.

SENIOR DAY AT CANYONVIEW
Fifteen Tritons were recognized prior to the start of the Jan. 9 meet on Senior Day at the Canyonview Aquatic Center. Those 15 are Howie Chang, Allyson Cohen, Colleen Daley, Cole Heale, Max Halson, Maddy Huttner, Michael Leung, Paul Li, Caitlyn Lozano, Alex Moshensky, Kyle Nadler, Naomi Thomas, Dari Watkins, Garet Webster and AJ Zavala.

TRITON LEADERSHIP
Team captains for the new campaign were voted on at the conclusion of the 2014-15 season, with seniors Colleen Daley and Paul Li reprising their roles for a second year, and Max Halson, Cole Heale and Natalie Tang all earning the distinction as first-time captains.

TRITON COACHING STAFF
Corrie Falcon, who swam collegiately at USC, is in her fifth season in charge of the UCSD women in 2015-16. Daniel Perdew, a five-time national champion as arguably the greatest sprinter in the history of the UCSD program, is the second-year head coach of the Triton men. He was an assistant for three seasons before serving as interim head coach in 2014-15. Marko Djordjevic is in his second year as the top assistant. The native of Serbia has coached at the international level in his career. Diving coach Michelle Casillas was a multiple-time all-conference performer first at Nevada and then at Florida State. Third-year assistant Emmett Walling was a top swimmer at USC, while former Triton great, two-time national champion and 18-time All-American Nick Korth is the first-year volunteer.

GEAR HERE
For the latest in Triton athletic gear, make sure to visit ucsdtritonsgear.com. Run by UCSD Athletics' online partner, Advanced-Online, the site provides an on-demand option for Triton athletic apparel and merchandise. Fans have access to over 600 products that can be processed and shipped within 24 hours.

FOR THE YOUNGER CROWD
Got some young Triton fans in your family? If they are in eighth grade or under, check out the Junior Triton Club. Membership includes a free t-shirt, admission to over 100 UCSD home athletic events, and much more!

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