The women's swimming and diving team are ready to spring into action at the NCAA Championships this week in Indianapolis beginning on Thursday, March 21.
Going into the meet coach Brett Hawke thinks that a top 10 finish is a realistic expectation for this team.
"We've been a top 10 team with these girls now since my time as head coach and that's where we are looking to stay," Hawke said.
Auburn will have 14 swimmers competing in the championships: Olivia Scott, Micah Lawrence, Lindsey Norberg, Lauren Norberg, Katie Gardocki, Hannah Riordan, Aubrey Peacock, Jillian Viatrius, Abby Duncan, Becca Jones, Haley Krakoski Megan Fonteno, Emily Bos and Alex Merritt.
"We've got some girls that are looking to swim their best times of the season and that should put them in a spot for making the finals," Hawke said. "I'm just happy with the way they have progressed throughout the season."
The swimmers understand the importance of this meet and are ready for the challenge that is ahead of them.
"Physically we feel like we are at the top of our game and even mentally," Hawke said.
After finishing fifth in the SEC championships in February the Tigers may have been looking ahead to the biggest meet of the season.
"A lot of the girls in some respect swam through the SEC's in preparation for this meet," Hawke said. "We really wanted the girls to be at their best at the biggest meet of the year."
Going into the NCAA's, women's swimming could be more competitive than its been in the past, and that's something that is changing throughout the entire sport.
"I would say that women's swimming is even deeper than men's swimming right now," Hawke said. "Across the board there are a lot of women's programs around the country that are well funded and well supported. A lot of women are taking up the sport and there's a lot of talent around the country. There are a lot of great young women's coaches around as well. I think it's a deeper level and a deeper feel. Just the depth of the NCAA level has grown and expanded in the last five or six years."
While the competition will be fierce the Tigers have set the bar high for the team and believe that a top-10 finish is something they can easily achieve. They also believe because of the competiveness it is hard to predict what will happen when the competition begins.
"Realistically we definitely want to stay in the top 10," Hawke said. "Its one of those situations where you have the two top teams in California and Georgia then it gets very competitive from third to tenth and maybe even third to twelfth.
"It just really depends on how you show up at this meet and how you swim in how you'll finish. So its difficult to predict because its so even across the board."
Preliminaries for the meet will begin Thursday at 11 p.m. EST and will continue through the weekend.
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