Arizona’s Sara Borendame has scratched out of the 2016 women’s NCAA Championship meet, which moves the first alternate Verity Abel of Duke into the meet.
Borendame was seeded 33rd in the 100 breaststroke and 44th in the 200 breaststroke in the initial version of the psych sheets.
Abel, meanwhile, was bumped up as a result of her 40th-seed in the 1650 free of 16:17.89. That was a true last-chance swim for the Duke swimmer, as sickness prevented her from swimming that race at ACCs, so she had to take a shot at a last-chance meet a week later, and just barely slid in.
That also earns her entries in the 200 free (68th/70 – 1:47.90) and 500 free (63rd/69 – 4:45.40).
The call-up carries even greater significance for the Blue Devils as a whole than even just another individual swimmer. Specifically, she is Duke’s 4th individual qualifier for NCAAs, the Blue Devils can send their 200 and 400 free relays to NCAAs. They had only provisional cuts in those relays, but 4 individual qualifiers allows them to send those two relays anyway.
This is Abel’s first NCAA qualification. The new alternate list is as follows:
- Arlyn Upshaw, UCLA
- Madeline Zimmerman, Yale
- Amelia Schachter, Tulane
- Samantha Lisy, Indiana
- Mackenzie Margroum, Navy
- Alex Purcell, Auburn
- Franziska Weidner, Hawaii
- Anna Meinholz, Wisconsin
- Natalie Pierce, Florida St.