Thiele Set to Compete at NCAA National Championships

SHERMAN, Texas - Austin College senior women's swimmer Sammi Thiele is headed to Greensboro, N.C., this week to compete at the NCAA Division III National Championship Meet. This marks the second consecutive year that Thiele will swim at the national stage, and she remains the only 'Roo swimmer to ever qualify for the championship meet.

This season, Thiele qualified for three events including the 200 individual medley, the 100 backstroke, and the 200 backstroke. She won gold in both backstroke events at the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference championships, and earned silver in the 200 IM. During the course of the season, she set the Austin College program records in all three events, and set new SCAC records in both the 100 and 200 back.

Thiele enters the national championships as the six-seed in all three events, after qualifying with the sixth fastest time in all of Division III in each swim. She'll open up the meet on Wednesday in the 200 IM, after qualifying with a time of 2:03.03, with the evening session beginning all three evenings at 5:00 p.m. (CDT). She'll get Thursday off before returning to the pool on Friday, with the 100 back on the docket for that day. Thiele won the gold at the SCAC meet in that event with a time of 55.35, and remains the only women's swimmer in conference history to finish with a time under 56 seconds in the event. Finally, Thiele wraps up her weekend on Saturday with the 200 back, after breaking the SCAC record with a time of 2:00.38 at the conference meet.

A full schedule of events, results, and live stream information can be found on the official NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships website.