Coughlen, Haebig to Compete in NCAA Championships

After a successful regular season, the Nebraska swimming and diving team had two swimmers selected to compete at the NCAA Championships in Athens, Ga., March 18-21. Juniors Madison Coughlen and Autumn Haebig were officially invited to the NCAA Championships on Wednesday, March 4, by the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Committee. Sophomore Audrey Coffey was one of 10 swimmers listed as an alternate selection on Wednesday and will find out at a later date if she will be included in the championship field.

Haebig returns to the NCAA Championships after competing in three events as a freshman in 2018. The Grafton, Wis., native qualified in the 200-yard freestyle after posting a qualifying time of 1:44.94 at the Big Ten Championships in the 800 freestyle relay, which re-broke her school record in the event. Individually, Haebig placed ninth in the Big Ten with a similar time of 1:44.95. At nationals Haebig will also compete in the 100-yard and 500-yard freestyles.

Coughlen is a first-time qualifier and qualified in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:55.78. She earned the time at the Big Ten Championships two weeks ago, which re-broke her own school record for the swim and placed her sixth in the Big Ten for the event. Coughlen will also compete in the 400-yard individual medley.

Coffey received an alternate spot in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 16:18.56. She earned the time at the Big Ten Championships and her times ranks second all-time in the Nebraska record books. Last week Coffey set a new school record in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 9:48.15.

The NCAA Championships are set to begin Wednesday, March 18, and run through Saturday, March 21, at the Ramsey Center in Athens, Ga. 

A total of 322 participants (281 swimmers and 41 divers) will compete in the championships, according to NCAA.com. Divers will be determined by performances at the Zone Diving Meets March 9-14 and will be announced on Sunday, March 15.

Nebraska’s divers will look to qualify for the NCAA Championships by competing at the Zone D Diving meet in Dallas, Texas, and the event runs March 9-11. Husker divers can qualify by placing in the top-10 of the 1-meter, top-13 of the 3-meter or top-nine of the platform competitions.