SAN DIEGO – San Diego State's Christiana Williams, Kristina Murphy and Alex Roberts have their sights set on postseason glory this week when they compete in the 2023 NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships, March 16-18, at Allan Jones Aquatic Center in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Williams is scheduled to swim in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, while Murphy is set to race in the 200 and 400 individual medley, as well as the 200 breaststroke. Additionally, Roberts is slated to partake in three events, the 100 and 200 backstroke, along with the 100 butterfly. The three Aztec teammates are making their first career appearances at the NCAA Championships.
All meet information, including schedules, heat sheets/results, streaming links, parking and fan policies, can be found on the 2023 NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships Central page with a link available on GoAztecs.com.
Every session of the meet will be streamed on ESPN+, and fans can also follow along with live results online or by using the Meet Mobile app.
Preliminaries will begin each morning at 10 a.m. ET (7 a.m. PT), with the finals set to get underway at 6 p.m. ET (3 p.m. PT). The NCAA Championships will actually commence on Wednesday, March 15 with the finals of the 200 medley relay and 800 freestyle relay at 6 p.m. ET (3 p.m. PT). However, the Scarlet and Black will have at least one student-athlete swimming over the final three days of the meet (Thursday-Saturday).
A native of Tucson, Arizona, Williams qualified for NCAA Championships in the 200 breaststroke after setting a conference and school record with a swim of 2:08.23 during the first day of time trials at the Mountain West Championships on Feb. 15, which ranks 18th in the country. She later took home the gold medal in the "A" finals of the same event on Feb. 18 after clocking in at 2:08.86.
With her ticket punched, Williams was also invited to participate in the 100 breaststroke on the strength of her NCAA "B" cut times during the year. The SDSU junior is slotted 44th in the event nationally after posting a winning time of 1:00.23 in the "A" finals at the conference meet, which ranks fourth in school history.
In addition, Murphy qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 200 breaststroke after placing second in the "A" finals just behind Williams at the conference meet with a collegiate-fast swim of 2:09.28, which ranks 29th nationally this season and third on the program's all-time performance list.
Not to be outdone, Murphy received a pair of invitations to compete in the 200 and 400 individual medley at the national meet after solidifying her NCAA "B" Cut times throughout the season.
A graduate student from Clarksburg, California, Murphy captured the gold medal in the 200 IM at the MW Championships with a career-fast 1:57.69, which ranks second on the school's all-time charts and fourth in league history. She is also slotted 52nd in the country with that mark.
In addition, Murphy logged a collegiate-best 4:11.49 in the preliminaries of the 400 IM at the conference meet, which ranks second on SDSU's career list and seventh in MW history. With the result, she climbed into the 40th position nationally in the event. Murphy later won the silver medal in the "A" finals of the 400 IM after completing the race at 4:11.87.
Meanwhile, Roberts clinched a spot the NCAA Championships in the 200 backstroke after capturing the gold medal at the Mountain West Championships with a conference and school-record time of 1:52.89, which ranks 21st in the nation.
With her qualification cemented in the 200 backstroke, Roberts was also selected to compete in the 100 backstroke and the 100 butterfly at the national meet based on her NCAA "B" Cut marks throughout the season. The SDSU junior enters the competition ranked 42nd in the country in the 100 back with a mark of 52.49 after swimming that segment in the Aztecs' victorious 400 medley relay team at the conference meet. Additionally, her clocking represents a personal best and ranks second in program history.
A native of Visalia, California, Roberts additionally recorded a career-fast swim of 53.29 in the finals of the 100 fly at the MW Championships, meriting a bronze medal in the process and climbing into fifth on the school's all-time charts. She is slotted 54th in the event entering the week.
SDSU is in the midst of another highly successful season after capturing its second straight Mountain West championship last month in Houston, Texas. The Aztecs claimed 10 individual gold medals and swept all five relay events, setting a conference record with 1,638 team points en route to its fourth MW title in the last five years and seventh since 2011.
San Diego State posted a 14-0 record in dual-meet competition during the 2022-23 campaign, extending its winning streak to 50 in that category with a victory at San Diego on Jan. 27. The Aztecs have not lost a dual meet since Jan. 8, 2018, a span of over five years.
NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships
Knoxville, Tenn.
Event Schedule
SDSU swimmers in parentheses
Wednesday, March 15 – Finals at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT
200 Medley Relay
800 Free Relay
Thursday, March 16 – Prelims at 10 a.m. ET/7 a.m. PT | Finals at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT
500 Free
200 IM (Kristina Murphy)
50 Free
1-Meter Diving
200 Free Relay
Friday, March 17 – Prelims at 10 a.m. ET/7 a.m. PT | Finals at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT
400 IM (Kristina Murphy)
100 Fly (Alex Roberts)
200 Free
100 Breast (Christiana Williams)
100 Back (Alex Roberts)
3-Meter Diving
400 Medley Relay
Saturday, March 18 – Prelims at 10 a.m. ET/7 a.m. PT | Finals at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT
200 Back (Alex Roberts)
100 Free
200 Breast (Christiana Williams, Kristina Murphy)
200 Fly
Platform Diving
400 Free Relay