Six Women to Lead Tartans at NCAA Swimming Championships

(INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.) – Six Carnegie Mellon University women's swimmers have earned the right to compete at the 2026 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships. The championship meet will be hosted at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis, Indiana, on March 18-21.

Senior Savannah Xu will make her fourth appearance at the national meet after being selected to compete in three individual events and two relays. Xu will compete in the 100-yard backstroke, 200-yard backstroke, and 200-yard IM for the fourth time while she's earned three All-America honors in the 200-yard backstroke. Her time in the 200-yard backstroke is sixth, the 100-yard backstroke is 23rd, and the 200-yard IM is 22nd. Last year, Xu placed eighth in the 200-yard backstroke while she was fourth in 2024 and sixth in the event in 2023.

Senior Audrey Soetanto returns to the meet for the third year, invited to swim in the 200-yard butterfly with a ranking of 28th. She'll also swim the 200-yard IM (ranked 50th) and the 100-yard butterfly (ranked 40th).

Senior Sophie Elliott competed at the national championships in the 800-yard freestyle relay as a sophomore but earned an invite this year in the 200-yard butterfly with a time that ranks 26th. She will also swim the 200-yard backstroke (ranked 38th) and the 500-yard freestyle (ranked 42nd).

Freshmen Audrey Gil and Victoria Sun join the veterans with invites on the 400-yard medley relay and 800-yard freestyle relay. Gil was also invited to compete in the 100-yard butterfly where she ranks 12th. She will also swim the 50-yard freestyle (ranked 42nd) and the 100-yard freestyle (45th). Sun will also have the chance to swim as an individual, as she qualified for the 200-yard IM with a time that is 35th in the country.

Junior Anna Zaniolo will anchor the 400-yard medley relay that has the 15th-best time in the country and will swim on three other relays.

The 800-yard freestyle relay of Xu, Elliott, Sun, and Soetanto is seeded 20th and will compete for a chance to be second team All-Americans like the relay accomplished in 2024.

The team will also compete in the 200-yard freestyle relay, 200-yard medley relay and the 400-yard freestyle relay.

The meet starts Wednesday, March 18 with the 200-yard IM, 50-yard freestyle, and 400-yard medley relay.