Auburn swimming: 31 Tigers ready for U.S. Nationals

A contingent of 31 current, former and future Auburn swimmers have made their way to Indianapolis, Ind., for the 2009 ConocoPhillips USA Swimming National Championships with a spot on the FINA World Championships national team on the line.

The five-day meet is being used as a qualifying meet for American swimmers competing for a spot on the national team.

The trials, which are being held at the Indiana University Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI and run through Saturday.

Returning from the U.S. team are Margaret Hoelzer, Mark Gangloff and Eric Shanteau, while Fred Bousquet (France), George Bovell (Trinidad & Tobago), Adam Brown (Great Britain), Cesar Cielo (Brazil) and Matt Targett (Australia) are also competing in the meet.

Because the meet is a national championship being used as a selection meet for the U.S. National Team, foreign swimmers will not compete in championship finals.

Bousquet, Cielo, Gangloff, Hoelzer and Shanteau all enter the meet ranked in the top three in at least one of their events with Cielo (50m free), Hoelzer (200m back) and Shanteau (100m breast) holding a top seed.

Hoelzer, along with 2009 senior Emile Ewing and rising junior Melanie Roberts, have qualified for the most events among Auburn swimmers with five each. Rising seniors Tyler McGill and Will Dove, and rising junior Robert Looney have each qualified in four events for the men.

McGill leads the way for the current Tigers, entering the meet as the fifth overall seed in the 100m fly and sixth seed in the 200m fly.
He is also competing in the 50m free and 100m free. For the women, rising senior Maggie Bird leads the way as she is the eighth overall seed in the 400m free. She will also compete in the 200m free, 200m back and 800m free.

Last time at the World Championship Trials, Auburn placed three swimmers on the 2007 National Team. Hoelzer, Hayley Peirsol and Shanteau all earned their way to the 2007 team that competed in Melbourne, Australia.

Action in the meet began Monday.