Texas 5th Year Alicia Wilson, NCAA Bronze Medalist in 2021, Not Entered for NCAAs

By Braden Keith on SwimSwam

2024 WOMEN’S NCAA SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• March 20-23, 2024
• Gabrielsen Natatorium, Athens, Georgia
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Pre-Scratch Psych Sheets

If the Texas Longhorns are going to pull an upset over the three-time defending champion Virginia Cavaliers at the 2024 NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships, they’re going to have to do it without one of their key newcomers this season.

5th-year swimmer Alicia Wilson, a transfer from Cal, did not appear on the pre-selection sheets released Tuesday, which means she won’t be swimming at the upcoming NCAA Championships.

Wilson raced as recently as last week’s Big 12 Championships, where she was 2nd in the 400 IM, 4th int he 200 back, and 5th in the 200 IM.

She would have been invited to the NCAA Championships had she been entered, though her season-best times were not close to what she swam at Cal and would not have been seeded to score.

• 200 back – 1:54.76, 51st seed (pre-selection)
• 200 IM – 1:56.58, 27th seed
• 400 IM – 4:09.04, 24th seed

Still, her upside-potential was clear. She was 3rd at NCAAs in the 200 IM in 2021, and her lifetime bests would have been seeded to score around 25 points, though those lifetime bests are all at least three years old.

For the Longhorns to catch the Cavaliers, who had 19 swimmers qualifiable for NCAAs (though they had to reduce that number), they will need a lot of things to break their way in two weeks, and so far they’ve already missed one of those potential breaks with Wilson’s absence.

Still, the Longhorns are projected to have 15 individual swimmers qualify for NCAAs, plus a few divers. That swimming count is the same as Wilson’s old team Cal, which is on a resurgent season this year under new leadership.

Wilson did not respond to a request for comment on her absence from the meet.

SwimSwam: Texas 5th Year Alicia Wilson, NCAA Bronze Medalist in 2021, Not Entered for NCAAs