Championship Central | Live Video | Live Results

LARAMIE, Wyo. – Junior Maria Harutjunjan and freshman Karla Contreras will compete this week in the NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving National Championships at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis, Ind. It will be the fifth time in program history sending multiple Cowgirls to the NCAA Championships.

Harutjunjan qualified for the 100 breaststroke after winning the event at the Mountain West Championships with a career-best time of 59.85. That mark currently ranks 20th in the nation. The Maardu, Estonia, native is the first Cowgirl to compete in the same event at the NCAA Championships in consecutive years since Kelsey Conci in 2011 and 2012. Harutjunjan is just the fifth Cowgirl to qualify for the NCAA Championships in back-to-back years.

“I was thrilled with how Maria performed at Mountain West Championships” UW head coach Tom Johnson said. “She just needed to be confident and to get under a minute in the 100 breaststroke is a historic swim. After watching the tape, there were some things I thought she could do better, so we’ve spent a lot of time working on that this week. She looks great and really ready to go.”

Contreras is only the second Cowgirl to qualify in the 1-meter, 3-meter and platform diving events at the NCAA Championships after Stephanie Ortiz qualified for all three in 2010. Contreras finished fourth in the 3-meter, fifth in the 1-meter and seventh on the platform at the NCAA Zone E Championships. She will be the only diver representing the MW in all three events.

“Karla faced some adversity at Zones but she still went out and did her thing, which is being consistent and doing her dives like she knows how to do them,” UW head diving coach Kyle Bogner said. “It’ll be a great experience for her to see where she fits in and figure out how far she wants to go. The sky is the limit for her and wherever she puts that cap is where it will be. It’ll be fun to see what she can do on all three boards.”

Contreras will compete on the 1-meter on Thursday, the 3-meter on Friday and the platform on Saturday. Diving will begin at 10:30 a.m. MT on Thursday and Friday and 10:15 a.m. MT on Saturday. Harutjunjan will race on Friday, with trials set to begin at 8 a.m. MT, followed by finals beginning at 4 p.m. A live stream of the events will be available at the link above, as well as the finals being broadcast on ESPN3.