Bulldog trio head to Atlanta for NCAA Championships

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FRESNO, Calif. – A trio of Bulldogs will signify Fresno State on the largest stage on the 2026 NCAA girls’s Swimming and Diving Championship. Fresno State will likely be represented by Mackenzie Miller Lung, Aliz Kalmar and Grace Ally. 

While competitors begins on Wednesday, Mar. 18 on the McAuley Aquatic Center at Georgia Tech, Bulldogs could have their first day of competitors on Thursday, Mar. 19. ESPN+ will present dwell digital protection for preliminary and finals classes Wednesday by means of Saturday. 

Bulldog Bones 

• Three Bulldogs will likely be representing Fresno State on the 2026 NCAA Championships in Mackenzie Miller Lung, Aliz Kalmar and Grace Ally 
• All three Bulldogs are making their second consecutive NCAA look 
• For the second consecutive 12 months, Fresno State is sending three athletes 
• Fresno State is ranked No. 24 within the Swim Swam College energy rankings heading into championship, as the one MW crew 
• Mackenzie Miller Lung is the Mountain West Champion within the 100 and 200 breaststroke 
• Miller Lung has marked this system’s first back-to-back title holders within the 100 breaststroke (Jenna Pulkkinen, 2025) 
• Aliz Kalmar claimed a spot on the podium in each breaststroke occasions at Mountain West Championships this previous February 
• Grace Ally positioned third at MWC within the platform occasion and secured her spot at NCAA’s with a seventh place end at NCAA Zones in early March 
• Jeanne Fleck acquired a two-year contract extension in February and with that extension Fleck will attain 20 years because the applications head coach 
• Fresno State is considered one of seven MW establishments that will likely be current at NCAA’s, for a complete of 13 swimmers
• This is Fresno State’s ninth NCAA look since 1996 
• Bulldogs highest end at NCAA’s was twenty ninth place in 1999 

Seeds are set 
Mackenzie Miller Lung is seeded within the prime ten in each breaststroke occasions this week. The senior takes the eighth seed within the 100 breast and rounds out the highest ten within the 200 breast. Miller Lung earned an computerized qualifying spot within the occasion as a convention champion within the occasion. 

Kalmar is seeded twenty eighth within the 200 breaststroke and earned a spot within the occasion with a time of two:08.57. In the 100 breaststroke, Kalmar was invited then accepted into the occasion because the No. 38 seed. 

Grace Ally is seeded forty fourth within the platform. 

Back for extra 

All three Bulldogs attending NCAA’s this week are making their second consecutive look. Kalmar and Ally represented Fresno State final 12 months whereas Miller Lung at her earlier establishment (BYU). 

Miller Lung was the 2025 runner up finisher within the 200 breaststroke (2:05.03) and had a seventh place end within the 100 breaststroke (58.39). Kalmar completed because the applications second ever top-16 finisher within the 200 breaststroke (2:09.17) final outing. 

Bulldog depth 

Fresno State has been represented effectively within the breastroke and diving occasions, of this system’s eight NCAA appearances 5 of them have had a swimmer in a breastroke occasion and three in a diving occasion. The program’s first 4 journeys featured Holly Gravatt (1996-99) within the 200 breaststroke, ending within the top-16 every time. Fresno State wouldn’t see a swimmer in that occasion till Aliz Kalmar and Jenna Pulkkinen in 2025. Kalmar was the second-ever swimmer in program historical past to complete within the top-16. The program’s highest inserting end within the 200 breast was seventh (Gravatt, 1996), however no Bulldog has positioned increased than twenty sixth (Kalmar, 2025) within the 100 breaststroke. 

Grace Ally is this system’s third diver to qualify however the second to compete within the platform occasion. In the 2025 marketing campaign Ally positioned forty sixth within the platform (181.95). The program’s highest end within the occasion is thirteenth (Prigge, thirteenth). 

NCAA Championship Model

The 2026 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship could have a brand new format this 12 months. The shift started with a brand new qualification mannequin, through which there would solely be one qualifying time normal per occasion versus an computerized and consideration qualifying normal. Swimmers certified for the championships both by successful their convention championship in an occasion with a longtime minimal time in that swim or by assembly the established minimal time for the occasions through which they entered.

In earlier years, the finals session has consisted of a comfort ‘B’ last and a championship ‘A’ last. This 12 months the NCAA will go forth with eradicating the comfort last from the finals session in an purpose to present extra significance to the morning swims and supply the primetime broadcast a give attention to the championship races for nationwide titles. Swimmers in Ninth-Sixteenth finishes will likely be decided by morning preliminary instances alone. 

Along with these modifications, the NCAA has rescheduled the competitors to optimize broadcasting, shuffling the order of occasions. Dive occasions will likely be cut up with rounds in between occasions. 

Order of occasions

Day 1  – Wednesday, Mar. 18 

1650 freestyle (prime 8)

200 medley relay

800 free relay 

Day 2 – Thursday, Mar. 19 

100 butterfly

400 IM, 

1-meter

 200 freestyle

100 breast

200 free relay 

Day 3 – Thursday, Mar. 20 

100 backstroke

200 breaststroke 

3-meter 

500 freestyle

400 medley relay

Day 4 – Saturday, Mar. 21 

200 IM

100 freestyle

platform (rounds 1-3)

200 butterfly

200 backstroke

platform (rounds 4-6)

400 freestyle relay

Fresno State’s collaborating occasions in daring