Chilliwack Spartan alum Jessie Gibson has been selected to race in the 2017 NCAA division-two national championships.
The meet takes place Mar. 7-11 in Birmingham , AL. hosted by the University of Alabama-Huntsville.
Gibson, an Abbotsford native, is among the headliners from the Simon Fraser Clan women's swim team. The freshman has turned in a remarkable rookie season. One of two athletes in all of the NCAA Div. II to earn an automatic bid with an 'A' standard qualifier in the women's 200-yard butterfly (1:58.81), Gibson also earned spots in the 100-yard fly, in which she enters as the ninth seed with a qualifying time of 54.44, as well as the 200-yard freestyle (13th – 1:50.26) and the 200-yard backstroke (13th – 1:59.92).
Gibson will also swim on two relay teams, leading the Clan women into the 4x200-yard freestyle and 400yd individual medley relays.
"We're not just satisfied with just qualifying," said SFU swim coach Liam Donnelly. "We have the expectation that these athletes will push themselves to try and make it as far as they possibly can against the best, and with the talent they've got, that could be pretty far."