EVANSVILLE, Ind.  Western Colorado's Morgan Nielsen will hop onto the blocks of a national meet for the third consecutive season beginning Wednesday morning as she opens her appearance at the 2026 NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships with the first of three events, the 1,000-yard freestyle.

Nielsen is the Mountaineer record holder in the event, with a time of 10 minutes, 19.85 seconds, set at the 2025 conference championship meet.

She also holds school records in the 500 free (4:59.23) and the 1,650 free (17:10.82) and will swim the 500 on Friday and the 1,650 on Saturday at the national meet hosted at the Deaconess Aquatic Center.

Nielsen qualified for the NCAA meet this season with her season best time of 17:28.02 in the 1,650. Swum at altitude, the altitude adjustment puts her qualifying time at 17:08.02, which is the 20th seeded time at the meet.

She enters Wednesday's 1,000 seeded 28th and Friday's 500 as the No. 38 seeded swimmer.

Nielsen swam in her first national meet in the 2023-24 championships where she placed 29th in the 1,650, 38th in the 1,000, and 45th in the 500.

Last season she placed a career-best 20th in the 1,650, was 26th in the 1,000, 29th in the 500, and also swam the 200 free in recording a lifetime best time of 1:53.51 to place 41st.

The 2026 NCAA meet begins Tuesday night, March 10 with a single event, the men's and the women's 800 free relays.

Preliminary sessions start at 9 a.m. MT on Wednesday through Saturday. Finals sessions each day begin at 4:30 p.m. MT.