EVANSVILLE, Ind.  Western Colorado's Morgan Nielsen posted a season best time Friday during the morning preliminary heats of the 500-yard freestyle at the 2026 NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships at the Deaconess Aquatic Center.

Her time of 5 minutes, 3.92 seconds was a season best and earned her 25th place in the overall standings of the event.

Swimming in the first of five heats in the prelims, Nielsen held firm with pacing, repeating 50-yard splits of 30 seconds from her second split to her ninth split before closing in a 29.71 to race to second in her heat.

Despite swimming in the first heat of prelims, Nielsen finished ahead of 11 swimmers who entered the morning seeded ahead of her.

Next up for Nielsen is the 1,650 freestyle on Saturday, the final day of the championship meet.