Bulldog trio head to Atlanta for NCAA Championships

2026 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships
Mar. 18-21, 2026 | ESPN+ | McAuley Aquatics Center | Atlanta, Georgia

Media Coverage
Watch: ESPN+
Results: Meet Mobile
Meet Central: NCAA
Live updates via Twitter (X): @fresnostateswim

FRESNO, Calif. - A trio of Bulldogs will represent Fresno State on the biggest stage at the 2026 NCAA women's Swimming and Diving Championship. Fresno State will be represented by Mackenzie Miller Lung, Aliz Kalmar and Grace Ally.

While competition begins on Wednesday, Mar. 18 at the McAuley Aquatic Center at Georgia Tech, Bulldogs will have their first day of competition on Thursday, Mar. 19. ESPN+ will provide live digital coverage for preliminary and finals sessions Wednesday through Saturday.

Bulldog Bones

Three Bulldogs will be representing Fresno State at the 2026 NCAA Championships in Mackenzie Miller Lung, Aliz Kalmar and Grace Ally
All three Bulldogs are making their second consecutive NCAA appearance
For the second consecutive year, Fresno State is sending three athletes
Fresno State is ranked No. 24 in the Swim Swam College power rankings heading into championship, as the only MW team
Mackenzie Miller Lung is the Mountain West Champion in the 100 and 200 breaststroke
Miller Lung has marked the program's first back-to-back title holders in the 100 breaststroke (Jenna Pulkkinen, 2025)
Aliz Kalmar claimed a spot at the podium in both breaststroke events at Mountain West Championships this past February
Grace Ally placed third at MWC in the platform event and secured her spot at NCAA's with a seventh place finish at NCAA Zones in early March
Jeanne Fleck received a two-year contract extension in February and with that extension Fleck will reach 20 years as the programs head coach
Fresno State is one of seven MW institutions that will be present at NCAA's, for a total of 13 swimmers
This is Fresno State's ninth NCAA appearance since 1996
Bulldogs highest finish at NCAA's was 29th place in 1999

Seeds are set
Mackenzie Miller Lung is seeded in the top ten in both breaststroke events this week. The senior takes the eighth seed in the 100 breast and rounds out the top ten in the 200 breast. Miller Lung earned an automatic qualifying spot in the event as a conference champion in the event.

Kalmar is seeded 28th in the 200 breaststroke and earned a spot in the event with a time of 2:08.57. In the 100 breaststroke, Kalmar was invited then accepted into the event as the No. 38 seed.

Grace Ally is seeded 44th in the platform.

Back for more
All three Bulldogs attending NCAA's this week are making their second consecutive appearance. Kalmar and Ally represented Fresno State last year while Miller Lung at her previous institution (BYU).

Miller Lung was the 2025 runner up finisher in the 200 breaststroke (2:05.03) and had a seventh place finish in the 100 breaststroke (58.39). Kalmar finished as the programs second ever top-16 finisher in the 200 breaststroke (2:09.17) last time out.

Bulldog depth
Fresno State has been represented well in the breastroke and diving events, of the program's eight NCAA appearances five of them have had a swimmer in a breastroke event and three in a diving event. The program's first four trips featured Holly Gravatt (1996-99) in the 200 breaststroke, finishing in the top-16 each time. Fresno State would not see a swimmer in that event until Aliz Kalmar and Jenna Pulkkinen in 2025. Kalmar was the second-ever swimmer in program history to finish in the top-16. The program's highest placing finish in the 200 breast was 7th (Gravatt, 1996), but no Bulldog has placed higher than 26th (Kalmar, 2025) in the 100 breaststroke.

Grace Ally is the program's third diver to qualify but the second to compete in the platform event. In the 2025 campaign Ally placed 46th in the platform (181.95). The program's highest finish in the event is 13th (Prigge, 13th).

NCAA Championship Model
The 2026 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship will have a new format this year. The shift began with a new qualification model, in which there would only be one qualifying time standard per event as opposed to an automatic and consideration qualifying standard. Swimmers qualified for the championships either by winning their conference championship in an event with an established minimum time in that swim or by meeting the established minimum time for the events in which they entered.

In previous years, the finals session has consisted of a consolation 'B' final and a championship 'A' final. This year the NCAA will go forth with removing the consolation final from the finals session in an aim to give more importance to the morning swims and provide the primetime broadcast a focus on the championship races for national titles. Swimmers in 9th-16th finishes will be determined by morning preliminary times alone.

Along with those changes, the NCAA has rescheduled the competition to optimize broadcasting, shuffling the order of events. Dive events will be split with rounds in between events.

Order of events
Day 1 - Wednesday, Mar. 18
1650 freestyle (top 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 participating events in bold

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Grace Ally

Aliz Kalmar

Mackenzie Miller Lung

Jenna Pulkkinen