5 Swimmers chase another title:

Bulldogs will try to win their third title in four years.

The Georgia women’s swimming and diving team tries for its third NCAA championship in four seasons.

ATHENS — The University of Georgia women’s swimmers and divers, perennial national title contenders, will rely heavily on three seniors at the NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving championships, which run today through Saturday at Georgia Tech’s McAuley Aquatic Center.

The Bulldogs, who recently stumbled to a third-place finish in the SEC championships, will seek to win their third national title in the past four seasons.

“We’re a small but mighty class,” senior Brittany MacLean said. “There’s only three of us, but all of us have been top two or three at NCAAs, so that’s a pretty powerhouse class.”

The Bulldogs have won six NCAA titles, including the 2013 and 2014 crowns, and have been the national runner-up eight times.

In the past 17 seasons, Georgia has been first or second at the NCAAs 14 times.

Georgia Tech also hosted the NCAA Swimming and Diving championships in 2006.

Some of the other title contenders include California, Stanford and Texas A&M.

California, which has 12 swimmers qualified, is the defending champion.

Stanford finished third last season, and Texas A&M won the SEC title, snapping Georgia’s string of six consecutive conference titles.

Stanford’s list of qualifiers includes Nicole Stafford of the Westminster Schools.

MacLean is joined by fellow seniors Annie Zhu and Hali Flickinger as leaders.

Overall, Georgia has 13 swimmers and one diver competing.

“Annie, Flick, Brittany, they just get it,” coach Jack Bauerle said. “I never have to say that much to them. I’ve had very few meetings to talk about who we are and what we are. Basically, they’re led by three seniors who all set very good examples.”

MacLean, who battled hamstring and a torn labrum as a junior, could add to her profile as one of Georgia’s career greats.

She’s hoping to recapture her stellar showing from 2014, when she won NCAA titles in the 500 and 1,650-meter freestyle while leading the Bulldogs to the national title.

MacLean, a Canadian, is looking to have a strong performance in her final tournament before heading off to Toronto to take part in her Olympic trials.

“I would love to (beat my sophomore year records),” MacLean said. “The big thing is I can’t say I’m going to win a few events, because I don’t know how the others are going to do.

That was the thing my sophomore year: Those times were considered wins. This year, those times will not win, so I definitely need to be (much) better than that if I want to compete for a national title, but I haven’t taken myself out of the race.”