BAKERSFIELD, Calif..--Mitchell Huxhold becomes the first Bakersfield men's swimmer to compete in the NCAA Division I Championships this week.

Huxhold opens his meet Thursday in the 500 free which he qualified for with the 23rd quickest time (4:17.23) in the field of 55. The 500 free prelims are the second event of the morning session which begins at 11 a.m. (CDT) at the University of Texas. The finals are set for Thursday night at 7 p.m. (CDT).

Huxhold's bonus event, the 200 free, is the fourth event of Friday's preliminaries which get underway at 11 a.m. (CDT). His time of 1:35.35 is the 40th fastest in the field of 58. Huxhold's final event, the 1650 free, which is his speciality, will begin Saturday at 4:45 p.m. (CDT). The 1650 free will be a final against time. Huxhold has the seventh quickest time in the field of 35 (14:47.18).

"It is really hard to swim distance events so great at the WAC conference on a full taper and bounce back and swim that fast again," said Bakersfield director of swimming and diving Chris Hansen. "However, Mitchell has experience with big meets after attending Olympic Trials.  He has been getting some national attention with his great WAC mile.  We need to keep him focused on the swimming and not the attention.  Our goal is to score and in his words " gain experience to come back and get top three next year".  That maturity is what Mitchell will need to swim against the worlds best this week."

The final two days of the championships will be available on ESPN 3 or on the Watch ESPN App.

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