WASHINGTON - Juniors Mimi Watts and Nick Buckley of American University swimming & diving will both be participating in USA Swimming's Toyota US Open Championships from Dec. 1-Dec. 3 at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, N.C. It is the very first event for swimmers to begin meeting time standards for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials.

While both swimmers hold school records in the events they'll be competing in, those records are in short course yards, and the national championship events are long course meters.

For Watts, who has qualified in three events, it will be her third appearance at US Open event since joining the team at American. At this same event a year ago, she tied for third in the consolation final in the 100 fly with a time of 1:01.70 (SCY). Over the summer of 2022 at the Phillips 66 National Championships, Watts improved that time to 1:00.35, just 0.16 seconds off the Olympic Trials qualifying standard of 1:00.19. While at the Phillips 66 National Championships, Watts also swam a PR of 26.11 in the 50 free to qualify for this week's event.

Watts comes into the US Open ranked 17th in the 100 fly (1:00.35) out of 50 swimmers, 19th in the 200 fly (2:15.87) out of 34 swimmers, and 22nd in the 50 free (26.11) out of 58 swimmers.

Buckley is competing in his first US Open event and will race in the 50 freestyle where he's ranked 64th out of the 74 swimmers in that event. He holds the school record for short course yards at 20.20, set at the Patriot League Championships earlier this year, and that is the time that earned him a spot in the US Open.

There will be A, B, and C finals in all events, with a total of 24 swimmers advancing past the heats. The 50 free heats are set for Thursday morning, Dec. 1, with the 100 fly set for Friday morning, Dec. 2, and the 200 fly on Saturday morning, Dec. 3.

The entire US Open Championships will be streamed live at https://www.usaswimming.org/utility/landing-pages/streaming.

For more information on AU swim and dive, follow the team on Twitter (@AU_SwimDive), Facebook (@AU.SwimDive) and Instagram (@au_swim_dive).