A Colorado native, Avery Tomlinson has never been to the IU Natatorium before.

But the junior is well aware of the history of the pool, which has hosted most of the fastest swimmers in the world at one point or another for national and international meets. Tomlinson and her Franklin women's swim and dive teammates would like nothing more than to cap off this season competing there at the NCAA Division III Championships in March — especially since the Grizzlies are the host team.

"I would love to swim there," Tomlinson said. "I think it's such an insane atmosphere."

Franklin has dominated HCAC competition, winning all eight conference championship meets, but hasn't had any representation at the NCAA meet since 2019 (????) This year's squad hopes to change that, particularly the all-junior quartet of Kat Lundy, Tomlinson, Celeste Hollis and Petal Sloan in the 400-yard medley relay.

"It's going to be good, if we can just put the four pieces together at the same time," Griz coach Rayce said. "I think this year we're just going to really prepare especially for that relay, and just see what happens. If we swim really well and get a B cut and have a shot at nationals, that's awesome; if we swim really well and don't have a shot, that's still great. They all have high ambitions, they all work extremely hard, so it makes it easy to coach them."

Tomlinson, the HCAC champ in the 100 breaststroke last season, says that relay group gets an extra boost from the fact that all of the juniors share a tight bond both on and off the pool deck.

"All of us came in together, and I feel like as freshmen our class came in super close," she said. "We had been reaching out to each over the summer, so I definitely think that helps. We have a really good relationship with each other; we know how people finish, and when they race bad. So I think just having good knowledge of each other and how we swim makes our relay a lot better, because we know each other really well and can work together."

That camaraderie, combined with the fact that two members of the junior class (Lundy and Landi Newcomb) are on track to graduate early, puts a little more urgency behind the desire to make it to the Nat.

"I know that would be a big, exciting way to finish out their season," Tomlinson said.

Rayce believes that several Grizzlies have a chance to make it to NCAAs as individuals, too; Lundy is the reigning conference champion in the 100 and 200 backstroke as well as the 200 butterfly, and Hollis claimed titles last season in the 50 and 100 freestyle along with the 100 fly.

And then there's Sloan, who has made quite an impression on her coach this preseason.

"Petal Sloan has surprised me every day this year with how impressive she looks in that water," Rayce said. "Her 100 free seems to be clicking right now, and I wouldn't be surprised if she pulled something out of her butt that surprised everybody."

On the way to nationals, Franklin will first try to secure that ninth consecutive HCAC title. Even though the gap between the Grizzlies and the rest of the league has always been large — Franklin had three relays disqualified this past season and still won the meet by 41 points over Transylvania — maintaining that dominance is something that the team never takes for granted.

"We talk about it with the girls that, hey, this is still special," Rayce said. "I do think our girls are very driven to not only win, but win by more."

And extend the season an extra month so that Tomlinson can compete in downtown Indy for the first time.