UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - Junior backstroke specialist Lauren Hines is headed to Auburn, Ala., to compete in her second-consecutive NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships after qualifying for this year's meet in the 100 back. Hines' trip to the Nationals will mark the eighth time in the past nine seasons that a Spider has qualified for the championship meet.

"Lauren is motivated to go faster now," said head coach Matt Barany. "After her back injury in the early part of the season, she's now at 100 percent. Last year's experience at NCAAs was somewhat overwhelming, but this year Lauren is fully prepared to compete."

Hines (Roanoke, Va./Hidden Valley) will take to the water in the 100 back on Friday, March 16. She is seeded 24th nationally with a time of 52.81 in what is her signature event, which she clocked to capture gold at last week's Atlantic 10 Championship in Buffalo, N.Y. Her mark was just .05 seconds off her conference record established a season ago.

The 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials qualifier will also compete in the 200 back on Saturday in Auburn as a result of her "B" qualifying time of 1:56.81 recorded at last week's conference championship. While Hines came up just short of resetting her 100 back record, she did accomplish the feat in the 200 portion of the event with her top time in Buffalo last week.

Hines finished 27th overall out of 55 swimmers in the 100 back with a time of 53.61 at the 2011 NCAA championship. She turned in a 49th-place finish in the 100 free in Austin last year as well.

Stay updated on Hines' trip to NCAAs and all the latest Spider Swim & Dive news and notes right here on RichmondSpiders.com. More information on the Spiders can be found by visiting the program's official Facebook and Twitter pages. Additional details on the NCAA Championship is available here.