NC2A Question

[Anonymous]

Can anyone explain, in plain English, how D1 champs will be run starting this year? If understood correctly you want to find a team that will win its conference championships? It is not about DC getting a qualification time anymore? If so, wouldn’t this change your strategy when it comes to school and program choice?

[Anonymous]

Being on a team that wins its conference will not get you to NCAAs, you have to win an individual event AND have an NCAA qualifying time. I think this could make some faster swimmers choose to go to mid majors, but working against this will be concerns about whether they can swim as fast without faster training partners and competition in the conference. Now maybe folks who are fast enough to get those qualifying times but find themselves on way down on a depth chart at a top 10 swimming school, might think mid majors if they choose to transfer.

Here r the details from a swim swam article

“ The new format transforms the qualification procedure, instituting a single NCAA Championship standard. Under the new rules, any swimmer who wins their conference title and achieves a national qualifying time in the event will automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships. The descending order list procedure will continue to be used for all other entries, though the idea of an “A” and a “B” standard has been eliminated.

It is important to note, an athlete must swim the NCAA qualifying time in the conference final if they are to receive an automatic Championship bid.

If an athlete has swum a qualifying time previously, like in prelims or at a meet prior to NCAAS, but does not go under the cut to win the conference final, they will not be automatically invited and will go through the same selection process as everyone else.

With the goal to preserve meet size and expand institutional access, the qualifying times were determined by averaging the 72nd-best time over the previous three years unless the current standard is faster than the three-year average. You can see all of the standards here.”