NCAA Announces 2014-2015 Division II Qualifying Standards; 800 Free Relays Get Tougher

The 2014-2015 NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving championship qualifying standards have been released, and the result is a mixed bag of standards, where some stayed the same and some got faster, but such as time marches on, only a handful of “B” standards got slower, and even there just by .01 seconds.

The NCAA’s 2nd Division has made a notable change in that they’re not listing out 25-meter times anymore, instead they’re just providing a conversion factor that is the same for men and women, and are fairly across-the-board similar without consideration of different factors for different strokes.

Those conversion factors are unchanged, though, so that’s perhaps more of an administrative than anything else. No 50-meter pool times will be accepted.

EVENT Factor
400 meters to 500 yards 1.143
800 meters to 1000 yards 1.143
1500 meters to 1650 yards 1.003
All other events 0.896

Interestingly, none of the breaststroke standards, for men or women, got any faster between the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 seasons. None of the mile standards got faster either.

What did get significantly faster were the standards for the 800 free relays. While in relative terms, the individual 200 freestyle times didn’t get any faster (the men’s standard got half-a-second faster, the women’s was unchanged), this speaks to increasing DEPTH among Division II swim teams. The new men’s “qualifying” standard calculates out to about a 1:37.6 per swimmer on the men’s side, and a 1:51.1. On the men’s side especially, that’s only a second away from the automatic standard (plus relay reaction benefits), meaning that there’s enough teams going far enough under the individual 200 free “B” standard to justify this.

We saw the 400 free relays jump up this much a while ago. For example, the men’s 400 free relay Quailfying Time standard averages a 43.99. But for the 800 to now be making similar moves says even more about how deep Division II has gotten.

See the 2014-2015 standards below in a clean version, and then with a comparison to the 2013-2014 standards as well.

See past years’ standards here.

Men’s A Men’s B  CLEAN Women’s A Women’s B
19.96 20.96 50 free 22.97 24.12
43.96 46.16 100 free 50.15 52.66
1:36.61 1:41.44 200 free 1:48.52 1:53.95
4:25.01 4:38.26 500 free 4:52.11 5:06.72
9:08.37 9:35.79 1000 free 10:02.04 10:32.14
15:23.33 16:09.50 1650 free 16:48.96 17:39.41
47.92 50.32 100 back 54.69 57.43
1:45.90 1:51.19 200 back 1:57.86 2:03.75
53.05 55.70 100 breast 1:02.23 1:05.34
1:56.74 2:02.58 200 breast 2:14.90 2:21.65
47.93 50.33 100 fly 54.71 57.45
1:46.45 1:51.77 200 fly 2:00.92 2:06.97
1:46.67 1:52.01 200 IM 2:01.89 2:07.98
3:52.97 4:04.61 400 IM 4:19.58 4:32.56
1:19.82 1:23.81 200 Free Relay 1:32.33 1:36.95
2:55.97 3:04.77 400 Free Relay 3:23.38 3:33.44
6:30.57 6:50.10 800 Free Relay 7:24.42 7:46.64
1:27.42 1:31.79 200 Medley Relay 1:42.07 1:47.17
3:12.39 3:22.01 400 Medley Relay 3:42.93 3:54.08
 2013-2014
Men’s A Men’s B  COMPARISON Women’s A Women’s B
19.96 (-.09) 20.96 (-.09) 50 free 22.97 (-.11) 24.12 (-.11)
43.96 46.16 (+.01) 100 free 50.15 (-.07) 52.66 (-.07)
1:36.61 (.46) 1:41.44 (-.56) 200 free 1:48.52 1:53.95
4:25.01 (-.65) 4:38.26 (-.69) 500 free 4:52.11 (-.94) 5:06.72 (-.99)
9:08.37 9:35.79 1000 free 10:02.04 (-1.92) 10:32.14 (-.96)
15:23.33 16:09.50 1650 free 16:48.96 17:39.41 (+.01)
47.92 (-.35) 50.32 (-.36) 100 back 54.69 (-.31) 57.43 (-.32)
1:45.90 (-.71) 1:51.19 (-.75) 200 back 1:57.86 (-.57) 2:03.75 (-.60)
53.05 55.70 100 breast 1:02.23 1:05.34
1:56.74 2:02.58 200 breast 2:14.90 2:21.65 (+.01)
47.93 (-.13) 50.33 (-.13) 100 fly 54.71 (-.38) 57.45 (-.39)
1:46.45 1:51.77 200 fly 2:00.92 (-.43) 2:06.97 (-.44)
1:46.67 (-.67) 1:52.01 (-.70) 200 IM 2:01.89 (-.61) 2:07.98 (-.64)
3:52.97 (-.26) 4:04.61 (-.28) 400 IM 4:19.58 (-.03) 4:32.56 (-.03)
1:19.82 (-.09) 1:23.81 (-.10) 200 Free Relay 1:32.33 (-.10) 1:36.95 (-.10)
2:55.97 (-.64) 3:04.77 (-.67) 400 Free Relay 3:23.38 (-.05) 3:33.44 (-.16)
6:30.57 (-.2.48) 6:50.10 (-2.60) 800 Free Relay 7:24.42 (-1.77) 7:46.64 (1.76)
1:27.42 1:31.79 200 Medley Relay 1:42.07 1:47.17
3:12.39 (-.61 3:22.01 (-0.53) 400 Medley Relay 3:42.93 (-.27) 3:54.08 (-.28)

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Stephen
8 years ago

Hi, I’m a sophomore in high school and im cutting close to some of the d2 B cut times, so I don’t get the complaining about the times. Its not that bad, it just makes sense to up the times faster.

Stephen
Reply to  Stephen
8 years ago

Hi, I’m a sophomore in high school and im cutting close to some of the d2 B cut times for men, so I don’t get the complaining about the times. Its not that bad, it just makes sense to up the times faster.

SwimBreaststroke
8 years ago

These times are rediculous! 53 100 Breast!!

Lenno
9 years ago

Does d2 have easier gpa????

spbxn
9 years ago

I think it is great! Coach Chris isn’t it also school enrollment population that plays into division determination? I am a parent of a collegiate swimmer at a D2 school and our swimmer kid wanted to be at a smaller school with a strong swim team where also academics would be upheld as much as the training. He is in a wonderful fit with great academic support, smaller class sizes yet an awesome swim team that has excellent training and fast times. D1 was not preferred simply because of size hence massive classes with not much professor connection. There would have been more money for a scholarship at one of the D1 schools we considered but the trade off has… Read more »

Short N Dry
9 years ago

Tall N Wet is a former D2 swimmer who didnt make it anywhere because of the same know-it-all, abrasive attitude that he shows here in his comments. Division 2 is a fast division, and good for them. Swimming is getting faster all around, and if somebody goes a 1:36 and wants to swim division 2, then they will fit right in. Like coach said, a 1:36 is not great at the elite D1 level. To score at D1 NCAAs you better be a 1:34 LOW at worst.

Coach Chris
9 years ago

Tall and Wet you are not doing yourself any favors by insulting someone “handle”. A lot of people comment on this site with their real names.

You obviously have no clue why their are separate divisions in athletics. A school gets classified DI, DII or DIII based on how much money is spent on athletics. Not just scholarship but operating budget etc. Not even mentioning the facility requirements big DI schools have for their football and basketball programs.

Even then the lines are not as clear cut as you are making it out to be. There are plenty of DIII or DII schools that could beat some DI schools out there.

It is great for the sport in general for… Read more »

tall n wet
9 years ago

CoachErik has to be one of the blandest handles ive ever read on this site. I stand by my opinion. Theres noth ing wrong with stepping your game up, but I feel as though D2 is trying to become D1. And if D3 is getting faster too, then why bother having seperate divisions entirely??? Lets let everyone swim against everyone. That will work out great (not really)

Corrie
Reply to  tall n wet
9 years ago

I agree. Let the chips fall where they may

coacherik
9 years ago

Tall and Wet, probably one of the most ridiculous things I’ve read on this website. Could it be that everyone is stepping up their game and getting faster? The entire country is getting faster and D2 is showing and proving it is a legit level of collegiate swimming. Why should they have low standards? Catch-up or move out of the way…

…1:36 is a solid 200FR, but that doesn’t get you much at the D1 level. That’s 74th on the precut psych sheet this year for the champ meet.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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