2018 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, July 25 – Sunday, July 29, 2018
- William Woollett Aquatics Center, Irvine, CA
- Prelims 9 AM / Finals 6 PM (U.S. Pacific Time)
- Meet website
- Meet information
- Event Order
- Full selection procedures
- Psych Sheet
- SwimSwam Previews Index
- TV Schedule
- Pick ‘Em Contest
- Omega Results
- Live Stream
Day 2 has wrapped, and these U.S. Nationals have been anything but predictable.
Certainly there is still a lot of swimming left to be swum, and a number of athletes will likely change their qualification status over the next three days. But as of now, travel team qualifying has been absolutely brutal on some of USA Swimming’s biggest stars.
As of today, the 2019 Pan American Games team (essentially the USA Swimming “C” team next summer) features Caeleb Dressel, Jack Conger, Zane Grothe, Lia Neal and Melanie Margalis. And the World University Games team (essentially the “B” squad) currently features Townley Haas.
Four new men and six new women added their names to the 2018 Pan Pacs team tonight: Andrew Seliskar, Conor Dwyer, Josh Prenot, Ryan Murphy, Allison Schmitt, Gabby Deloof, Leah Smith, Micah Sumrall, Kathleen Baker and Regan Smith.
Doubles Tracker
In order to start selecting more swimmers to the team, sufficient doubles must be met to make roster space. Here’s how many doubles are needed to reach each priority for each international meet:
| Meet | Roster Size | Priority I | Priority II | Priority III | Priority IV |
| Pan Pacs | 26 | — | 6 | 18 | 30 |
| Jr Pan Pacs | 20 | — | 8 | 22 | 36 |
| Worlds | 26 | — | 6 | 9 | 11 |
| WUGs | 26 | — | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| Pan Ams | 18 | — | — | 8 | 12 |
So far, here is our doubles tally:
Men:
- Pan Pacs: 2
- Jr Pan Pacs: 0
- Worlds: 2
- WUGs: 1
- Pan Ams: 1
Women:
- Pan Pacs: 1
- Jr Pan Pacs: 0
- Worlds: 1
- WUGs: 0
- Pan Ams: 0
Reminder: we define ‘doubles’ as an athlete already qualified for the team who qualifies in another event. If only priority 1 swimmers have been invited, a swimmer already qualified who hits priority 2 status (say, 2nd place) in another event doesn’t count as a double until there is space for the priority 2 swimmers.
You can find full selection procedures for all five major meets here.
Each meet has its own unique selection criteria, but all break down by priority: priority 1 will be selected first, priority 2 only if there is roster space remaining after that, priority 3 only if there is roster space remaining and so on. Below, we’ll track who’s in line to qualify for what team, moving to lower priorities as sufficient doubles are met.
Bear in mind that these rosters are in flux as the meet moves on. We’ll update daily, but be patient as we work through the intricacies of the criteria.
- Priority 1 is listed in blue
- Priority 2 is listed in red
- Priority 3 is listed in green
- Priority 4 is listed in yellow
- Priority 5 is listed in white
- All 2019 rosters hinge on the results of 2019 Pan Pacs, which affect Worlds selection (and therefore the trickle-down of athletes to World University Games and Pan Ams). Those rosters are listed in italics.
Shouldn’t the men have 3 doubles counted? Pieroni & Haas in the 100/200, and then Wilimovsky already qualified in OW, right?
Open Water is a separate roster. That double doesn’t open up any new space for pool swimmers
Wilimovsky really really really should concede his 1500 spot for pan pacs, since he can just enter it there anyway. If he doesn’t you’ll see one pretty pissed off third place swimmer…
Got it. Thanks for the clarification! Thought it went both ways since OW swimmers can enter pool events
You are correct on that, and pool swimmers can also enter open water events at Pan Pacs. But they’re compiled as separate rosters of 26 (for pool) and 4 (for OW)
Why is Townley listed for Worlds and WUGs?
Because he’s currently relay-only for Worlds, which lets him swim WUGs individually
Are stroke 50’s not being contested at 2019 worlds? If they are, why does Michael Andrew not get moved into priority 1?
Stroke 50 winners are priority 3 for Worlds selection
Say they somehow end up taking the third seed for men’s 200 fly. How would they decide between the two swimmers? Is it a take both or none scenario (obviously it all depends on the ranking of their time)
swim off
If it comes down to it, they’ll swim off for the spot. Both of their world ranks are relatively high for a 3rd place finisher, though, so my guess is they both get in without needing to resolve the tie.
So they’d take 2 third place finishers in one event, and potentially 0 in another? Seems odd
If it comes down to only half of the third place row getting in, they’ll swim off for the spot. If the whole third priority gets in, no swim-off needed.
When it says 6/18/30 doubles needed for each priority, does this mean that when there are 6 doubles then EVERY second priority swimmer left will make the team or when 6 doubles are met that’s when second priority swimmers will start being accepted? Same with 18 and 30?
That’s when every priority 2 swimmer will make it. Before that, I’m compiling modified world ranking data to see which swims will get in first, but with so many swims to go, it’s impossible to tell if a priority 2 swimmer will make it until the full priority gets added.