CCSA Championships
- Wednesday, February 16- Saturday February 19, 2022
- Liberty Natatorium- Lynchburg, VA
- Defending Champion: Liberty and FGCU (1x)
- Live Results
- Live Video
- Estimated Timeline
- Pre-Scratch Psych Sheets
- Championships Central
The CCSA Swimming & Diving Championships have a history of being a little chaotic.
Last year, the men’s and women’s meets were split to reduce the number of individuals on deck at any one time. The women’s meet ended in a tie between the conference’s two arch-rival programs, Florida Gulf Coast and Liberty. A freak winter storm in Texas meant that the three-time defending champions on the men’s side, Incarnate Word, couldn’t make the trip.
In 2019, issues with the then-infamous Liberty timing system (which has since been replaced) meant lots of delays and re-swims for four heats of the men’s 50 free.
In other seasons, big relay DQs have caused huge momentum swings, especially in the women’s meet.
In short, if you like your swimming with a side of drama, look no further than the CCSA.
The meet will return to Liberty this year, with timing system and dive towers all replaced, and everyone involved will be hoping for – just a swim meet.
Showdowns – Women
The women’s meet for a long time has been locked-down between Florida Gulf Coast and Liberty. But this year, there is a third contender for the crown: the UNC-Asheville women, who had a historic season.
The Bulldogs finished the season 8-0 in dual meets, which makes for the first undefeated season in program history. They also thumped conference foes Campbell University 152-109, and edged out UNCW 151-148, marking the team’s first-ever victory over either of those programs.
The conference has one returning NCAA qualifier from last season: Hungarian-born Petra Halmai. She returned to the Eagles to use her COVID-waiver 5th year of eligibility, and is the defending CCSA Champion in the 100 breaststroke, 200 breaststroke, and 200 IM. She wound up finishing 11th in the 200 breaststroke in 2:06.89 to earn an NCAA Honorable Mention All-America honor.
FGCU has most of the star power at this year’s meet. Besides Halmai, Tori Czarnecka is seeded 1st in the conference in the 50 free, 100 free, and 100 fly, and she has a shot, with a perfect swim, to qualify for NCAAs as well.
This is the Eagles’ meet to lose, but UNC Asheville and Liberty have enough depth through the middle part of their rosters to make it interesting.
Here are some races to watch:
50 Freestyle – Czarnecka (22.77) and Hailey Jerew (22.81) are the top two seeds in the event, both from Florida Gulf Coast. But there is a spoiler lurking: last year’s conference runner-up Delaney Carlton from UNC-Asheville. She has almost been as fast (22.94) as she was at last year’s conference meet already this season, and she leads an Asheville group that could make up big points on the Eagles in this 50 free, in spite of FGCU having the top two seeds.
That’s the position UNC-A is going to be at for most of this meet. They have the top seed in three events, notably Riley Edmundson in the 200 fly, and add to that a ton of seeds in the 2-5 range. If those swimmers can move up and pull off upsets, the Bulldogs will have a chance at the title.
100 Backstroke – After struggling in her freshman at Kentucky last season, Abbie Shaw is thriving post-transfer to Liberty. She swam a best time in the 100 back mid-season of 53.88. She’s filled in the prodigious shoes from last season’s champion in this event, Payton Keiner, also of Liberty. But the biggest challenger isn’t even on the radar at a glance through the psych sheets – FGCU’s Claire McAtee, who was 2nd at this meet last year, is seeded just 8th this season in 56.84. But with no midseason taper for the Eagles, and McAtee historically being a big taper swimmer, she could creep up and challenge Shaw.
500 Freestyle – This might be the best head-to-head showdown of the entire meet. Incarnate Word’s Ximena Conde Merlos is the defending champion and the top seed, but UNC Asheville freshman Caitlin Hefner is making waves. Hefner is a clear favorite in the longer 1650, and hasn’t yet matched her best time in the 500 of 4:55 this season.
She’ll need better than that to challenge Conde, who was 4:53 last year, and a few other contenders. That again includes an FGCU swimmer way down the rankings – Michaela Sizemore is seeded 14th in the event in 5:05, but she was 4:55 at last year’s meet for 2nd place.
Swimulator Picks – Women
Note: Swimulator scores to 24, but the CCSA actually scores to 27 places. That could make a small difference in this math. Also, Swimulator data doesn’t include diving. Among contenders, Liberty will likely score the most diving points, followed by Florida Gulf Coast.
- FGCU – 1266.5
- UNC Asheville – 1160.5
- Liberty – 998
- Campbell – 906.5
- Incarnate Word – 788.5
- Georgia Southern – 640
- North Florida – 515.5
- Gardner-Webb – 408.5
- Bellarmine – 293
SwimSwam Picks – Women
For the first time in a long time, the CCSA champion pick seems straight forward. Florida Gulf Coast is seeded 100 points ahead of the next-best team, and they claim to have suited but not rested mid-season – a claim backed up by their mid-season times.
FGCU not only enters as the favorites, but they have margin for error. With some athletes having 10-or-more spots to move up, they don’t even have to be perfect to grow that gap.
Liberty is the traditional contender, but they’re well back this year, with some notable gaps in their lineup – especially in the 1650 free, where they might not score any points. But Liberty has a very good diving crew, led by sophomore Maddie Freece and senior Lauren Chennault, and that bodes well for them.
Ultimately, Liberty has shown that they can hit a taper at CCSAs, where UNCA is still a bit of an unknown, the new kid that has to prove themselves. With so many diving points up for grabs, Liberty should be able to close the gap substantially, and they to have lots of rungs to climb on the ladder based on prior years’ championship results.
It looks like UNC-Asheville will make a meet of it, and they’ve got tons of momentum, but for now, I think Liberty’s pedigree is too strong to pick against them for top two.
Campbell, which has the top seed in the 400 and 800 free relays, is the strong pick for 4th based just on swimming, but they don’t have any divers on their roster. A top-heavy Incarnate Word has enough diving points to close that gap and pick off the Camels for 4th.
- FGCU
- Liberty
- UNC Asheville
- Incarnate Word
- Campbell
- Georgia Southern
- North Florida
- Gardner-Webb
- Bellarmine
Showdowns – Men
With Incarnate Word off to the WAC next season, this could be their last year in the CCSA. After missing last year’s meet because of the infamous winter storm in Texas last year, they’ll want to go out with a bang this season.
They are led by rookie sprinter Fabio Fasolo, who is the top seed in both the 50 and 100 freestyles at this meet, and also the 2nd seed in the 200 free.
Last year, Gardner-Webb won the meet ahead off Florida Atlantic – in spite of the fact that FAU was the only school to enter divers at the meet. With Incarnate Word returning to the fold with their divers, those points should be more split between the two teams.
Men’s 50 Free – Fasolo is the top seed in the 100 free in 20.00, but FAU’s Rateb Hussein is just .01 seconds behind him this season after a breakout year. Hussein was 4th at last year’s meet, but has already knocked a quarter-of-a-second off his best time.
But he’s far from the only new face in this field: Incarnate Word throws Spyros Kranias (20.35) into the ring. They’l battle against the returning top two from last year Brady Fields of Gardner-Webb and Noah Wilkins of Old Dominion in an epic showdown that will include swimmers from each of the conference’s five teams.
Hussein also carries the top seed in the 100 fly by more than a second and the 200 fly by more than half-a-second, while Kranias is the top seed in the 100 breast by more than a second. The 50 free should be a real showdown between most of the conference’s best swimmers.
200 Freestyle – Only one swimmer was under 1:41 at last year’s CCSA Championships, and that was the now-graduated Josh Fountain from FAU. This season, there has already been seven swimmers under that mark, including four from Incarnate Word.
But the top time so far this season is FAU senior Alec Peckmann at 1:37.75. He was the CCSA champion last season in the 200 IM, and is seeded to do so again. He also placed 2nd in the 100 free and 3rd in the 400 IM.
The 400 IM and 200 free clash in the schedule, but this year, he’s entered in the latter and not the former (along with the 200 IM, 100 breast, and 200 breast, though he has to choose three total individual events).
If he holds that entry in the 200 free, and we expect him to, he’ll have to hold off Fasolo (1:38.78), teammate Timo Paisely (1:39.32), and Incarnate Word’s Botond Ulrich (1:39.71).
Swimulator Picks – Men’s
Note: Swimulator doesn’t include diving, where points will be split between FAU and Incarnate Word. Swimulator also only scores to 16 places, whereas the CCSA uses a unique 18-place scoring when possible.
- Incarnate Word – 919
- FAU – 796
- Old Dominion – 460
- Gardner-Webb – 417
- Bellarmine – 206
SwimSwam Picks – Men’s
Incarnate Word should have this meet socked away comfortably, and FAU is well ahead of the field for 2nd (especially when accounting for their divers).
The battle for 3rd is really interesting, though, with each team having a few swimmers who are top seeds in events.
On paper, both Gardner-Webb and Old Dominion have room to grow from their seeds, but Gardner-Webb looks like they’ve got the most room. Brady Fields is a great example – last year, he was 20.31 in the 50 free, 48.70 in the 100 back, and 45.46 in the 100 free at the CCSA Championships. So far this year, his bests are 20.65, 50.33, and 46.18 in those same events respectively.
He, like most of his team, had big drops almost across-the-board at last year’s meet, and until they prove otherwise, I expect them to do so again.
- Incarnate Word
- Florida Atlantic
- Gardner-Webb
- Old Dominon
- Bellarmine
