NCAA ‘A’ Cuts Achieved Through the End of November

After the first round of mid-season invites, there have been 40 individual NCAA ‘A’ cuts achieved by 6 men and 17 women, thus qualifying them for the NCAA Championships in March. Leading the way is Katie Ledecky, who has swam her way to 4 individual ‘A’ cuts, followed by Ella Eastin and Kathleen Baker, who each have 3. On the men’s side, Caeleb Dressel and Blake Pieroni are both tied for the most cuts with 2 apiece.

In addition, 9 men’s teams and 11 women’s teams have achieved at least 1 ‘A’ cut in a relay. Under the NCAA rules, if a team achieves and individual ‘A’ cut and a relay ‘A’ cut, then all of that team’s relays with a ‘B’ cut are automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships in March.

Of the men’s teams with an ‘A’ relay cut, NC State, Florida, Indiana, Alabama, and Grand Canyon also have an individual ‘A’ cut, allowing them to automatically qualify relays for the NCAAs with ‘B’ cuts. NC State is also the only men’s team as of now that has an ‘A’ cut in all 5 relays. The men’s teams with a relay ‘A’ cut but without an individual ‘A’ cut are Texas A&M, Florida State, Mizzou, and Utah.

Out of the 11 women’s teams with a relay ‘A’ cut, Stanford, Texas A&M, Michigan, Mizzou, Louisville, and Kentucky all have at least one individual ‘A’ cut. Indiana, Alabama, Auburn, NC State, and Florida State have a relay ‘A’ cut, but have not yet achieved an individual cut.

Here is a review of the NCAA ‘A’ cuts for this season:

Men’s individual ‘A’ cuts achieved as of 11/28:

• 50 free: Caeleb Dressel (Florida) – 18.66
• 100 free: Robert Howard (Alabama) – 41.99, Blake Pieroni (Indiana) – 42.10
• 200 free: Blake Pieroni (Indiana) – 1:32.33
• 1650 free: Anton Oerskov Ipsen (NC State) – 14:39.05
• 200 fly: Andreas Vazaios (NC State) – 1:41.07
• 100 back: Mark Nikolaev (Grand Canyon) – 44.99
• 200 IM: Caeleb Dressel (Florida) – 1:40.61

Women’s individual ‘A’ cuts achieved as of 11/28:

• 50 free: Abbey Weitzeil (California)  -21.63, Beryl Gastaldello (Texas A&M) – 21.69
• 100 free: Mallory Comerford (Louisville) – 47.00, Siobhan Haughey (Michigan) – 47.22
• 200 free: Katie Ledecky (Stanford) – 1:41.60, Mallory Comerford (Louisville) – 1:41.70, Siobhan Haughey (Michigan) – 1:42.44, Louise Kansson (USC) – 1:43.19
• 500 free: Katie Ledecky (Stanford) – 4:27.84
• 1650 free: Katie Ledecky (Stanford) – 15:03.31
• 200 fly: Katie Drabot (Stanford) – 1:51.74, Ella Eastin (Stanford) – 1:52.03
• 100 back: Kathleen Baker (California) – 50.62, Ally Howe (Stanford) – 50.91, Hannah Stevens (Mizzou) – 51.16
• 200 back: Lisa Bratton (Texas A&M) – 1:50.10, Kathleen Baker (California) – 1:50.62, Janet Hu (Stanford) – 1:50.66, Asia Seidt (Kentucky) – 1:50.67
• 200 breast: Sydney Pickrem (Texas A&M) – 2:05.96, Bethany Galat (Texas A&M) – 2:06.52, Margaret Aroesty (USC) – 2:06.88
• 200 IM: Ella Eastin (Stanford) – 1:53.24, Kathleen Baker (California) – 1:53.24, Sydney Pickrem (Texas A&M) – 1:53.38, Asia Seidt (Kentucky) – 1:53.84
• 400 IM: Katie Ledecky (Stanford) – 3:59.69, Ella Eastin (Stanford) – 4:00.02, Brooke Forde (Stanford) – 4:02.02, Bethany Galat (Texas A&M) – 4:02.85, Sharli Brady (Mizzou) – 4:04.37

Men’s relay ‘A’ cuts:

• 200 free relay: NC State – 1:15.83, Florida – 1:16.67, Alabama – 1:16.68, Florida State – 1:16.95
• 400 free relay: NC State – 2:48.75, Alabama – 2:50.46, Florida State – 2:51.27, Florida – 2:51.53, Mizzou – 2:51.86
• 800 free relay: Indiana – 6:17.75, Florida – 6:18.18, NC State – 6:19.60
• 200 medley relay: NC State – 1:23.53, Grand Canyon – 1:24.46, Alabama – 1:24.60, Texas A&M – 1:24.67, Utah – 1:24.80
• 400 medley relay: Indiana – 3:05.57, Mizzou – 3:06.16, NC State – 3:07.04, Alabama – 3:07.04, Texas A&M – 3:07.29, Florida – 3:07.42

Women’s relay ‘A’ cuts:

• 200 free relay: Texas A&M – 1:28.37, Florida State – 1:28.49, Stanford – 1:28.52, NC State – 1:28.52
• 400 free relay: Stanford – 3:11.59, Auburn – 3:13.88, Texas A&M – 3:14.38, Alabama – 3:15.39
• 800 free relay: Michigan – 7:00.71, Mizzou – 7:03.59
• 200 medley relay: Indiana – 1:34.58, Texas A&M – 1:35.90, Stanford – 1:36.79
• 400 medley relay: Texas A&M – 3:29.47, Stanford – 3:29.54, Indiana – 3:32.04, Kentucky – 3:32.31, Louisville – 3:32.65

Here is the current list of NCAA top times: