30 Teams Qualify to Swim Relays at Women’s NCAA Championships

Qualifying a relay to the NCAA National Championship meet indicates a certain level of depth (or the presence of a superstar) that puts a team

After only ‘Power 5″ conference teams received invites in relays to the women’s NCAA Championship meet, one mid-major, Akron, reversed that this season (there are usually mid-major qualifiers).

The Zips hit 3 Qualifying Standards (“A” cuts) and another Provisional Standard (“B” cut) and will send 7 total swimmers to NCAAs. Read more about mid-major qualifiers here.

In total, the exact same number of schools qualified to swim relays this year as last year (30). There are 3 total fewer relays eligible to swim, however, this year than last year, with just 123 in 2019 versus 126 in 2018

The 400 free relay was the easiest cut to get this year, with 28 relays eligible to swim the event. The 800 free relay, meanwhile, was the toughest, with just 21 teams hitting the standard (down from 26 last season).

2 teams that qualified relays for last year’s meet, Virginia Tech and Purdue, don’t have relays qualified this year. For Virginia Tech, under first year head coach Sergio Lopez, that’s the biggest fall: they had 4 eligible relays at NCAAs last season, which combined to score 10 of the team’s 14 points at nationals.

Aside from the aforementioned Akron, Arkansas joined the NCAA relay game thanks to the addition of Anna Hopkin, a junior transfer from the University of Bath in England. They qualified to swim 3 relays at NCAAs after qualifying for none last season.