CSCAA Updates Proposal For NCAA Championships: No New Events, 9th-16th Scored From Prelims

This week, the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) sent a nationwide email to Division I swimming and diving coaches with a proposal they planned to submit in early June that would radically restructure the current NCAA Championship format.

In the five days since, the proposal has generated a lot of discussion in the swimming community. After spending the week hearing feedback, the CSCAA released an updated version of the proposal and held a town hall of Friday, May 30 to answer some of the outstanding questions coaches still had after the updated version.

The theme that was consistently highlighted throughout the town hall was that this proposal is the first step, but not the only step. It’s clear that the CSCAA does not expect this proposal to fix everything, but that they wanted to take advantage of the opportunity presented to evolve the sport and give themselves the flexibility to make further changes down the road.

For the CSCAA, the evolution they are proposing with these changes has two main goals stated in the new proposal: “expand the sports reach by meeting the needs of broadcast partners, ensuring the championship is an attractive and accessible product for linear exposure [and] increase the value of college swimming & diving by updating the qualification process, increasing access without impacting any scoring and maintaining the overall competitive integrity” of the event.

They’ve broken this proposal into two sections; first, modernizing the championship format and second, updating the qualification method.

What’s Different?

Now, let’s get into some of the major changes from the original proposal released last week and the revised version.

#1: The Proposal No Longer Adds Any Events (But Still Changes Event Schedule)

Arguably one of the biggest updates from the original version, this includes the proposed stroke 50s and the team diving event. Representatives for the CSCAA spoke during the town hall about how the after listening to the feedback, they chose to focus on evolving the NCAA Championship format with the events that already exist in the format. Further, adding events to the championship format prompted a range of questions that are difficult to answer in the current chaotic NCAA landscape, especially as schools confront issues like roster limits.

However, the CSCAA was clear in the town hall that they are not ruling out ever adding new events. Rather, that they were advised it would be more beneficial to add events once the schedule update was in place, rather than doing both at once.

The updated proposal still includes two options for a revised NCAA Championship schedule that would bring prelims/finals relays back for the first time in the post-pandemic era. It also places an emphasis on putting “marquee events” on the final day of the meet. See both proposed schedules, compared against the current order of events, in a full table below.

#2: No Separate Consolation Finals Session, 9th-16th Now Scored Directly Out of Prelims

Part One of the proposal focuses on modernizing the championship format “by creating a high-stakes, heavyweight experience–where every session matters and every race or dive has the power to shift the standings.”

The first proposal attempted to do this by moving ‘B’ finals into their own separate afternoon session, which created multiple logistical headaches. The updated proposal has done away with this idea while maintaining the sentiment that every session should matter. Returning to the prelims/finals format for relays does that, as does the item in the new proposal that 9th through 16th would be scored directly out of prelims.

This would not affect how CSCAA All-America status would be awarded; ninth through sixteenth will still earn HM All-America mentions. Having 9th through 16th decided out of prelims not only adds more stakes to the morning but also furthers the proposal’s other main goal of an efficient finals session that focuses on crowning national champions and the stories of those athletes.

What’s The Same?

Amidst the major changes, there are still elements of the proposal that have remained the same. The CSCAA also provided further clarification on some of these elements at the town hall.

#1: New Look Qualification Model

The CSCAA still plans to do away with the “A” and “B” cut format for individual events. In the town hall, they clarified there is no change to diving or relay qualification, which implies there would still be an “A” and “B” cut for relays. There will be no change to championship field size or team roster size.

Proposed Model

• Establish one NCAA Championship swimming qualifying standard
• Swimmer who wins their conference championship and meets or exceeds the qualifying standard receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Championship.
• Remainder of the field is filled with those who meet or exceed the qualifying standard following the same process currently in place.

They also provided insight on how this new qualification time will be reached. Currently, the “B” cut time is a three-year rolling average of the 125th place time over the last three years. This proposal would set the cut at the 80th place time.

“This adjustment aims to reduce the number of individual preliminary swims, potentially shortening morning sessions all without affecting overall team scores or total number of qualifiers,” the CSCAA wrote in the “Frequently Asked Questions” section of its updated proposal. “This change would also enhance the competitive significant of conference championships, promoting broader access to the NCAA Championship and supporting the sport’s sustainability.”

One of the main benefits for this model in the CSCAA’s eyes is the possibility for increased institutional participation. The CSCAA shared that in its modelling, implementing this qualification procedure would have included 14 more schools at this year’s NCAA Championships while losing one, for a net total of 13 new programs. At the town hall, the CSCAA also clarified that to receive the automatic bid, the swimmer must win and make the cut at conference finals; there is no automatic bid for a conference championship winner who doesn’t make the cut to win but hits it at a Last Chance Meet.

#2: Adjusting Award Ceremony Timing

The updated proposal stipulates that the winner would receive their championship trophy during their post-race interview, while all other awards ceremonies would be moved to the end of the session.

The updated schedules in the proposal estimate that all finals sessions (except night one) will take about 81 minutes and therefore fit into a two-hour broadcast window.

#3: Diving Finals Modification

The updated proposal maintains the plan to have diving finals broken up into two different blocks during finals sessions. Rounds 1-3 come after the first two finals, while Rounds 4-6 precede the evening’s relay. This structure could also give athletes some time back to recover during the session without “B” finals.

#4: 1650 Freestyle On The First Day

Even with the two new proposals for the event lineup, it seems the CSCAA has latched onto the idea of the 1650 freestyle on the first day of the meet, having it join the 200 medley and 800 freestyle relay.

This was part of the plan in the first proposal and the two new schedule options both include the 1650 freestyle on the first day.

What’s Next?

Now, the CSCAA submits this plan to the NCAA. The NCAA Swimming & Diving meetings will be held in June. If the NCAA accepts the proposal, it will land on the desk of the Sport Oversight Committee, which meets in August and is the next round of approval.

The proposal is designed to be implemented as early as the 2026 NCAA Championships as a proof of concept for potential broadcast partners.

The CSCAA also clarified that it would not expect these changes to necessarily be implemented at the Division II or Division III level. Further, Division I conferences already have different schedules for their conference championships that they decide on, so they are not expecting that conferences will make these same changes for their championship meets.

Updated Proposal’s Options For A New Schedule