In the years since implementing a new 18 swimmer ‘roster limit,’ Big Ten coaches have had to juggle the instant accountability for their lineup decisions.
In an effort to get more teams into the scoring, the conference limited teams to 18 scorers, though they were still able to bring as many as 24 if they wanted to, with the extra 6 being able to race in prelims but not advanced to finals.
The archetypal and legendary of the challenge example came in 2022, the first year of the new system, when Ohio State’s Nyah Funderburke exploded in heats with the fastest time in the 100 back and an NCAA qualification – from the Buckeyes’ non-scoring team.
Since then, coaches have gotten a lot better at designating the ‘right 18,’ with seemingly fewer of these bolt-from-the-blue stories every season. But there are still occasional breakthrough heats swims that might be overlooked.
On Thursday, that list included Michigan freshman Cecilia Howard, who swam 1:00.06 in heats as part of the Wolverines’ non-scoring roster. Her previous season best was 1:00.47, though she was a 59.9 in high school.
That time would have put Howard into the A-Final, bumping out her fellow freshman Sarah Pasquella.
That was part of a Wolverine charge in the 100 breaststroke that reframes Matt Bowe‘s coaching legacy. Never really known as a breaststroke coach, Michigan has arguably the best Breaststroke group in the Big Ten this season, neck-and-neck with Wisconsin. Letitia Sim won the title in 57.90, a new school record; Pasquella swam a best time in heats, and Devon Kitchel won the B Final in 59.04.
Other Good Non-Scoring Swims From Big Tens on Thursday
Many of these swims will come from freshman – which makes sense as coaches don’t necessarily have a good read on their peak and taper cycles yet.
- Ohio State freshman Sienna Rodgers was a quiet midseason addition from Canada. She swam 54.38 in the 100 fly in her first Big Ten Championship meet.
- Wisconsin freshman Andrew Dworak swam a season best time of 1:46.69 in the 200 free. That would have put her at the top of the C-Final.
- Indiana freshman Colleen Bull swam 1:47.58 in the 200 free. That’s her first best time in that race in two years.
Other Swims You Might Have Missed from Thursday’s Big Conference Meets
- Illinois’ Chloe Diner, who has been fast all season long, had a big big breakthrough to go under 1:01 for the first time in her career. She swam 1:00.73 in prelims and dropped another half-a-second to go 1:00.26 in finals and finish 10th. She and Kayla Duran have rewritten the school record book in this event between them. Diner also broke the school record in the 100 fly on Thursday with a 53.50.
- The Louisville women have been on fire all week long, and Kim Herkle added another paragraph to that story on Thursday. She swam 4:08.68 in prelims and 4:07.64 in finals, both of which are faster than her lifetime best from 2024 NCAAs. She has been measured in results all season long – but that might be by design after she struggled at NCAAs last year. Her dual meet times were all almost as fast as her mid-season invite times in this event.
- As the Cal men are looking for their next generation of swimmers to step up in a rebuilding year, sophomore Freddy Klein answered the call on Thursday. He swam 3:43.22 in the 400 IM prelims to qualify 9th and was even faster, 3:41.30, in finals. That will be right on the bubble for NCAA Championship qualifying. His best time coming into the meet was 3:45.36 – and his best time coming into the season was 3:47.22. He has really done work on the front half of that race.
- Tennessee freshman Jake McCoy, whose mom Anne is the former Athletics Director at Washington State, had a breakthrough 400 IM at the SEC Championships. He swam 3:42.29 in prelims for the 9th best time, and dropped another few tenths in finals to go 3:41.97. His best time coming into the meet was 3:45.02 and his best time prior to Tennessee was 3:47.43.
Does the 18 athletes include divers?
Ugh. This conversation is meaningless without context. You imply that B1G coaches are getting “better” at selecting the 18 since the days of the Funderburke scenario. But, as I pointed out four years ago, when this site reported on the Funderburke scenario, it was actually a very good decision. If Funderburke was on the roster, then someone would have to have come off it. And if you add up all the points Fubderburke would’ve scored in all three of her events, assuming she repeated her exhibition times, it would’ve added up to fewer total points than the woman scoring the fewest points on that year’s roster. An important consideration if competing for a conference championship. Same with all the “better”… Read more »
“And if you add up all the points Fubderburke would’ve scored in all three of her events, assuming she repeated her exhibition times, it would’ve added up to fewer total points than the woman scoring the fewest points on that year’s roster.”
No it wouldn’t.
Their lowest scorer was Gwen Woodbury with 28. Funderburke’s times, if she repeated them from prelims, would have scored around 40-45.
Their lowest scorer was Gwen Woodbury with 28. Funderburke’s times, if she repeated them from prelims, would have scored around 40-45.
Funderburke’s exhibition swims were in the 50 free, 100 back, and 100 free. Repeating her times from prelims would’ve given her 2 points in the 50 free and 28 in the 100 back. Her 100 free time would not have qualified her for an evening swim. She did time trial the 100 fly and posted a time that would’ve put her in the B final. But that’s not quite apples to apples since by time trialing it she didn’t have to attempt the 100 fly/back double—something she didn’t attempt until later in her career. So, yes, I stand corrected.… Read more »
But are they getting better at counting to 18?
Rumor has it that one of the schools submitted a scoring roster of 19, any truth to this?
I have no idea. I have to imagine if that was true, the software would have caught it and it would have been dealt with, or another coach would have reported it.