2022 B1G WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS
- When: Wednesday, February 16 – Saturday, February 19, 2022
- Where: Madison, Wis. – Soderholm Family Aquatic Center
- Defending Champion: Ohio State (2x) (2021 Results)
- Championships Central
- Live Results
- Streaming: DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4
- Championships Central
- Prelims: 10 am, Finals: 5:30 pm (Central), (Wednesday night relays begin at 5 pm)
The Big Ten Conference has joined its two Power 5 counterparts from the ACC and the SEC in voting to leave empty lanes between relays at the Big Ten Championships.
The Big Ten coaches voted on the move on Wednesday, making a decision was prompted by previous such decisions in the ACC and SEC.
The two-time defending champions from Ohio State were the only team to vote against the proposal. That mirrors the vote in the ACC, where the top three teams in the conference, NC State, Virginia, and Louisville, voted against the proposal, and the rest voted in favor.
While NCAA rules don’t normally allow for every other lane spacing at conference championship meets, a waiver was issued last season to provide distance between athletes for COVID-19 safety reasons.
The NCAA has extended that waiver this season, though in most conferences, the conversation has instead revolved around clean water for faster times rather than COVID-19 safety.
The NCAA Rule, Section 7. Seeding:
Note: When eight lanes are available, all eight lanes should be used in seeding preliminary heats, finals and time standard trials. When seeding the swimmers, intentionally leaving empty lanes between them is not permitted.
The rule is so fundamental that it’s the very first thing listed in the “Seeding” section of the NCAA rule book, as a note before even getting to the proper set of rules.
Spreading the relays out not only eliminates some of the excitement of the meet, but without other adjustments, it extends sessions with extra heats.
With the NCAA sticking with timed finals relays this year, fast times matter for seeding even for relays that would have qualified otherwise, as teams try to get a spot in the fastest final for March.
DAY 1 TEAM SCORES
- Ohio State – 128
- Michigan – 110
- Indiana – 108
- Northwestern – 104
- Wisconsin – 102
- Minnesota – 96
- Rutgers – 90
- Penn State – 86
- Nebraska – 84
- Purdue – 68
- Illinois – 64
- Iowa – 60
It wasn’t so bad at NCAA’s last year because you’ve got a better idea of what teams’ll probably go in each heat, and then you’ll get a sense of what time to watch for in the last heat. It wasn’t ideal, but it was exciting in its own way. (And did make sense, in a Covid mitigation sense.)
I watched some of the SEC/ACC relays the first night and was just confused. It is probably still slightly better to have half as many relays smashed in behind the blocks, but at this point…it’s a bit overkill. And like, just mandate the swimmers that aren’t swimming have to pop on a mask or something, idk.
We at least know those… Read more »
There are smart COVID safety protocols, and dumb ones. This is the latter.
Any word yet if the PAC-12 Championship will also use alternate lanes in relays? It would appear they will have to in order to remain competitive in times.
Get ready for slower relay times at NCAAs. Assuming they use all 8 lanes.
Would the NCAA force them to use all 8 lanes? Or do you think the coaches at NCAAs would vote just to use 4 again?
Where is my comment on past Pac-10/12 meets with relays in separated lanes. I don’t know for sure how many years it lasted, but I do specifically recall understanding that it was Peter Daland’s idea.
The idea was promoted by Peter Daland. Correct
That must be a relatively recent insert to the NCAA book. Pac-12 (maybe even when it was Pac-10) was doing the alternate lanes year, maybe even decades ago.
I’m pretty sure they just don’t want waves in the lane next to them and it’s not about safety
I’m 100% Certain of it being for the safety…of their times. Yep. This is just about faster times. But hey wear a mask for Pete’s sake. Seriously, Pete is immunocompromised. Go Team!
Empty lanes is lame, not even racing each other.