From fans, to coaches, to the athletes themselves, the swimming community let their opinions be known during last week’s Women’s NCAA Division I Championships in Atlanta.
In the first year using the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association’s (CSCAA) new competition format, which included the elimination of ‘B’ finals, a shuffled event schedule and inviting mid-major conference-winning swimmers in place of some faster ones, the complaints were heard.
The CSCAA sent out a statement on its Instagram page on Monday, acknowledging that they’ve gotten plenty of feedback from the women’s meet with people calling for change.
The organization said that “while some elements have been well received, we know others will require adjustment,” and that they’re “committed to helping lead that process.”
“We’ve heard valuable feedback from many of you, and as an organization that works directly for and with coaches, your input helps shape the concepts and recommendations the CSCAA brings forward to the NCAA,” the CSCAA said, noting that they’ll be in Atlanta for the men’s meet this week when they hope to meet with more coaches in person.
FULL CSCAA STATEMENT
A Note To The CSCAA Membership
As we head into the final week of the NCAA season, thank you to every coach who has taken the time to connect with the CSCAA. The current Division I Championship changes, intended as the first steps in a meaningful evolution, took more than a year to develop and introduce, with input from coaches and key stakeholder groups. While some elements have been well received, we know others will require adjustment. The CSCAA is committed to helping lead that process. We’ve heard valuable feedback from many of you, and as an organization that works directly for and with coaches, your input helps shape the concepts and recommendations the CSCAA brings forward to the NCAA.
If you have not yet shared your feedback with the CSCAA directly, we encourage you to do so, as collaboration remains essential to this process. The CSCAA will be in Atlanta again this week for the NCAA Championships and welcomes the opportunity to speak with coaches in person. We continue to value your input and wish all teams competing this week the best of luck.
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The criticism of the consolation finals missing from the evening session at Women’s NCAAs last week was loud.
On the opening night, which included the 1650 freestyle for the first time, the broadcast showed several replays of old NCAA swims to fill airtime after the schedule change dictated that all but the fastest-seeded heats of the 200 medley and 800 free relays swim in the morning, which is also a significant disadvantage to those teams.
During the meet, Virginia Tech head coach Sergio Lopez said he would not be attending the finals session on Thursday with no athletes competing. One of his swimmers, Carmen Weiler Sastre, placed 11th in the heats of the 200 free, which would’ve earned a second swim in every other year prior to the changes. The Hokies also competed in the 200 free relay in the morning. Lopez hoped other coaches would follow suit in hopes of making a “statement” with an emptier pool deck and stands.
Virginia junior Claire Curzan, one of the most dominant swimmers at last week’s Women’s NCAAs with two individual and four relay titles (while leading the Cavaliers to their sixth straight team title), said she missed having the ‘B’ finals racing during the evening.
Upon conclusion of the meet on Sunday, several coaches told SwimSwam there was a unified opinion on deck that the new format didn’t work and that change was needed.
And while no ‘B’ finals and the long, drawn-out evening sessions with only a few heats of actual racing were the hot topic last week, the new selection process, where mid-major swimmers earn automatic invites provided they win their conference title and go under the qualifying standard, also received major backlash in the lead-up to the meet.
Should move diving to its own session or shorten it to a few rounds. It completely kills momentum/energy of the swimming. I like diving but it’s like combining a rock concert and a library.
Bring back B. The meet should be foremost about the athletes.
And go back to fastest qualifiers. Forget conference champions. They have your CSCAA meet.
The Bottom line here…broad ast money thinks more eyes are watching diving.
Good luck in the future.
More food for thought- let’s continue to brainstorm ideas as most of us don’t like change initially but be open to creative ideas and give them time to play out. do them at the conference level 1st
1. cost to NCAA, as they cover the cost to sent teams, swimmers & put it on not in our control
2. do we need to be televised live on ESPN or ____ ? vs. live stream ? 3. 3 finals heats: C final score 12-16th place, last 3 don’t score pts. do awards/interviews
B final score. 4-11th place
A final top 3 score 20,17,16 pts(or score 4) easier to televise, like a swim-off everyone will watch (winner/loser =… Read more »
Let’s look at it objectively, who here watches the NCAA track meets in any format?
Being on ESPN should be enough, but everyone in this community believes that swimming is the most important non revenue sport. I think yall need to see swimming for what it is, a hole in the ground that people pour money in and never get back.
Does College Tennis get much airplay? Wrestling? Equestrian? Indoor Track? Waterpolo?
We need to be happy with what we’ve got, especially in this age where ADs are looking to save money to make more money.
NACCERS needs to be combined like SEC. For $180 entrance they can set it up similar to trials with plenty of seating and we spectators can tailgate like 3rd team all district honorable mention jabronis! I DO LIKE TO PARTY.
UVA just had a 6-peat, a feat never completed, and theres 0 articles in The Athetic about it. complete bust.
Agreed! Pissed-off and angry about it! We’ve allowed swimming to shrink into a corner where the world doesn’t notice us. We spend a lol money on bureaucratic leadership who wrings their hands and struggle to make creative choices that are meaningful (and, more often than not, harm us). Nothing is budgeted for telling our story to the wider public–and we certainly do not select leaders with this skill or who think this way.
A PR firm to get some visibility isn’t even that expensive. It blows my mind.
Leave the gun, keep the auto Qs
I understand that certain authorities have the right to propose and make these decisions, but changing the entire framework of the biggest college championship meet for “easier broadcasting” and making it quicker is pretty ridiculous to me.
Someone commented “it’s more like NCAA Diving and Swimming” a few days ago, and they’re exactly right lol.