CSCAA Updates All-American Criteria With Considerations if NCAAs Doesn’t Happen

The College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association, or CSCAA, has updated its requirements for swimmers to achieve All-American accolades for the 2020-2021 season. The new requirements create a contingency for the event of another premature end to the NCAA season as the coronavirus pandemic continues in the United States and abroad. The 2019-2020 NCAA season proceeded normally until March 2020 when the NCAA Championships were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. There are no new criteria for divers yet though the CSCAA says they are forthcoming.

These All-American honors are awarded by the CSCAA itself and not the NCAA. As the 2019-2020 season was abruptly ended due to the coronavirus pandemic, the CSCAA made no first and second-team distinctions among its 2020 honorees as they did not have the opportunity to compete at NCAAs where first-team (1st-8th) and second-team (9th-16th) would have been decided. This led to a 54.3 percent increase in the number of male swimmers awarded All-American accolades for the 2019-2020 season.

For the current 2020-2021 season, athletes will be considered for First-Team All-American honors by achieving a CSCAA Automatic Time Standard or by finishing in the top eight of their events at the NCAA Championships. However, if there are no NCAA Championships in 2021 or if fewer than 8 athletes per event achieve the Automatic Standard, the remaining All-American honors will be filled by those who have achieved times fast enough to rank among the top-8 nationally.

The process will be similar for Second-Team All-Americans: achieve the CSCAA Consideration Standard and finish 9th-16th at the NCAA Championships. Again, if the NCAA Championships do not happen or if fewer than 8 athletes per event achieve the Consideration Standard the balance (up to a maximum of 8) will be filled with those that have the swam times to rank between 9th and 16th nationally. However, there will be no second-team selections for NAIA.

Following the University of Iowa’s decision to cancel its men’s swimming and diving program, the NCAA, at the behest of public outcry, chose to relocate the 2021 Men’s Division I NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships to Greensboro, North Carolina, which will also host the 2021 women’s championships. The Division II NCAA Championships was pushed back a week in order to reduce the number of individuals present at the venue, the CrossPlex, which was also set to host track & field and wrestling championships.

All 2021 NCAA & NAIA National Championships – Swimming & Diving

• Division I – Women’s
  • Greensboro, North Carolina, March 17-20
• Division I – Men’s
  • Greensboro, North Carolina, March 24-27
• Division II – Women & Men
  • Birmingham, Alabama, March 17-20
• Division III – Women & Men
  • Federal Way, Washington, March 17-21
• NAIA – Women & Men
  • Knoxville, Tennessee, March 3-6

Swimmers may achieve All-American honors in up to seven events, three of which may be individual in Division I and Division III with four individual events possible in Division II. Furthermore, all performances must take place in “bona fide competition,” in other words, a sanctioned meet.

You can read the full release and see all the time standards for All-American honors from the CSCAA here.

From the CSCAA:

First Team All-America

• CSCAA Automatic Standard

  • OR

• Finish 1-8th at NCAA or NAIA Championships*

Second Team All-America

• CSCAA Consideration Standard

  • AND

• Finish 9-16th at NCAA Championships*

*In the event the Championships are not held or not full, the next fastest athletes in each event will be selected (up to a maximum of eight)

CSCAA Automatic and Consideration Time Standards

Division I

Division II

Division III

NAIA