In an update to an earlier story, Jack Conger’s historic 1:39.31 in the 200 yard fly, swum during a time trial on Wednesday prior to the first scoring races at the 2015 Big 12 Championships, will not count as an NCAA Record.
According to Appendix A of the NCAA Swimming & Diving Rule Book for 2013-2014 & 2014-2015, NCAA Records can not be broken in time trials, among other scenarios:
ARTICLE 1. The performance for which any record is claimed must be made in a race that is a regular part of a nonchampionships, relay, non-NCAA championships or NCAA championships meet. Only the performance of the first-place winner will be recognized as the record time. Record times will be recognized for performances by a competitor who swims the first leg of a relay race. A record established by a competitor during the first leg of a relay race shall not be nullified by the subsequent disqualification of a different member of the same relay team. No records will be recognized when achieved in events closed to one institution, or in time trials, time-standard trials, record trials, or special events that do not count in the scoring of the meet being conducted.
That means that Dylan Bosch of the University of Michigan still holds the NCAA Record in 1:39.33: his swim done at NCAA’s last year that at the time was the all-time fastest in the event at the time.
Between Conger, his teammate Joseph Schooling, and Bosch, it seems unlikely that the mark will survive through March anyway, but for now, Bosch’s record lives on.
I believe one of the main reasons a Time Trial cannot count as an NCAA Record is that if there is only 1 swimmer in the Time Trial, they have the advantage of “knowing” when the start signal will sound. Since the Starter is instructed to Start the race “when all swimmers have taken their marks and are still/motionless”, if there is only 1 swimmer, they will “know” when they are “still/motionless” and thus can “anticipate” the start signal, thus having an advantage.
Why the fuss. He’ll break it anyway, either later this meet, or at NCAA’s.
He’s not swimming it at this meet, at least not this year. And there’s no guarantee he swims it this year at NCAA’s, either.
This was a point of discussion in Austin tonight. SwimSwam….could you reach out to Brian Gordon, NCAA Rules Editor and double check this interpretation directly from him. We were given contradictory information and/or opinions and we heard that Brian had provided some clarification that may help folks understand the issue better.
Hey SwimSam – I actually reached out to him yesterday, but I imagine that he was pretty busy. Hopefully we hear back today.
Just heard back from Brian, who verified that it will not count as an NCAA Record, citing the same rule as above.
Doesn’t it seem inconsistent that a swimmer or a relay team can time trial an event and get an “A” cut and qualify for the NCAA champs (like Penn State did in the 200 medley at Big 10s), but yet a record can’t be set in a time trial? It’s unclear why the NCAA allows time trials in one instance but not another
I guess that guy in the other thread who got all the downvotes is vindicated. I agree it’s lame, though.
I had no idea there was a rule that prevented TT records.
As the article stated, though, it’s not really going to matter because Bosch and Schooling will probably beat it in a few days. Bosch swam a great 200 Free in 1:32 low, and Schooling was 19.6 in the 50 Fly. Both will be great in a few days, and you’d think will be even better at NCAAs.
Wow, why not?
Lame
I think the way Reese will handle this is two fold. One, Schooling and Conger are both semi-rested but unshaven. Schooling could easily go under 1:40 this week. If Schooling breaks the record, Conger may forgo swimming the 200 butterfly at NCAAs. Swimming the 200 back and 200 fly the same day may be a bit much even for the best swimmers. I really don’t know if Conger can beat Ryan Murphy in that event. With that said, IMHO, Conger should focus on 100 and 200 butterfly and 100 back.