Four swimmers at the Big West Conference Championships earned automatic qualifications to the 2026 NCAA Championships on Thursday.
Earlier this year, the NCAA approved massive changes to the NCAA Division I Championships. One of those changes was the addition of a “win-and-you’re-in” standard for conference champions. This new rule gives swimmers who swam an NCAA qualifying time en route to the conference title an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships in March. Since most Power-Four conference champions were receiving invites based on the traditional qualification system, this new rule primarily benefits mid-major swimmers.
Thursday was the first night of individual events during the 2026 NCAA Division I Conference season. The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships and the Big West Conference Championships are the only meets racing this weekend, and night one saw four athletes — all from the Big West — earn auto bids.
The first swimmer to earn an automatic conference bid was UC San Diego’s Eva Boehlke. She won the 200 IM with a final time of 1:57.43, coming in four tenths under the qualifying time of 1:57.88. This was a second-and-a-half drop from her previous best time in the event of 1:58.99 that she set in November.
The University of Hawaii also picked up three automatic qualifiers with Tom Thalau in the men’s 200 IM, Holly Nelson in the women’s 50 free, and Karol Ostrowski in the men’s 50 free.
Thalau swam 1:43.93 to come in two tenths under the cut of 1:44.13. This was also a second-and-a-half drop from his previous best of 1:45.51 that he set in March of 2025.
Nelson swam 22.28 to win the women’s 50 free and exactly meet the qualifying standard of 22.28, dropping nearly two tenths from her previous best 22.43 that she set in November.
Finally, Ostrowski touched in 19.13, three tenths under the qualifying standard of 19.43, but off his lifetime best of 18.89.
Women’s Automatic Qualifiers As of 2/12
| Swimmer Name | School | Conference | Event | Time | 2025 Invite Time |
| Eva Boehlke | UC San Diego | Big West | 200 IM | 1:57.43 | 1:56.69 |
| Holly Nelson | Hawaii | Big West | 50 Free | 22.28 | 22.01 |
Men’s Automatic Qualifiers As of 2/12
| Swimmer Name | School | Conference | Event | Time | 2025 Invite Time |
| Tom Thalau | Hawaii | Big West | 200 IM | 1:43.93 | 1:42.65 |
| Karol Ostrowski | Hawaii | Big West | 50 Free | 19.13 | 19.02 |
Impressive as hell that a 40 year old can still swim a 19 flat 50 free! 🤯
If a person qualifies (lets say wins two events) which one is the offical? The first event qualified? Then if a person finishes second to an already qualified person and is under the time, are they in?
No – only the winner can directly qualify for NCAAs by swimming under the QT.
If I understand this correctly, I believe each event they would qualify in would be separate just like with the old qualifications, I believe someone like Torri Huske would take up a spot in each of the three events she is registered for. The main difference now is that conference champions are placed in their events first and it will likely be uneven. Some events may have 4 qualifiers, some may have 5, 6 or more (major conferences get qualifiers too, so every event will likely have multiple automatic qualifiers). Then when they go to add the competitors to each event based on time ranking, they won’t add more competitors to a particular event until it evens out. If the… Read more »
Yes that’s correct. The actual qualification system hasn’t changed.
I tell people to think about it like this: Pretend like the AQs are “A” cuts, and everyone else is a “B” cut (since there is now only 1 time standard, period). Then everything else is just the same as it was before.
How does it work if a swimmer auto qualifies in multiple events? Which event do they get pulled into the meet? This impacts events
Just like they would if they were ranked #3 in the country in three events.
Everyone who will miss NCAA’s because of the new rules looking at 26 year old Ostrowski get an automatic qualifier
I wonder how he still has eligibility? I swear he’s been competing in the NCAA since before COVID
I’m curious how it’s possible as well. I remember when he initially tried transferring from Drury he wasn’t eligible to compete in division 1. No idea how that has changed and he’s still competing
I had the same question when looking through AQs a while ago, but the math is actually pretty straight forward.
2020-2021: Drury
2021-2022: Drury
2022-2023: redshirt
2023-2024: Hawaii
2024-2025: Hawaii
2025-2026: COVID Year
So he’s on the Luca timeline.
Did it not used to be a 5-year clock that started when you graduated high school? I am guessing that is not in play anymore?
A football player just got a 9th year of eligibility. I don’t think there’s any rules anymore.
The Montana football player lost many seasons to serious injuries. Plus he’s still in his “COVID year” timeline. They also denied Trinidad Chambliss a 6th year so there are some limitations. Chambliss’ case was upheld in court.
Clock starts when you first enroll. There’s sort of a Mandela Effect about the high school graduation thing, I think. Some sports used to have delayed enrollment penalties on years of eligibility (tennis, hockey, skiing) but I don’t think it ever triggered the 5 year clock.
I do think this adds some juice to non-power four conferences. However, that’s about it. This isn’t basketball or football, and it really doesn’t do anything to the NCAA championship in itself, except exclude faster swimmers from bigger schools. A big upset won’t happen, nor would it carry the same meaning as it would in other sports.
But perhaps a recruit will opt for a mid-major as a clearer path to making NCAAs.
Also very silly imo to do this and then take away B finals which (however slim) would be the only shot these qualifiers would have at getting night swims
Getting rid of the B final is a travesty. It just makes me so sad. Taking opportunities away from swimmers is just such a horrible idea.
Just a side note on why this type of qualifying was implemented – If a smaller program, one that is likelier to get cut, can walk up to their Athletic Administration and say “we have an NCAA qualifier!” that can go in the small pile of evidence to Keep the program. Every little bit helps in that department and I suspect that is a driver in the thought process behind the decision
Lot of AD’s are more interested in the conference results than the NCAA Championships. They get more excited about the basketball team making the NCAA tournament then the swim team finishing top 4.
That’s why I said it was a small component of a program’s argument for survival. Every little bit helps.
I appreciate that Dave took time out of his busy schedule spreading conspiracy theories to weigh in here
Ask the UCLA men if it saved them.
It can help, but not always. CBU had 4 male athletes qualify NCAA’s last year, including the first All-American in school history. They will hopefully have a male qualify again this year in the pool and have two male divers qualify. That did not matter when it came time to make the decision about the men’s program.
I was suspect on this change at first, but now I think I love it. Feel for the people on the bubble, but, it’s got that “one shining moment” vibe to it for me.
The same Karol Ostrowski who committed to Neil Studd at FSU in 2017?
Think so, but not sure if 2017 was the year.