How Does NCAA Eligibility Work Vis-a-Vis Injury Redshirt Seasons? (A Case Study)

NCAA eligibility is not a straight-forward endeavor. A complicated mess that requires deep “analysis” and lots of hearings to unravel, the calculation of how many years college athletes get became even more complicated after the awarding of the COVID-19 5th years of eligibility.

This week’s NCAA Championship meet has sparked conversation about Virginia’s Jasmine Nocentini and her eligibility situation. Nocentini began her career as an All-American at Florida International, joining the Panthers from her native Italy in January 2020.

After finishing the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 seasons with FIU, she transferred to Northwestern ahead of the 2021-2022 season. There she finished 3rd at Big Tens in the 50 free (21.78), 5th in the 100 free (47.76), and 4th in the 200 free (1:45.56).

Her times would have qualified her for the 2022 NCAA Championships, but she didn’t swim at that meet.

She returned for the fall semester for the Wildcats, racing in three meets: a tri against UIC and Illinois, a dual meet against Michigan, and the Purdue Invitational. More importantly, those three meets add up to five dates of competition.

Swimmers who only swim three meets in the fall semester can generally apply to have that season of eligibility returned to them. A newly-adopted “hardship waiver” that took effect in August 2022 says that if an athlete competes in less than 30% of the maximum allowed dates of competition + 1, then they can apply for a medical hardship waiver under these circumstances:

  • The injury occurred in the first half of the season.
  • There is contemporaneous medical documentation of the injury from a treating physician that demonstrates incapacitation through the remainder of the season.
  • The injury or illness occurs on or after August 1, 2022.

A high percentage of elite college athletes are pushing through some kind of nagging injuries at any given moment, so documenting an early-season injury is not often a high bar to clear.

The new version of the rule applies the same underlying principles as the former rule from 2018, but simplifies analysis of playing schedule by applying the standard to the legislated maximum competition dates.

In swimming & diving, the maximum dates of competition allowed are 16. There are exceptions for things like international tours, conference and NCAA Championship meets, and unscored exhibition meets, but none of those things count toward this calculation.

So 16 + 1 = 17. For swimming, that means the limit to qualify for a hardship waiver is 5.1 dates of competition, which rounds down to 5 dates.

That’s the exact number Nocentini swam.

There are a lot of rumors and misconceptions about hardship waivers and when they do and don’t apply, or which years they do and don’t apply to.

Among the biggest misconceptions stems from the COVID-19 5th year – but not the way you might expect. There were lots of news reports about high school basketball players rushing to graduate early to take advantage of the free year of eligibility and join their college programs for the spring semester.

These reports weren’t quite precise, though – they led many to believe that there was eligibility being saved by not playing the fall semester. That isn’t the case, it was just sort of a misnomering in the early days of the COVID 5th year that everyone is familiar with. So Nocentini doesn’t get that first season for FIU, where she arrived in January, back, but she does get the 2022-2023 season back, probably.

It’s unclear where in the waiver process she is – usually these things are adjudicated after all regular eligibility is exhausted – but when she announced her transfer, the indication from Virginia coaches was that she was planning on two seasons with the Cavaliers.

If she races next season (plans change), when the dust clears, she will have used five net-seasons of eligibility across six seasons of competition, taking advantage of a pair of NCAA waivers.

As for her competitive results, Nocentini has built upon the success of her last two stops in one season at Virginia. She split 25.72 on the breaststroke leg of Virginia’s winning 200 medley relay, which was just .04 seconds behind Hannah Bach and Mona McSharry for the fastest in the field, finished 3rd individually in the 50 free in 21.10, led off Virginia’s winning 200 free relay in 21.26, and is the 2nd qualifier into finals of the 100 breaststroke.

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Swimfan
6 months ago

How many credits does uva require for a degree when you transfer in. Seems like she would have to spend 2 years there to do it?

Dani DeCarlo
Reply to  Swimfan
6 months ago

She’s getting her master’s degree at UVA. I believe she already graduated from northwestern

texasswammer
6 months ago

it’s giving grant house

Aquajosh
6 months ago

Ok, now do one explaining how Mewen Tomac has NCAA eligibility.

Andrew
6 months ago

If your last name is Gonzalez or House, my sources say you automatically get an extra 15 years of eligibility

Caleb
6 months ago

With Curzan & Moesch coming in next year, UVA sprint relays will be unbelievable.

Ashe
Reply to  Caleb
6 months ago

Yep bye bye to all the medley relay records. I think whatever records they do set will stay on the books for a while. I wonder who does back/fly? Probably Curzan back and GW fly.

Swimfan27
Reply to  Ashe
6 months ago

If Alex comes back, Curzan on back, Nocentini on breast, Alex Walsh on fly, Gretchen Walsh on free. That record will be untouchable.

richteller
Reply to  Caleb
6 months ago

I know that it sounds and looks like Alex Walsh won’t come back, she just might

Go Bucky
Reply to  richteller
6 months ago

If Walsh comes back their MR could be Curzan, Nocentini, G Walsh, A Walsh. Then Alex will have had N.C.A.A. records swimming breast, fly, and free.

CavaDore
6 months ago

Since this was being discussed in the comments today, I am much appreciated for you putting this together, Braden!

Swamtoday
Reply to  CavaDore
6 months ago

The speed and thoroughness was pretty impressive on this one. Thanks!

richteller
Reply to  CavaDore
6 months ago

I responded to another post in another thread that she was done after NCs. Apparently I was wrong! Great!

Swim Fan
6 months ago

So can you explain the Reagan Smith NCAA eligibility? She declared pro (on her Instagram) then goes back to college swimming. She entered the portal 2 years later. How many years of eligibility would she have? How does this work?

Forkfull
Reply to  Swim Fan
6 months ago

She shouldn’t swim for ASU, honestly really suspect on ASU’s part to have her train as a pro there then compete for the college team.

Same for Brooks Curry at Cal, but I’ll reserve judgement for both cases until they swim a meet for the college team.

Swim
6 months ago

Of course she now wants to swim an extra year when she’s on UVA but couldn’t bother to be a team player at her other schools even though they did nothing but support her

Curious
Reply to  Swim
6 months ago

Her results don’t lie though. She has gotten something at UVA that was missing prior to her time there. The program seems to be a great fit for her…

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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