The preselection entry lists for the 2019 NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships have been posted. While not an official list of who’s been invited to the meet, the lists do give us insights into who will be swimming which events among top swimmers.
The official invitation lists will be posted on Wednesday, but Andrew Mering is currently running the math to allow us to project whose in and whose out, barring any changes from these preliminary lists to tomorrow’s lists. Throughout today, we’ll also be writing up interesting event selections, as well as scoring out the psych sheets.
How is this whittled down to just invitees?
The invite system is a bit complicated, but, essentially, achieving an ‘A’ (automatic) qualifying time gets you in. After that, the next-fastest swimmers in each event get added until the total participant number (270 for men, 322 for women) is met. You can read a full breakdown of how that works here, including how ties are broken.
The cut line to get invited to NCAAs usually fall roughly around the same time each year, normally getting slightly faster each season. The invite times for the 2018 meet were almost faster across the board compared to 2017, with only the men’s 200 free and 100 breast and the women’s 50 free and 100 back getting slower. From 2016 to 2017, all events got faster.
Last season, the women’ss cut-line fell between the 36 and 37 lines, which was shorter than most seasons we’ve seen.
The 2019 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming & Diving Championship Meet will run from March 20th-23rd in Austin, Texas. The Stanford Cardinal are the two-time defending champions, winning by 220 points last season.
Lilly King is two full seconds faster than the second seed in the 100 breast. Gnarly.
Harnish in the 200 fly vs. the 1650??
Nice video Swimswam! Props!!
Can a swimmer swim all five relays?
As long as they only swim 2 or less individual events
Yes, if they only swim 2 individual events.
What happened at UGA with #1 recruit Eva Merell this year ?
I think she got Mono
What accounts for the greatwr number of invitees to the women’s meet (322) vs the men’s at 270?
Vaguely – a percentage of total participants in the division. As it’s been explained to me, it was set at those numbers sometime in the 90s, and nobody wants to ask for a review because there’s a strong chance that the number of men AND women would both be reduced.
Is Meghan Small only entered in 2 events (2free 2IM)? Does that mean she’ll be on 5 relays or am I missing something?
She’s also entered in the 200 back, just with a lower seed.
Thanks! I thought I looked through both backs and flys but must’ve missed her.
How does the NCAA handle ties?
Tie-Breaking Procedures. When two or more swimmers are tied for the final selection spot, the committee will use the
swimmers’ times in the next event in which each swimmer is highest on the list and therefore closest to being selected in that
event. The committee will compute the percentage of each respective swimmer’s time in his or her next-best event to the
automatic qualification time, or “A” standard, for the events. The competitor who is closest in percentage to the A standard time
for their next-best event will be invited to the meet. If there are multiple student-athletes tied for the final selection spot, only
those who are not already selected to the championships will… Read more »
It appears that the rule isn’t being applied consistently in the preselection list