NCAA Releases Pre-Selection Psych Sheets For 2023 Women’s NCAA Championships

Yanyan Li
by Yanyan Li 43

February 28th, 2023 College, National, News

2023 WOMEN’S NCAA SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

  • March 15-18, 2023
  • Allan Jones Aquatic Center–Knoxville, Tennessee
  • SCY (25 yards)
  • Meet Central
  • Pre-Scratch Psych Sheets
  • Live Results

The pre-selection psych sheets for the 2023 Women’s NCAA Championships have been released. These sheets provide information on what events swimmers will be racing at the meet, but do not show who has officially qualified.

Official psych sheets with cutlines will be published on Wednesday morning, and you can view SwimSwam’s  projection of the cutlines here.

Throughout the day, SwimSwam will be making individual posts breaking down some of the more notable lineup choices from swimmers, including:

  • Kate Douglass: 200 IM, 100 Fly, 200 Breast
  • Alex Walsh: 200 IM, 400 IM, 200 Fly
  • Gretchen Walsh: 50 Free, 100 Back, 100 Free
  • Claire Curzan: 100 Fly, 100 Back, 200 Back
  • Taylor Ruck: 50 Free, 200 Free, 100 Free
  • Olivia Bray: 500 Free, 100 Back, 200 Back
  • Felicia Pasadyn: 400 IM, 200 Back, 200 Fly
  • Amy Fulmer: 50 Free, 200 Free, 100 Free

Top Seeds In Each Event:

  • 500 Free: Erica Sullivan, Texas — 4:35.88
  • 200 IM: Kate Douglass, Virginia — 1:50.15
  • 50 Free: Gretchen Walsh, Virginia — 20.83
  • 400 IM: Ella Nelson, Virginia — 3:59.33
  • 100 Fly: Kate Douglass, Virginia — 48.84
  • 200 Free: Brooklyn Douthwright, Tennessee — 1:42.45
  • 100 Breast: Kaitlyn Dobler, USC — 56.94
  • 100 Back: Gretchen Walsh, Virginia — 49.25
  • 1650 Free: Paige McKenna, Wisconsin — 15:46.90
  • 200 Back: Claire Curzan, Stanford — 1:47.43
  • 100 Free: Maggie MacNeil, LSU — 46.27
  • 200 Breast: Kate Douglass, Virginia — 2:01.43
  • 200 Fly: Emma Sticklen, Texas — 1:51.37

INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIERS

The NCAA invites the same number of overall swimmers every year. 270 men and 322 women make the meet every year. Depending on how many of those 270/322 athletes qualify in multiple events, the numbers can range some as to how many entries in each event get invited.

The simple part: “A” qualifiers get in automatically. Hit an “A” cut, and you’re set. Then the NCAA fills in the remaining spots with the next-fastest “B” cuts.

Here’s a step-by-step process for how the NCAA selects the 270 men and 322 women for each year’s invite list:

1. 35 of the men’s spots and 41 of the women’s spots are set aside for divers, who qualify for the meet at zone competitions closer the NCAA Championships. That leaves 235 men’s spots and 281 for the women.

2. Every “A” cut put up this season is added.

3. The next fastest swimmers in each event are added until every event has the same number of entries. For example, if the 50 free were to have the most “A” cuts of any event with 10, then every other event would get swimmers with the top 10 fastest times in.

4. Finally, one entry is added to each event to keep the entries per event even. This process is repeated until all of the swimming spots (235 for men, 281 for women) are filled. Keep in mind that as more rows are added, swimmers will start to double and triple up. The #1 seed in the 200 back might be the #15 seed in the 100 back – as the 15th row of swimmers is added to each event, she’ll be added to the 100 back list, but won’t take up another one of the 281 invite spots, as she already has her official invite.

5. The final row of swimmers added won’t come out exactly even. In the final row, the swimmers with entry times closest to the NCAA “A” cut will get added first, and when the 235th man or 281st woman is added, the process stops. So the 100 fly could have 38 women and the 200 fly 39 women – that would mean the 39th 200 flyer was closer to the NCAA “A” than the 39th 100 flyer and therefore won the ‘tie-breaker’ for the final spot.

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Nonrevhoofan
1 year ago

Which of the Top 9 200 backstrokers will be relegated to the B final? That’s one stacked event!

Bud
1 year ago

What about Tuggle tho

Eli
1 year ago

Please excuse my ignorance, but does swim swam have any word on what’s happening with Kaitlynn Sims? Transferred to UCLA but was off PAC-12’s, and NC psych sheet. Wondering if its something to do with eligibility status.

BOBFROMTHEISLAND
1 year ago

That Walsh v MacNeil 100 free could be a good one too outside the 100 fly and 200IM

jeff
Reply to  BOBFROMTHEISLAND
1 year ago

both the 50 and 100 free- I think I’d have to bet on MacNeil if I had to pick one after seeing those relay splits even after Walsh’s AR but it should be a good race. Also ofc the 100 back, so that makes 5 races in which the NCAA record is under threat from multiple swimmers at the same time, plus maybe the 200 back although Curzan is probably the only one that could do it right now

Last edited 1 year ago by jeff
Chris
1 year ago

Im far more excited with the talent at W NCAA’s over the men.

Waterbear13
Reply to  Chris
1 year ago

Women’s meet could see more events won with a record than not. Some of them may even have multiple swimmers under the current records. 50 Free, 100 Fly, 100 Back will be crazy fast/deep with the possibility of a top swimmer missing the A-final in the morning and breaking a record in the B-Final in open water. I expect to see records fall in the 200 IM, 50 Free, 100 Fly, 100 Back, 200 Breast, 200 Back, and possibly 400 IM, 100 Free, 200 Fly. All relay records besides the 4×200 are also likely to go down.

IRO
1 year ago

100 fly is going to be bonkers.

tea rex
1 year ago

Seriously though, I’m mad at whoever thought it was okay to release a pdf formatted like that.

Dan
Reply to  tea rex
1 year ago

The other reports D2 etc have been as bad, wonder if it is the reports from the new USA-Swimming database

tea rex
1 year ago

Walsh v Douglass!
comment image

Taa
Reply to  tea rex
1 year ago

Needs a Bruce Buffer intro

Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
Reply to  tea rex
1 year ago

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About Yanyan Li

Yanyan Li

Although Yanyan wasn't the greatest competitive swimmer, she learned more about the sport of swimming by being her high school swim team's manager for four years. She eventually ventured into the realm of writing and joined SwimSwam in January 2022, where she hopes to contribute to and learn more about …

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