The new NCAA Championship qualifying system announced on Friday brings an exciting new element to mid-major conference championship meets.
Previously, NCAA qualifiers were determined strictly based on performances throughout the season, with 235 male swimmers and 281 women earning berths.
Now, if a swimmer wins a mid-major conference title and goes under the new time standard in their conference-winning swim, they automatically earn a berth to the NCAA Championships, regardless of where they stack up in the overall national rankings.
Given this change, we dug into some of last season’s results to see how the selection process for the 2025 NCAA Championships would’ve looked with this new wrinkle.
Thank you to Rob Chelle for providing the outline and men’s data for this article.
Who’s In
- In order to determine the mid-major swimmers who would’ve qualified for NCAAs last season (but didn’t), we first took a look at the conference-winning times from all of the mid-major conferences that are eligible.
- We then listed out all the conference-winning performances that were faster than the new qualifying time, but slower than the 2025 invite (cutline) time. (Anyone who went faster qualified for NCAAs.)
- We then go through the list of swimmers who produced these times in conference championship finals and see if any of them qualified for NCAAs by going faster at a different point in the season, and remove them from the “new qualifier” list.
Who’s Out
- In selecting the NCAA qualifiers next season, the mid-major conference champions under the qualifying times will be automatically slotted in, essentially atop the psych sheets, and then event selections will follow as they have previously, but each event will have an equal number of qualifiers. That means that if three women win a conference title in the 100 back and qualify, but none are fast enough in the 200 fly, three 200 fly qualifiers from the remaining pool of swimmers will be added to NCAAs before any new ones are added for the 100 back.
- In projecting who would be bumped out of NCAAs, we went through last year’s list of invitees by priority, and removed the lowest priority swimmer in a given event that had someone fast enough to win the conference title.
WOMEN’S NCAA QUALIFIERS
Looking at the women’s mid-major conference championship results, a total of 38 individual title-winning performances in 2025 were faster than the new NCAA qualifying standards, with the Ivy League (nine), ASUN (seven) and Missouri Valley (six) conferences leading the way. The Horizon League, MPSF and Summit League all have zero.
Would-Be 2025 NCAA Qualifiers Under New System
| Swimmer | Conference (Team) | Event(s) |
| Lydia Hart | America East (New Hampshire) |
500 FR, 1650 FR
|
| Ava Topolewski | Atlantic 10 (George Washington) | 1650 FR |
| Sydney Lu | Ivy League (Harvard) | 100 FLY |
| Ellie Scherer | Coastal Athletic Association (William & Mary) | 100 BR |
| Aleksandra Denisenko | Ivy League (Harvard) | 100 BR |
| Izzy Ackley | Atlantic Sun (FGCU) | 100 BK |
| Ali Tyler | Atlantic 10 (George Mason) | 100 BK |
| Anya Mostek | Ivy League (Harvard) | 100 BK |
| Lily Mead | Patriot League (Loyola) | 100 BK |
| Sophia Heilen | Coastal Athletic Association (William & Mary) | 200 BR |
| Asia Kozan | Big West (UC San Diego) | 100 FR, 200 IM |
| Samantha Banos | Big West (UC Santa Barbara) | 200 FLY |
| Abigail Zboran | Atlantic Sun (Queens) | 200 FLY |
| Molly Hamlin | Ivy League (Harvard) | 200 BK |
Based on last year’s qualifying process, the addition of mid-major conference champions earning automatic slots would’ve resulted in the following female swimmers being bumped out of the 2025 NCAAs, based on our calculations. Only one of the women, FSU’s Edith Jernstedt, scored individually last season.
Note that these are projections based on last year’s seeding. To be fully accurate, the entire 2025 meet would need to be reseeded.
Women Bumped Out of 2025 NCAAs
| Out | School | NCAA Points |
| Grace Sheble | NC State | 0 |
| Liberty Williams | Alabama | 0 |
| Maggie Schalow | Virginia | 0 |
| Simone Moll | Miami (FL) | 0 |
| Margaux McDonald | Cal | 0 |
| Ava Yablonski | Minnesota | 0 |
| Casey Chung | Michigan | 0 |
| Zoe Carlos-Broc | LSU | 0 |
| Emma Kern | Texas | 0 |
| Danika Varda | Ohio State | 0 |
| Macky Hodges | USC | 0 |
| Lizzy Cook | Cal | 0 |
| Edith Jernstedt | FSU | 3 |
| Maren Conze | UNC | 0 |
MEN’S NCAA QUALIFIERS
On the men’s side, there were 50 mid-major conference title-winning swims under the new NCAA qualifying time, led by the Ivy League, which was faster than the new cut in all 13 individual events. America East, the MPSF and the Summit League all had none.
Would-Be 2025 NCAA Qualifiers Under New System
| Swimmer | Conference (Team) | Event(s) |
| Taber daCosta | Big West (UCSB) | 1650 FR |
| Vili Sivec | Big West (Cal State Bakersfield) |
100 FLY, 200 FLY
|
| Kuba Kwasny | CAA (Drexel) | 100 FLY |
| Connor Rodgers | Atlantic 10 (George Washington) | 200 FLY, 400 IM |
| William Carrico | CAA (UNCW) | 400 IM |
| Jackson Nester | Horizon League (Cleveland State) | 400 IM |
| Marton Nagy | Ivy League (Brown) | 400 IM |
| Kyle Brill | Big West (UCSB) | 200 IM, 400 IM |
| Dylan Felt | Atlantic 10 (Davidson) | 200 FR, 500 FR |
| Evan Yoo | Big West (Cal Poly) | 100 BR, 200 BR |
| Toni Sabev | CAA (Delaware) | 100 BR |
| Matt Driscoll | Big West (UCSB) | 100 BK |
| Matej Dusa | Atlantic Sun (Queens) | 50 FR, 100 FR |
| Caleb Kelly | Patriot League (Loyola) | 50 FR |
| Henju Duvenhage | Missouri Valley (Miami OH) | 200 IM |
| Patrick Dinu | Ivy League (Princeton) | 100 FR |
| Aiden Leamer | Big East (Xavier) | 200 FLY |
| Drew Huston | Big West (Cal Poly) | 200 BK |
| Harry Nicholson | Horizon League (Oakland) | 200 BK |
| Michael Faughnan | MAAC (Iona) | 200 BK |
On the men’s side, three of the 20 swimmers who project to be bumped out of NCAAs scored last season, Stanford’s Gibson Holmes, Cal’s Humberto Najera and NC State’s Will Gallant:
Note that these are projections based on last year’s seeding. To be fully accurate, the entire 2025 meet would need to be reseeded.
Men Bumped Out of 2025 NCAAs
| Out | School | NCAA Points |
| Will Gallant | NC State | 3 |
| Colin Whelehan | UNC | 0 |
| Will Hayon | Will Hayon | 0 |
| Munzy Kabbara | Texas A&M | 0 |
| Gibson Holmes | Stanford | 3 |
| Michael Hochwalt | Arizona State | 0 |
| Humberto Najera | Cal | 7 |
| Luke Maurer | USC | 0 |
| Tiago Behar | Arizona State | 0 |
| Josh Corn | Columbia | 0 |
| Junhao Chan | USC | 0 |
| Mason Herbet | FSU | 0 |
| Ed Fullum-Huot | Florida | 0 |
| Luke Nebrich | Mizzou | 0 |
| Tyler Lu | Northwestern | 0 |
| Pedro Sansone | Tennessee | 0 |
| Charlie Jones | Wisconsin | 0 |
| JT Ewing | NC State | 0 |
| Filip Suchanski | TCU | 0 |
| Caleb Maldari | Florida | 0 |
Based on this data, the implementation of mid-major conference champions to the NCAA Championship field won’t have a significant effect on the team standings, though it may make the meet slower as a whole, marginally.
However, it is important to note that teams are only able to bring four relay-only swimmers to NCAAs. So for certain teams that may have previously relied on one of their lower-seeded swimmers to fill in the gap on a relay, they may have to make some difficult choices about which relays to load up on and which to simply field a team, depending on the versatility of their roster.
Two different issues. Adding Conference champions is not going to be effective in increasing broadcast viewing; it simply makes Mid-major coaches, swimmers and administrators feel better about themselves.
The broadcast ‘benefits’ are built around the elimination of evening swim consols. so the ‘entertainment’ folks can package an event they think has a better chance of securing viewers.
Basketballs can take a funny bounce on a particular day (i.e. #16 – #1) whereas the SCY pool is exactly 75′.
Don’t touch the 235/281 (if you must be that restrictive) but if you want the expansion to include slower conference champions, determine someone to pay the freight. Don’t make that burden fall on swimmers qualified under the system in place before this rigging of the system.
The School? The athlete? The Conference? The Basketball contract. Shares?
If we are changing our premier event to better serve broadcast interests, the contract for the ‘new and improved’ broadcast rights could kick in a bit to cover at least a share of the new expense.
everyone in these comments must’ve been so mad at 16 vs 1 upsets in March Madness (the 16th seeded team didn’t “earn” the right to be in march madness)
Swimming has never viewed itself as an entertainment sport. Swimming people, in fact, are adamant that the sport not be for entertainment, because it makes them feel more carnal somehow.
This is a holdover from the old eras of sport, where the the golf and tennis majors and the Olympics were only open to amateurs, because anybody who needed to be paid for their endeavors was lesser than. But the weird thing is that swimming has tried to merge the “PAY THE ATHLETES” movement into this old world mentality, and that’s why every conversation gets so messy. It’s a deep-seeded culture that nobody has ever wanted to go through the pain to change. We (aka SwimSwam) have been battling that… Read more »
Adapt, or die… Do people really think Cal Poly will be the last program cut. Although this demographic cliff that is going to rework all of Higher Ed in the states may be a little overhyped, I think everyone feels a change is happening. Campuses will close, programs will get cut, ADs will make crazy decisions to cut sports because their campus admins will make them. I just hope swim can find some juice to ride through some of this and up its position a little bit off the chopping block. Change nothing, I am not so hopeful…
16 vs 1 upsets in the basketball tournament are great but entirely different things than these newly enacted changes. In basketball and football, seeds are subjective decisions made because teams don’t all play the same opponents. In swimming, time is the great objective equalizing factor. A faster time beats a slower time across a heat, an event, a season or thoughout history. It’s an opportunity for everyone: make the time standard and you’ve proven you belong. When you make decisions that include factors other than time, you start losing what makes our sport different (and in my opinion, better).
What about the mid-major swimmer that wins their conference by 30 seconds or more in the mile but misses NCAAs by a second? Does competition not matter there?
>What about the mid-major swimmer that wins their conference by 30 seconds or more in the mile but misses NCAAs by a second?
I’d say that’s a really slow conference.
Hopefully they can make the cut next year.
I would rather see the conference champ from some mid-major (who didn’t have the full ride, or at least not as much funding, and who didn’t have the same caliber experience/training/gear/etc.) compete in the NCAA championship than the 22nd best kid in the Big Ten. I get that the kid from the Big Ten has a faster time going in, no argument there, so my potential support for this mid-major kid is not in keeping with a true meritocracy, yep, but I would just be more interested in seeing the underdog in this scenario. And maybe a Cinderella story could come out of it – swim of a lifetime in the big leagues – and in that way it would… Read more »
The Cinderella story that we are all here for is the one where the conference champ is fast enough to make the championship with his/her time being one of the fastest in all of D1 swimming. No one is excluding the mid-major swimmers from participating in champs. Each swimmer has an opportunity to earn their way at this level.
The long term cinderella story really is that a few ‘better’ swimmers decide to stay at smaller schools to have a potentially ‘easier’ run to NCAA champs and keep schools around the country interested in swimming.
Swim fan — Not really a fan of swimming, are you?
Semi-related, the proposed schedule doubles the 200 IM on the last day with 2 Bk, 2 Fly, and 100 Fr.
Possible changed lineups:
Modglin has to drop either 2 Bk or 2 IM for 1 fly, 1 br, or 50 fr (he’s pretty good at all three!)
Kos drops either 2 Bk or 2 IM for 1 fly or 4 IM (he’s done more 1 fly lately, but probably has higher ceiling in 4 IM).
O MacDonald drops either 2 Bk or 2 IM for 1 fly, 4 IM or 2 free.
Urlando drops 2 IM for 1 Bk?
Anyway, by moving 200 IM to the last day (as a “premier” event), it probably actually gets a lot less competitive.
There are some mid-majors that got left off this list that would have had additional qualifiers.
This new system will also add Big 12 (supposedly a power 4 conference) swimmers who didn’t make the cut. Probably not an issue on men’s side but there were multiple female winners who are under new cut who did not make cut line. Including them, which new system does, knocks out more power swimmers from the other three conferences.
I think this would’ve been more warmly received if they were instituting them in a year or two, not two weeks or so into this current season. Same with the change in schedule. I think that was poor planning on their part.
Those bumped swimmers could have picked the mid major to go to instead of being a filler on a Power 4. This should motivate swimmers to look more at the smaller programs and spread the wealth a little more.
So a swimmer should give away the opportunity to train with some of the fastest swimmers in the world just to “Spread the wealth a little more.” Doesn’t make any sense.
I don’t know. Isn’t the big glaring difference between most P4 schools and mid-majors is whether they offer athletic scholarships?
I still think it might be hard for a lot of kids to turn down scholarship money for this. (Of course, there are plenty of exceptions and different circumstances. Some of the mid-majors offer generous financial aid or academic merit scholarships, some kids might have an opportunity at an in-state mid-major, some families are wealthy enough that tuition isn’t a major concern, etc.)
You must have gone Ivy League, Masters Swimmer. What you have described is like the Ivy framework.
It might also depend upon the academic reputation/quality/resources of the school (at least I hope it does). Since most college swimmers aren’t going to swim professionally, fast swimmers might prioritize a school that has a great academic reputation. For example, if UCLA, Duke, Northwestern, UVA, etc. is giving me an opportunity to swim AND get a degree, I might pick one of those schools over a lesser known mid-major university. This happens all the time with swimmers choosing fast academically rigorous D3s over mid-majors (where they might get money).
Just missing NCAAs is hardly a filler spot.
Filler spot?
Trickle down for swimming? This is America 2025, we don’t do DEI anymore.
This happens already at some of the best programs – Texas routinely had “over-qualified” people and left qualifiers at home. Those swimmers are in the same boat.