A pair of Louisville swimmers have a chance at history on Friday at the 2021 ACC Swimming & Diving Championships in Atlanta.
Nick Albiero and Evgenii Somov will each swim for their 5th consecutive conference title – something that hasn’t been possible at most points in history.
The NCAA has awarded all Division I college athletes who competed in the 2020-2021 NCAA season an extra year of eligibility (and an extra year to complete that eligibility) because of the challenges of a COVID-19 pandemic.
Some athletes, like those in the Ivy League or Arizona State, didn’t swim at all last season. But for those who did, this is a rare chance at doing things for a 5th time – things like qualifying for NCAAs or winning conference titles.
For much of NCAA swimming history, even winning four conference titles was impossible. The NCAA didn’t give varsity eligibility to college freshmen in swimming & diving until 1970, along with most other sports. Football and basketball first allowed freshmen to compete on varsity teams in 1972.
Prior to that, athletes were relegated to a junior varsity squad, no matter how good they were.
Louisville 5th year Nicolas Albiero, son of head coach Arthur, is the four-time defending champion in the 200 fly.
Albiero 200 fly titles:
- 2018, freshman – 1:41.08
- 2019, sophomore – 1:40.70
- 2020, junior – 1:38.65
- 2021, senior – 1:39.08
He is the defending NCAA Champion in the 200 fly as well, though not a four-time champion.
Albiero is the third seed in the 200 fly, 1.2 seconds behind Georgia Tech 5th year Christian Ferraro, but he was missing at the team’s mid-season rest meet because of COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
Somov is a little more under-the-radar here. He too is a four-time defending ACC Champion, having never lost the 100 breaststroke at the meet
Somov 100 breast titles:
- 2018, freshman – 52.18
- 2019, sophomore – 51.90
- 2020, junior – 51.85
- 2021, senior – 51.03
He’ll get a big test this year as just the 4th seed in the race – without having hit an NCAA invite time either. Pitt senior Cooper van der Laan is the top seed in 51.42, which is still slower than Somov’s winning time last year, followed by Notre Dame’s Josh Bottelberghe (51.88) and Florida State’s Izaak Bastian (52.27).
Based on how the waiver was structured, we expect fewer-and-fewer athletes to take advantage of the 5th season of eligibility as time wares on. While this year’s 5th year swimmers were able to retain their scholarships without counting against a team’s cap (if the school was willing to fund it, and if they stayed at the same school), in future seasons their scholarships will count against the cap. That will lead many coaches to offer them a non-scholarship 5th year, which could change athletes’ decisions.
A number of ACC swimmers have won 4 straight titles since the 1970s – too many to list here – but none have won 5 straight. In fact, we couldn’t find any swimmers with 5 straight titles in any conference.
Almost by definition, because of the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Championships by the COVID-19 pandemic, nobody is going to have a shot at five straight NCAA titles. The only chance would be if a swimmer had won 3 straight titles going into that meet, and by luck happened to redshirt that season, but that didn’t happen in either the men’s or women’s meets.
At least one athlete was close, though: Minnesota diver Sarah Bacon has won the women’s 1-meter event in 2018, 2019, and 2021. She was redshirted in the 2020 season, but was 2nd, by 6.10 points, behind Alison Gibson of Texas, at her freshman NCAA Championship meet in 2017.
Don’t Alex Walsh (200 IM), Phoebe Bacon (200 Back), and Jake Magahey (500 Free) still have a chance to win 5 NCAA titles in a single event?
I.e. the freshmen who won last year? Yes. Sophie Hansson could also 5-sweep ACCs if she decides to swim next year
Keeping this short, it just does not seem fair that an athlete who was able to have 4 full years of conference championships should be able to compete in an additional year. This rule should have only been applicable to those whom did NOT have a meet to compete at last year (ex. Ivy League). These 5th year’s, who competed last year in the end of season last eyear, are preventing those who do not have extra eligibility (new freshman) from earning spots at NCAA’s, on Conference Rosters, Conference Medals/Podiums, etc. Call me crazy, but as a D1 senior, who dealt first hand with everything last year, this whole ordeal does not sit well with me…
The rule doesn’t apply to the Ivy League not because they didn’t have a conference meet, but because they didn’t have a season, period.
So, in the case of the Ivy League, you’d be rewarding them with a 5th year of eligibility as a makeup for a year they didn’t compete in, which I don’t think makes much sense. No Ivy League athletes burned a year of eligibility last year.
I think if this carrot weren’t there, you would have seen a lot more athletes take the Ivy League route and not swim at all last season. I don’t think the NCAA, in quiet corners, is viewing this so much as a way to “make up for a missed conference… Read more »
Getting to swim at 5 conference meets seems odd, but remember that NCAAs were cancelled outright in 2020. 5th year athletes this year will have competed in a maximum of 4 NCAAs.