USA Swimming has added bonus standards for this summer’s National Championship meet for 18 & under swimmers in both yards and long course meters.
Read more about the primary qualifying standards here.
While this is not ‘hot off the presses’ news, today was the first that we noticed it thanks to a Tweet from Brock Bonetti, and so we suspect that many of our readers did not catch that in USA Swimming’s released Meet Information yet either.
Swimmers who are 18 & under can add up to two bonus swims, provided that:
a) they have qualified for the meet under the regular standards in at least one event, and
b) they have met the bonus time standards in their bonus events.
No matter how many races an athlete qualifies for under regular standards, they are limited to just two bonus swims.
This is something that USA Swimming will use at lower level meets like Sectionals and Junior Nationals, but have generally steered away from at senior-level meets. However, this is USA Swimming’s interpretation of rules that many federations around the world have where there are different time standards for athletes in different age ranges. These sorts of rules ensure that young athletes have the opportunity to gain the experience of these major meets while still maintaining a high standard of entry for adult athletes.
For example, since the qualification period opened on June 25th, 2013, there have been 21 males 18 & under who have hit the regular 19.99 qualifying time in the 50 yard free. And additional 62 have been under the 20.59 bonus time standard. Of course, they’d have to have hit the ‘regular’ standard in another event to be eligible, so many of those additional 62 won’t be at senior Nationals anyway.
Among swimmers 19 & older, 102 swimmers have hit the 19.99 standard. If USA Swimming extended these same bonus entries to swimmers of all ages, there would be another 131 swimmers just aged 19 & older who could enter the 50 free. And that’s just from the yards standards, not including the meters times for the same event.
At any rate, we’ve posted the bonus standards below, followed by a refresher of the regular time standards.
| Women | Women | 18 & under | Men | Men |
| SCY | LCM | Bonus Standards | LCM | SCY |
| 22.89 | 26.69 | 50 Free | 24.09 | 20.59 |
| 49.89 | 57.79 | 100 Free | 52.19 | 44.59 |
| 1:47.79 | 2:04.69 | 200 Free | 1:54.69 | 1:38.79 |
| 4:49.09 | 4:22.19 | 400/500 Free | 4:03.59 | 4:29.29 |
| 9:58.79 | 9:00.29 | 800/1000 Free | 8:24.69 | 9:15.19 |
| 16:35.89 | 17:14.29 | 1500/1650 Free | 16:08.09 | 15:37.49 |
| 54.69 | 1:04.59 | 100 Back | 58.99 | 49.89 |
| 1:58.09 | 2:18.69 | 200 Back | 2:07.39 | 1:48.39 |
| 1:03.09 | 1:13.49 | 100 Breast | 1:06.29 | 55.99 |
| 2:15.89 | 2:38.69 | 200 Breast | 2:23.69 | 2:01.59 |
| 54.19 | 1:02.59 | 100 Fly | 56.69 | 49.19 |
| 1:59.59 | 2:17.39 | 200 Fly | 2:05.49 | 1:48.29 |
| 2:00.99 | 2:21.39 | 200 IM | 2:08.69 | 1:49.29 |
| 4:15.59 | 4:58.09 | 400 IM | 4:33.89 | 3:53.49 |
| Women | Primary | Men | ||
| SCY | LCM | Standards | LCM | SCY |
| 22.59 | 26.09 | 50 free | 23.19 | 19.99 |
| 49.29 | 56.69 | 100 free | 50.89 | 43.59 |
| 1:46.89 | 2:02.49 | 200 free | 1:51.89 | 1:36.49 |
| 4:45.99* | 4:17.39 | 400 free | 3:58.69 | 4:21.29* |
| 9:54.79* | 8:49.49 | 800 free | 8:15.49 | 9:09.49* |
| 16:25.19* | 16:52.99 | 1500 free | 15:49.39 | 15:18.89* |
| 53.89 | 1:03.29 | 100 back | 57.19 | 47.39 |
| 1:56.79 | 2:16.59 | 200 back | 2:04.39 | 1:45.89 |
| 1:01.49 | 1:11.59 | 100 breast | 1:04.09 | 54.09 |
| 2:13.29 | 2:35.09 | 200 breast | 2:19.49 | 1:58.59 |
| 53.49 | 1:01.19 | 100 fly | 54.79 | 47.79 |
| 1:58.89 | 2:15.59 | 200 fly | 2:02.79 | 1:46.09 |
| 1:59.39 | 2:18.69 | 200 IM | 2:05.49 | 1:46.19 |
| 4:14.69 | 4:53.39 | 400 IM | 4:28.89 | 3:48.79 |
| 3:53.69 | 400 free relay | 3:29.29 | ||
| 8:22.19 | 800 free relay | 7:42.79 | ||
| 4:18.29 | 400 medley relay | 3:50.09 | ||
| *500, 1000, and 1650 yard freestyle qualifying times substitute for meters equivalents | ||||
I think it’s a recognition that this year there may be more emphasis on Nationals b/c it is the qualifying meet for so many meets over the next year. I’m assuming that more 18&under swimmers who have any National cuts will choose to swim at Nationals rather than Juniors this year b/c of that. And for those outside of the immediate area, it would be really expensive to keep teams and parents there for both Juniors and Nationals for those who might have wanted to swim a primary event or two in the qualifying meet (Nationals) but have more swims at Juniors.
Two questions
1. In similar situations in the past how many 18 and unders swam both juniors and nationals?
2. When do they usually release the olympic trials cuts?
KLORN8D: that’s a good question. I’ll find you an answer if you can help me out with my question above – It’s for the children, that’s ignorant…
I don’t know about your question. I was just asking the world like you were
This is a little off topic, but I’m hoping someone here can give me advice… I will be coaching dry land for a group of 11-14 year olds for 30 minutes 3 days a week. Their primary focus is speed, maybe mid-distance as well.
It will be outside of a gym (basketball court, parking lot), so I will be limited with weights. Maybe a few medicine balls and bands.
Any ideas for exercises I can do with the group? When I trained I was used to just doing swimming, no land exercises. So hoping I can go in their without any knowledge on this at all.
Your help is greatly appreciated!