West Virginia Will Host Mid-Season LC Invitational in Light of US Open Entry Cap Snafu

In light of the entry cap issues with December’s US Open Swimming Championships, West Virginia University and head coach Vic Riggs is going to host a long course collegiate invitational from December 16th-19th, two-and-a-half weeks after the US Open in Greensboro.

The meet has been dubbed the “Almost Heaven Invitational,” a reference to the state’s tourism slogan, which is in turn a reference to the opening line of the song Country Roads.

Riggs said that the meet became a necessity when the US Open entry cap of “approximately” 800 swimmers was hit in under three hours, locking many qualified swimmers out, including college teams.

• What: Long Course Collegiate Invitational
• Where: West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia (about a 75minute drive south of Pittsburgh)
• When: December 16-19, 2023

“I find it extremely disappointing in USA Swimming’s  decision to cap a National level meet,” Riggs said. “Providing that in April the USA Swimming Steering committee approved the cuts and no capped was approved.”

Meeting minutes from an April 2023 steering committee indicated that the committee believed that time standards would keep the meet around 800 swimmers, but that there was no cap on the 2023 US Open.

In the pre-Olympic year, this mid-season taper window is the best opportunity for many college swimmers to hit their Olympic Trials qualifying standards. This year, the NCAA has approved long course qualifying times for the NCAA Championships as well, though they are lofty standards and most swimmers are likely to qualify in yards.

Riggs says that he explored making it an open USA Swimming meet, but new NCAA rules that don’t allow bona fide collegiate meets to race against non-collegiate athletes made that too difficult. While the US Open received a waiver form the NCAA Championship committee, Riggs says he would have had to run essentially two meets in one, with separate heats for collegiate and non-collegiate swimmers.

Riggs says that he sent out a survey and over 30 collegiate teams inquired about a collegiate-only meet.

“We have a great facility that has produced over 20 (Olympic Trials) cuts, numerous (Big 12) records, and NCAA qualifiers,” Riggs said. “The pool is very fast and we have the availability to host the meet.

“We feel we have obligation to our team and those that did not get into US Open to provide an equal opportunity for the swimmers to make NCAA and Olympic Trials.

West Virginia held its first meet at the Aquatic Center at Mylan Park in November, 2019.

Besides its 50-meter indoor pool, the facility also includes a six-lane, 25-yard lap pool.

Qualifying Standards

Qualifying standards for the meet are set at 2.5% above the US Open standard, which will allow teams to bring more swimmers to the meet.

There is no cap for this meet.