Winners of Collegiate Open Water Meets Earn Auto Qualification to US 5K National Championships

USA Swimming has unveiled the selection procedures for the 2025 Open Water National Championships that will be held in Sarasota, Florida.

• USA Swimming Open Water National Championship Time Standards (not yet available)
• Additional Selection Options

This year’s championship will include a number of wrinkles. As reported earlier this week, Swimming Canada will co-opt the meet as their National Championship/World Championship selection event, though with no qualifying time standards announced yet (usually set based on pool swimming races), it’s hard to understand how that will impact the event.

But USA Swimming has published a document laying out a couple of alternative pathways for qualification, including by placement at a pair of collegiate open water meets.

Swimmers who finished in the top three at the MPSF Championships, or who finish in the top five at the CSCAA 5K National Championships, both get entries into the US Open Water Nationals 5K race.

While the NCAA doesn’t officially sponsor open water swimming, the MPSF and the CSCAA have both backed open water races for collegiate athletes this season. The MPSF is a sport-specific conference on the west coast that houses teams in sports, like swimming, where a home conference doesn’t host a championship. The field was not limited to MPSF member institutions.

The CSCAA is a national collegiate coaches’ advocacy organization.

The MPSF held their championship two weeks ago. There, six swimmers qualified by finishing in the top three of the 5k races:

Men’s MPSF Qualifiers

1. Thomas Langlois, Whittier College (Canadian)
2. Mark Kovacsics, Cal Baptist (Hungarian)
3. Batu Servi, Grand Canyon (Turkish)

Women’s MPSF Qualifiers

1. Ginger Kiefer, Idaho
2. Kai Flanagan, Cal Baptist
3. Vivi Criscione, Grand Canyon

The top three in the men’s race are all internationals – and we don’t know yet if USA Swimming will allow internationals beyond Canada (they have at recent meets).

The CSCAA Open Water Championships will take place on December 15, 2024 in North Miami, Florida.

Swimmers can also qualify for the Open Water Junior National Championships meet if they finish high at the Zone Championship open water races. If athletes born in 2008 or 2009 finish in the top 10 overall at a Zone Championships in the 5km race, they qualify for the 7.5km Junior National Championships; if swimmers born in 2010 or 2011 finish in the top 15 at Zones, they qualify for the USA Swimming Open Water 5K Junior National Championship.

Their finishing place at Zones is amongst all competitors, regardless of age.

The USA Swimming Open Water National Championships will be held from April 4-6 in Sarasota, Florida.