NCAA Division I Swimming Event Schedule Will Look Different

NCAA Division I Swimming Event Schedule Will Look Vastly Different This Spring

For the primary time in a long time, the five hundred freestyle is not going to be the primary particular person occasion contested on the NCAA Division I Swimming Championships. The 200 butterfly is not going to come final, though that race will nonetheless be highlighted on the ultimate day of the meet. That is because of the current ratification of a proposal “designed to support collegiate swimming and diving by modernizing the championship format to better align with broadcast needs.”

The modifications embody a whole reconstruction of the occasion schedule. For the primary time ever, a person occasion will happen Wednesday because the 1650 freestyle turns into the meet’s opener. The 100 butterfly, 400 IM, 200 freestyle and 100 breaststroke will happen Thursday, adopted by the 100 backstroke, 200 breaststroke, 500 freestyle and 50 freestyle Friday. The meet concludes with the 200 IM, 100 freestyle, 200 butterfly and 200 backstroke Saturday.

The full schedule, as posted in a report of the NCAA Swimming and Diving Oversight Committee videoconference from Sept. 25, is obtainable right here.

Relay occasions will stay in the identical spots they’ve occupied since 2022, with the 200 medley relay and 800 free relay going down Wednesday, the 200 free relay Thursday, 400 medley relay Friday and 400 free relay Saturday. Relays will stay timed finals, however with all besides the quickest warmth swimming on the finish of the morning session.

The modifications will instantly power coaches and swimmers to make troublesome selections about their racing lineups for the NCAA meet, even perhaps overhauling long-established plans. The potential conflicts start within the Wednesday session, the place distance swimmers will likely be fatigued if they’re wanted to compete on their staff’s 800 free relay. Additionally, the ultimate two days of racing will herald potential conflicts.

During the University of Virginia’s five-year run atop girls’s NCAA swimming, Kate Douglass has raced each the 200 breast and 50 free on the NCAA meet whereas Claire Curzan did each the 100 again and 50 free final yr. As for Saturday, swimmers as outstanding as Stanford’s Torri Huske have competed in each the 200 IM and 100 free on the identical meets. And the times of swimmers contesting the 200 IM after which both the 200 again or 200 fly is likely to be over; on the final two NCAA Men’s Championships, the identical swimmer has gained each the 200 IM and 200 again once they had been held on totally different days (Hubert Kos in 2025, Destin Lasco in 2024), however swimmers aiming for these races may select their occasions in a different way shifting ahead.

The main modifications to the meet embody the elimination of comfort finals, with swimmers scoring factors for locations 9 via 16 based mostly on their ends in the preliminary spherical. Diving finals are being cut up into two separate segments of three dives every, though the three diving disciplines will stay on the identical days on the nationwide meet (1-meter Thursday, 3-meter Friday, platform Saturday). Award ceremonies will now happen on the finish of every session, curbing every finals session to a 90-minute window.

Finally, all swimmers profitable convention titles in an occasion whereas matching or exceeding the NCAA qualifying time will obtain an computerized bid for the NCAA Championships. Within the report, the NCAA committee specified which conferences are eligible to have computerized qualification for 2025-26. Each of the leagues should have not less than 5 member establishments that sponsor swimming and diving.

The listing of qualifying convention consists of: America East Conference; American Athletic Conference (girls’s solely); Atlantic Coast Conference; Atlantic Sun Conference; Atlantic 10 Conference; Big East Conference; Big Ten Conference; Big 12 Conference; Big West Conference; Coastal Athletic Association; Horizon League; The Ivy League; Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference; Mid-American Conference (girls’s solely); Missouri Valley Conference; Mountain Pacific Sports Federation; Mountain West Conference (girls’s solely); Northeast Conference (girls’s solely); Patriot League; Southeastern Conference; and The Summit League.