The NCAA has released their pre-selection psych sheets for the NCAA Division I Women’s Championship meet. This list doesn’t show who has been invited to the meet, but it does show where coaches have entered athletes; in other words, where coaches have asked for swimmers to be invited to the meet.
Precut psych sheets available here (updated in the afternoon of 3/05. The most notable change we noticed was Tiffany Oliver’s seed time in the 50 improving, drastically jumping her up to 14th on that list.)
This year’s selection procedure is similar to past years, only with one major difference. The “individual” selections will be done just as they have in the past, except that swimmers who qualify by invited relays will NOT get individual swims unless they are also invited in an individual swim.
These relay-only swimmers are also not counted toward the cap of 322 total athletes (281 swimmers + 41 divers).
Some Quick Math Says that the Women’s Meet Will go to a Cut Line of between 39-40 Swimmers. This is not official, but that is the expectation. See how we came to those numbers here.
These spots are evenly divided among the 13 individual swimming events until the total number is hit. Once swimmers are invited in an individual event, then they can swim any other individual event in which they have a “B” time standard.
The way the math works out, a bare-minimum of the top 21 in each event are invited. These are “locks”. That number will expand when “multiples” are taken into account with swimmers like Elizabeth Beisel, who is in the top 21 of multiple events (200 IM, 400 IM, 200 backstroke).
Official selection lists, all cut-up, will be out on Wednesday.
Notable entries:
- Liz Pelton will leave the 200 free, rather than the 100 back, as her second day event, and swim the 200 IM, 200 free, and 200 back
- Rachel Bootsma, also from Cal, will continue focusing on the butterflies and swim the 100 back/100 fly double on day 2, plus the 200 fly on day 3.
- North Carolina’s Stephanie Peacock, despite missing the ACC Championships, is on the selection lists for the NCAA Championships. She’s the defending champion and NCAA Record holder in the 1650 freestyle.
I’m not sure the events will go out to 40-41 individuals each. I did a little more than quick math. Following the selection procedure there should be a minimum of 37 entries per event. The next step involves reaching the entry cap and resolving the remaining spots by percentages. I think swimmers up to number 37 can feel fairly confident about being above the invited line. After that, who knows?
Georgia’s overall depth is very impressive – all 3 of their freestyle relays are seeded first. Kudos to Bauerle and his staff for (as always) having one of the deepest teams going into the meet. Obviously the amount of points that the Bulldogs can score in the freestyle and relay events will heavily determine their success. Although, as we know, last year’s medley relay finishes separated them from 1st to 2nd.
I expect Cal to continue to do well in all 5 relays – they might have just enough balance to continue their past relay success -despite the loss of Liv Jensen. They should have plenty of top 8 swims but whether or not it can match Georgia’s points… Read more »
Also of note, Megan Romano is entered in the 50 free and not the 100 back.
Good observation gosharks. Will add to the list.
On Paper, it looks like the Aggies can win this thing!
With Peacock being added it reminds me of an idea i had for the entry process for NCAA’s. It seems to me that there should be some allowance for making the meet the year before. I don’t know what that might be. Maybe 1) if they made an A or B final, 2) if they made an A cut, 3) if they went faster at NCAA’s than their seed time, etc. I think a swimmer should get some credit for the previous year. Then if they don’t perform well they are back in the normal process the next year. This would allow some of the better swimmers to not have to rest for their conference meet and or take the… Read more »
I see where you are coming from, but I think that it is good to make people qualify each year. If there where no cap on the number of swimmers, then something like what you described would work. But with new freshman coming in that have not had a chance to “secure” a spot and the fact that some people have down years. The NCAA rewards the years performances and I think that it is a good thing.
Who cares what you did last year. Competition is supposed to be fair and equal. No swimmer should be getting preferential treatment.