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A Look At Women’s NCAA Relay Qualification, 2017-2020

2020 NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

With 5 titles on the line and major additional points to be scored, team want to to get as many relay invites to NCAAs as possible. Schools can qualify either by having at least one individual qualification (swimmer or diver), along with an ‘A’ relay cut or by having at least 4 individually invited swimmers and having a ‘B’ cut.

The following shows each of the thirty teams who have qualified to swim at least one relay at NCAAs and which relays they have qualified in. The last column indicates how many of these relay qualifications came from swimming the ‘A’ cut.

School # Of ‘A’ Cuts
North Carolina State University 800 FR 400 FR 400 MR 200 FR 200 MR 5
Stanford University 800 FR 400 FR 400 MR 200 FR 200 MR 5
University of California, Berkeley 800 FR 400 FR 400 MR 200 FR 200 MR 5
University of Tennessee, Knoxville 800 FR 400 FR 400 MR 200 FR 200 MR 5
University of Virginia 800 FR 400 FR 400 MR 200 FR 200 MR 5
University of Louisville 800 FR 400 FR 400 MR 200 FR 200 MR 5
University of Georgia 800 FR 400 FR 400 MR 200 FR 200 MR 4
The Ohio State University 800 FR 400 FR 400 MR 200 FR 200 MR 4
University of Michigan 800 FR 400 FR 400 MR 200 FR 200 MR 4
University of Southern California 800 FR 400 FR 400 MR 200 FR 200 MR 4
University of Texas at Austin 800 FR 400 FR 400 MR 200 FR 200 MR 4
Auburn University 800 FR 400 FR 400 MR 200 FR 200 MR 3
University of Wisconsin, Madison 800 FR 400 FR 400 MR 200 FR 200 MR 3
University of Florida 400 FR 400 MR 200 FR 200 MR 4
University of Alabama 400 FR 400 MR 200 FR 200 MR 3
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 400 FR 400 MR 200 FR 200 MR 3
Northwestern University 400 FR 400 MR 200 FR 200 MR 2
University of Missouri, Columbia 400 FR 400 MR 200 FR 200 MR 2
Duke University 400 FR 400 MR 200 FR 200 MR 1
Indiana University, Bloomington 800 FR 400 MR 200 FR 200 MR 1
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville 800 FR 400 FR 200 FR 200 MR 1
Harvard University 800 FR 400 FR 400 MR 2
University of Kentucky 800 FR 400 FR 400 MR 2
Arizona State University 800 FR 400 MR 400 FR 1
San Diego State University 400 MR 200 FR 200 MR 1
Texas A&M University, College Station 800 FR 400 MR 200 MR 0
University of Arizona 800 FR 200 FR 0
University of Notre Dame 400 MR 200 MR 0
University of South Carolina, Columbia 400 MR 200 FR 0
University of Houston 800 FR 0

Only 3 out of 30 teams to qualify relays to swim at NCAAs are not from a ‘Power 5’ conference; the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 or Pac-12. The 3 ‘Mid-Major’ schools to secure relay invites are Harvard (Ivy League), San Diego State (Mountain West), and the University of Houston (AAC). All three of these school won their respective conference titles this year.

It takes a solid amount of depth in order for team to qualify 5 relay teams to swim at NCAAs, which is why only a handful achieve the feat every year. This year, there are 13 teams qualified to swim all of the relays. To go even further than that, a real signifier of a top tier program is hitting the ‘A’ cut in all five relays. This year, that was accomplished by 6 schools; NC State, Stanford, Cal, Tennessee, Virginia, and Louisville.

Below, we show all of the schools with at least one ‘A’ cut this year, along with how many they hit in 2017, 2018, and 2019.

School 2020 2019 2018 2017
University of California, Berkeley 5 5 5 5
Stanford University 5 5 5 5
University of Louisville 5 5 5 5
North Carolina State University 5 5 4 5
University of Tennessee, Knoxville 5 5 5 4
University of Virginia 5 5 4 5
The Ohio State University 4 3 4 1
University of Florida 4 3 1 1
University of Georgia 4 2 4 5
University of Michigan 4 5 5 4
University of Southern California 4 4 5 5
University of Texas at Austin 4 5 5 5
Auburn University 3 5 4 4
University of Alabama 3 0 3 1
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 3 1 3 4
University of Wisconsin, Madison 3 4 5 5
Harvard University 2 0 0 0
Northwestern University 2 0 0 0
University of Kentucky 2 3 2 3
University of Missouri, Columbia 2 4 3 3
Arizona State University 1 2 0 1
Duke University 1 0 0 2
Indiana University, Bloomington 1 4 3 3
San Diego State University 1 0 0 0
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville 1 2 0 1

Of the 6 teams who hit the Qualifying Standard in 5 relays this year, only 3 of them have done so every year since 2017; Stanford, Cal, and Louisville.

Other Notable Stats

  • After three years of no ‘A’ cuts, Harvard (400 FR, 800 FR) and Northwestern (200 MR, 400 MR) each earned 2 this year
  • After three years of no ‘A’ cuts, San Diego State earned 1 this year 200 MR
  • University of Texas missed the 200 MR ‘A’ cut after hitting 5/5 for the past 3 years
  • University of Arizona and Notre Dame got no ‘A’ cuts this year for the first time in three years but each got 2 provisional invites – UofA (800 FR, 200 FR), ND (400 MR, 200 MR)
  • University of Minnesota secured no relay invites at all this year
  • Georgia bounced back with 4 ‘A’ cuts this year after only 2 last year

The 2020 Women’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships take place at the University of Georgia in Athens, GA from March 18th to the 21st.

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Silent Observer
4 years ago

The ACC has really come into its own with 3 of the 6 teams with all 5 A cut relays coming from there.

If UVA and NCState had hit all 5 A relays last year, instead of both only hitting 4, then they would have joined the ranks of Louisville, Stanford and Cal for having all 5 relays hit A standard for the 4th year in a row. Making it 3 of the 5 to hit 5 for 5, 4years in a row; ACC teams. #funfact

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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