Among the headline-grabbing NCAA rule changes we reported on last week is another impactful update: the NCAA will add long course meters as an approved course for college swim meets next season.
Before international swimming fans get too excited, this doesn’t mean that the NCAA Championships or even major conference championships will be switching over to long course meters (LCM). What it does mean is that NCAA swimmers can compete in long course meets during the college season and have their times count towards NCAA qualification.
The NCAA already features short course meters (SCM) as an approved course, with a conversion factor allowing the times to be compared to traditional short course yards (SCY) swims in ranking athletes and determining NCAA invites.
Adding long course meters to that situation is actually not a new change – up until 2010, long course was an approved course for NCAA qualification. The rule was changed in 2010, with a large number of college coaches criticizing it for unfairly impacting NCAA invites.
The idea is that, with very limited invites available for the NCAA Championships, including long course times was diluting the meet from including the best short course swimmers. Theoretically, a great long course swimmer could put up a qualifying time in long course and take an NCAA invite from a swimmer who might be better at turns and underwaters and therefore be faster in a short course yards setting.
The NCAA’s swimming & diving Secretary-Rules Editor Brian Gordon said that complaint was in the forefront of the NCAA rules committee’s mind as they approved the change, and will be a major consideration in how the NCAA Championships Committee moves forward in implementing the change.
“It has to be done in a way where the best short course swimmers are still making the NCAA Championships,” Gordon said.
The official rules governing how exactly a swimmer can qualify for NCAAs using a long course time will be officially determined at some point this summer. The NCAA Rules Committee approved the change, and it’s now up to the NCAA Championships Committee to determine how to use long course times in NCAA qualification.
That could theoretically look like the NCAA’s procedure for short course meters, using a conversion factor, but it could also very well be a more selective measure – perhaps an “A” cut in long course to allow automatic qualification without using long course “B” cuts to dole out further invites. At this point, it’s all speculation, until the NCAA Championships Committee decides on its course of action at some point this summer.
As long as there is some method of making NCAAs through long course swims, though, we might see more college programs swimming some long course meets during the season, at least with their top-level athletes who will be gearing up for the Olympic Games, U.S. Olympic Trials or Olympic Trials in their home countries.
U.S. Winter Nationals, typically a mid-season rest meet for many college programs, are being conducted in long course this year in preparation for Olympic Trials. Originally, that seemed to suggest that college programs would look elsewhere for mid-season rest meets with the goal of hitting NCAA “A” cuts, but depending on what the NCAA’s implementation of their approved long course format looks like, we could see teams hitting Winter Nationals in search of a double-whammy: qualifying for NCAAs while also getting preparation in for the Olympic Trials.
Is that the same Brian Gordon who made the phrase “Where Are You” famous at rider college in the 1970’s?
The 1500 was swum Long Course at the NCAA’s in 1956 at Ysle upstairs 50m pool.
Not sure how they’ll manage the cut line with this. For example, it doesn’t seem fair that the line separating the 28th and last qualifier and the 29th and first out might be a few hundredths, when you have LCM converted times ranked in the 20s. It’s comparing something precise against something that isn’t.
I guess that means we’ll be seeing a 100 LCM IM any day now
the 100 IM is to be only be offered in conference events only not NCAA’s
The coaches who voiced concern initially over this haven’t really been addressed. The NCAA just appeased them for a few years and then brought the rule back once the ruckus died down. “It has to be done in a way where the best short course swimmers are still making the NCAA Championships.” — Well, sure, I would hope so, but I’m not sure how allowing long course qualification isn’t in direct opposition to that.
I get that an Olympic year is coming up and so the preparation for Trials (more long course training/racing) will be on the minds of some swimmers and coaches (and rightly so), but I think that if you want the best short course swimmers, you’ve got… Read more »
I think a fair solution would be to have LCM “A” cuts which are appropriately tough, and LCM “B” cuts for bonus swims, but only count SCY times in determining the top X number of swimmers per event (beyond the “A” cut qualifiers) that get an invitation.
I agree that would be acceptable, but what determines “appropriately tough?” If it’s a long course time so tough that, in doing it, the swimmer proves they could have done it short course, then they should do it short course in the first place.
I believe the margin between qualifying/scoring and staying home is too small to use broadly applied conversion factors on such a diverse and competitive group of swimmers.
“Appropriately tough” means, as you say, tough enough to prove they could have done it short course. This would give top swimmers/teams the option of swimming their mid-season taper meet in LCM. My suggestion addresses the objection of you and others — which I completely agree with — that it would be unfair to use conversion factors to determine the “bubble” spots, i.e. the swimmers on the borderline between qualifying and staying home. Limit LCM qualifying to a handful of “A” cut qualifiers and “B” cut bonus swims, neither of which is likely to affect whether swimmers on the bubble qualify for the meet or not.
What would be “fair” is to allow long course times only for bonus swims. If you can’t cut the mustard in at least one short course event, you don’t belong there.
That sucks for people who are better at SCY! 🙁
That’s awesome for the people who are better at LCM!:)