After conducting record-setting Division I swimming championships in short-course meters to coincide with the Summer Olympic Games, the NCAA Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Committee is discussing whether to keep the short-course meters format, change to a long-course format or return to a short-course yards format for 2008.

The committee, which held its annual meeting September 19-21 in Dallas, did not commit to any format, nor did it decide against any of the three. Division I championships break from their traditional short-course yards format in Olympic years, a practice that has been in place since 2000 when the Division I men's and women's meets were held in short-course meters. The committee established the format to give Olympic hopefuls a chance to post times in the NCAA meet that would equate with the meters format used in similar international competitions.

While the short-course meters format has been successful, some coaches and USOC members have pushed for the NCAA meets in Olympic years to be conducted in long-course meters, the format now used for Olympic competition. Some coaches have requested to compete at short-course yards every year and eliminate metric meets. The next NCAA Division I meet tentatively scheduled to be held in a meters format will be in 2008, the same year the Summer Games will be contested in China. But the committee has not yet determined whether it will stick with the meters format it adopted in 2000 for Olympic years.

Committee members also heard a presentation from USA Swimming Executive Director Chuck Wielgus, who asked the group to address the issue of international student-athletes who compete at NCAA institutions and use their facilities to train and then compete in the Olympics for their native countries. Wielgus said some in the USA Swimming community are concerned that international student-athletes are taking more and more scholarship opportunities that could be going to American athletes who would then compete for U.S. Olympic teams. Wielgus told committee members that about 40 percent of swimming medalists at the Athens Summer Games had ties to NCAA institutions.

Wielgus also talked to the committee about his membership on the recently created NCAA/USOC task force charged with addressing Olympic-sports sponsorship issues at NCAA institutions. Wielgus said that group is looking at submitting legislative proposals that would enhance the development of Olympic sports at the collegiate level.

In other action, committee members discussed the way rules proposals are solicited and survey results are compiled. The committee currently asks for proposals in January and sends out a list of proposals before conference championships in February to encourage dialog at the meets about possible rules changes. Rules proposals are accepted until April 1 and then a rules survey is issued. Committee members, however, want to consolidate the feedback to streamline the process and to better gauge a membership consensus during its rules deliberations at the annual meeting. Thus, the committee agreed to eliminate the February list and issue the survey in April.

Also in that vein, the committee decided to change the timing of its annual meeting from September to July beginning in 2005. Committee members made the change to align more closely with the NCAA's legislative cycle. The 2005 meeting will be July 26-28.

The committee also discussed correspondence from John Leonard, executive director of the American Swim Coaches Association, who asked the committee to consider basing championships field sizes on the number of participants at NCAA institutions rather than upon the number of sponsored teams. He believes field sizes based on the latter denies opportunities for a number of qualified swimmers who are not selected because the field size is capped.

Leonard also asked the committee to examine the possibility of an incentives/disincentives structure for a rule that puts weekly limits on the amount of time student-athletes can devote to athletically related activities (the 20-hour rule). Leonard and others are concerned that swimming and diving student-athletes, who typically fare well in graduation rates, are not allowed the choice to excel to their fullest because of the hourly restriction.

Also, committee members discussed the ongoing issue of "last-chance meets" that some coaches and administrators believe are conducted outside the spirit of the rule. Division I members of the committee in particular want to establish policies that would reduce the number of last-chance meets, but members did not reach a consensus on the best way to achieve that goal. Some of the ideas discussed were to require a minimum number of teams to have the meet be considered legitimate, or to allow last-chance meets only the day after conference meets and at the same site as the conference meet. Though no changes will be made to the parameters around last-chance meets for the 2004-05 season, committee members agreed to survey coaches about modifications for future years.

Finally, in a playing-rules matter, the committee voted to change the wording of the breaststroke to specify that the arms shall move simultaneously in the same horizontal plane throughout the propulsive phase of the arms. Additionally, the elbows shall remain under the calm level of the water except for the first stroke before the turn.

That change and others approved by the committee will be forwarded to the Playing Rules Oversight Panel for approval before being implemented in the 2006 rules book (to be issued in September 2005).

Division items

In addition to conducting a joint meeting, the committee's divisional bodies also held separate sessions to discuss division-specific issues.

In Division I, members agreed to study the possible use of qualified personnel not affiliated with participating institutions to judge the diving events at NCAA championships. Diving events are the only NCAA sport/event in which coaches of participating teams are used as judges.

The Division I committee also discussed specifications for relay take-off pads and noted the variance among different equipment in detecting a false start. The committee voted to review the language in the rules book to allow manufacturers' specifications to be followed to determine if a false start occurred, rather than require a uniform specification.

The Division II committee discussed when to conduct heats for the 800-yard freestyle relay during four-day, common-site meets that include a 1,000-yard freestyle event (the format currently used for the Division II championships). Committee members voted to change the procedures in the 2006 rules book to allow for all but the last heat of the 800-yard freestyle relay to be contested during the morning session.

"This will help shorten the finals session of the third day at the championship," said Jerry Wollmering, chair of the Division II committee and athletics director at Truman State University. "It can be a lengthy night session."

All but the last heat of the 1,650-yard freestyle and the 1,000-yard freestyle also are contested in the morning trials session, so the change to the 800-yard freestyle relay would be consistent with the format on the first and fourth day of the event.

A possible change will be considered to the three-day format with platform diving that would allow for the finals on the third day of the event to begin with the 100-yard freestyle, instead of the 1,650-yard freestyle, and then follow the same established order. This format could be used at the Division I championship since Division I uses the three-day format with platform diving. At this point, there is no discussion about changing the three-day format without platform diving. This proposal will be added to the 2005 rules survey for consideration.

Division II committee members also are soliciting bids from potential hosts for the 2007 championships and beyond. The 2005 championships will be held in Orlando, Florida.

In Division III, committee members agreed to ask the Division III Championships Committee for permission to survey the membership about the possibility of a combined men's and women's championship at a common site. Division II currently conducts its men's and women's meets that way, but Division III has maintained separate men's and women's meets in back-to-back weekends at the same site. There are facility concerns either way for Division III -- it is difficult under the current format to secure a natatorium for two straight weeks, but a combined event would require a larger facility than any that currently exists in Division III.

The earliest a combined championship could be conducted would be 2008. Hope College hosts the 2006 championships, and the 2007 and 2008 meets will be at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and the University of Houston, respectively.

The committee also reviewed the way divers are selected to the championships and questioned whether the process is as inclusive as it should be. Some coaches are concerned that the current method of submitting videotapes leaves some qualified divers out of the meet.