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NCAA News Archive - 2010

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Mar 3, 2010 8:19:13 AM

Division II will put a lid on its men's and women's swimming and diving championships field starting in 2011, capping the number of competitors to 160 men and 205 women.

That's a big change for a national championship that for decades has been an all-comers event for swimmers who meet predetermined qualifying standards.

But while limiting anything may seem unsettling, many in the Division II swimming community regard the cap as a good thing.

"We embraced the idea because it allows us to guarantee that the best athletes are at our championships," said Clarion Associate AD Wendy Snodgrass, who chairs the Division II Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Committee. "The cap may actually provide for more spots."

The cap was adopted last month when the Division II Championships Committee approved a recommendation from the Division II swimming and diving committee. The Division II Management Council is expected to give the final OK at its meeting next month.

The Championships Committee had asked that the concept be considered as a way to bring more stability to the national finals.

Currently, swimmers get to the championships meet by making what's called an "A" cut in an event. The "A" cuts are set aggressively to create an automatic-qualifying procedure that encourages swimmers to qualify early in the season and then train steadily for the national meet.

With the cap in place, though, the committee likely will tighten "A" cut times even more to where only a handful of swimmers can make them and then establish a more inclusive "B" cut that swimmers can meet to be considered.

"This way we can actually invite swimmers into the meet rather than just having them rely on making an ‘A' cut," Snodgrass said.

Divisions I and III have caps, as well, though have been more necessary because those divisions are more populated. Division II never has employed a cap because sponsorship numbers (which have ranged from about 51 to 58 men's programs and 72 to 76 women's programs) allowed the committee to manage the meet through time standards.

Most people think a field size of 365 will be about right for future years.

The 2011 field also will be the first to include an "A" cut for the 1,000-yard freestyle. Swimmers in that event traditionally have had to meet an "A" time in another event in order to participate in the 1,000. The Division II committee took that into account when determining the cap number.

Todd Peters, the men's and women's coach at Minnesota State Moorhead and a member of the Division II committee, said the cap will get the committee out of a "guessing game" as far as time standards are concerned.

"There's no way of knowing exactly how many people will show up at the meet just by setting the ‘A' standards," he said. "We need a more solid determination of the exact number of participants – not so that we don't have too many, but so that we don't have too few. That's where the benefit will be."

An ancillary benefit – though some people regard it as a concern – is an enhanced regular season for swimmers who will have to swim aggressively to qualify. 

"The athletes and coaches are going to have to track where they are on their top-times lists now instead of making the ‘A' cut early and then coasting through the rest of the season," Snodgrass said. "They'll have to continue to train throughout the season in hopes of bettering their times and moving up the list."

The drawback to that is that non A-cut swimmers won't know whether they are in the meet until about 10 days before it starts.

"After our conference championships, some of our athletes are going to be on the line and won't know until a week or 10 days later whether they're going to nationals," said Indianapolis men's and women's coach Gary Kinkead, who serves on the board of the College Swimming Coaches Association of America. "I don't like having them in limbo."

It also figures to keep teams in limbo as far as making arrangements for the national meet, since coaches and administrators will not know who is going until later. At the same time, Kinkead said the cap will help foster a true national championships meet, which he believes is better for Division II.

"The top 16 people in a given event would be the top 16 people with a cap or not," he said. "All the cap will do is potentially reduce the number of competitors in the meet – which isn't a bad idea, because a championship meet should be one in which the athletes who are going to be placing in the top eight and top 16 have adequate rest between the preliminaries and finals.

"This will be good for Division II. This isn't an age-group competition. This is a national championship event."

Many coaches are taking a wait-and-see approach before giving an opinion. Kinkead said some are concerned that the committee will set the "A" cuts too aggressively the first year.

Snodgrass, the committee chair, said more ambitious "A" cuts could be expected but that the committee will be able to manage the standards to accommodate the best field.

"Divisions I and III typically have a tough ‘A' cut and a more relaxed ‘B' cut because they want to limit the amount of automatic qualifiers and invite more athletes," she said. " That's probably what we will do as well."