All of the 2018-2019 NCAA qualifying marks have been released and 26 of 52 individual A and B cuts are faster for division 3 than division 2. This despite the fact that division 2 is the faster division overall and has a faster championship meet. The comparison of the standards is in the tables below with the faster of the two standards marked in bold.
| D2 Women | D3 Women | |||
| A Cut | B Cut | A Cut | B Cut | |
| 50 Freestyle | 22.9 | 24.05 | 22.77 | 23.75 |
| 100 Freestyle | 49.63 | 52.11 | 49.54 | 51.82 |
| 200 Freestyle | 1:48.14 | 1:53.55 | 1:47.34 | 1:52.56 |
| 500 Freestyle | 4:50.73 | 5:05.26 | 4:45.33 | 5:00.62 |
| 1000 Freestyle | 9:55.37 | 10:25.14 | ||
| 1650 Freestyle | 16:37.32 | 17:27.18 | 16:27.52 | 17:33.72 |
| 100 Backstroke | 54.02 | 56.72 | 54.12 | 57.18 |
| 200 Backstroke | 1:57.46 | 2:03.33 | 1:56.47 | 2:03.87 |
| 100 Breaststroke | 1:01.16 | 1:04.21 | 1:01.79 | 1:04.95 |
| 200 Breaststroke | 2:13.75 | 2:20.44 | 2:13.71 | 2:22.73 |
| 100 Butterfly | 53.37 | 56.04 | 52.92 | 56.82 |
| 200 Butterfly | 1:59.37 | 2:05.34 | 1:56.90 | 2:05.86 |
| 200 IM | 1:59.39 | 2:05.36 | 2:00.51 | 2:06.68 |
| 400 IM | 4:17.69 | 4:30.57 | 4:13.77 | 4:31.12 |
| 200 Free Relay | 1:34.42 | 1:35.63 | ||
| 400 Free Relay | 3:26.67 | 3:29.97 | ||
| 800 Free Relay | 7:30.17 | 7:39.30 | ||
| 200 Medley Relay | 1:43.61 | 1:45.69 | ||
| 400 Medley Relay | 3:47.77 | 3:51.41 |
| D2 Men | D3 Men | |||
| A Cut | B Cut | A Cut | B Cut | |
| 50 Freestyle | 19.76 | 20.75 | 19.66 | 20.68 |
| 100 Freestyle | 43.36 | 45.52 | 43.46 | 45.46 |
| 200 Freestyle | 1:35.51 | 1:40.29 | 1:36.89 | 1:40.24 |
| 500 Freestyle | 4:21.76 | 4:34.84 | 4:20.26 | 4:33.78 |
| 1000 Freestyle | 9:05.65 | 9:32.94 | ||
| 1650 Freestyle | 15:18.85 | 16:04.79 | 15:02.59 | 16:16.65 |
| 100 Backstroke | 46.94 | 49.29 | 47.32 | 50.27 |
| 200 Backstroke | 1:44.78 | 1:50.02 | 1:44.47 | 1:50.64 |
| 100 Breaststroke | 52.91 | 55.56 | 52.11 | 56.28 |
| 200 Breaststroke | 1:55.12 | 2:00.87 | 1:53.85 | 2:04.80 |
| 100 Butterfly | 46.79 | 49.13 | 47.19 | 49.44 |
| 200 Butterfly | 1:45.11 | 1:50.37 | 1:45.59 | 1:51.06 |
| 200 IM | 1:46.15 | 1:51.45 | 1:45.47 | 1:51.98 |
| 400 IM | 3:48.97 | 4:00.42 | 3:47.19 | 4:02.37 |
| 200 Free Relay | 1:21.25 | 1:22.54 | ||
| 400 Free Relay | 2:59.79 | 3:03.50 | ||
| 800 Free Relay | 6:37.76 | 6:47.15 | ||
| 200 Medley Relay | 1:29.20 | 1:31.35 | ||
| 400 Medley Relay | 3:16.66 | 3:21.32 |
14 of 26 of the women’s standards were faster in D3 and 12 of 26 of the men’s standards were faster in D3. Unsurprisingly the majority of quicker D3 standards came from the A cuts. The D3 men’s cuts are faster in 8 of 13 events and the women’s D3 cuts are faster in 10 of 13 events. Because of the way A cuts are calculated in D3, the average of the last 3 winning times, they are closer to trivia than a meaningful part of the qualifying procedure.
This rather extreme method of calculating A cuts is pretty recent. When the NCAA changed the qualifying procedure to first take the top 16 relays in each event, the number of lines of individual qualifiers was reduced significantly. The cap was raised to partially alleviate this, but in the first few years of the change the cut line fell below 16 individuals pretty often. At the same time, there were events where more than 20 people achieved A cuts, making the already tight cut lines even tighter. This led to scenarios where some events had less than 2 heats of individual qualifiers and other events had nearly three.
To make sure that all events were capped by the cut line and not the number of A cuts, in 2014 the rules were changed to eliminate A cuts for all practical purposes. The new system of averaging the last 3 winning times means there are typically fewer than 10 A cuts a year in all of D3.
The current qualifying system has changed again. Now the top 16 men and 20 women in individuals events qualify before relays are added to the meet, but the strict A cuts remain in place.
The more interesting comparison between the divisions is the B cuts. These are mostly faster in D2, but every B cut in a freestyle event shorter than the 1000 is faster in D3.
Under the current system many more swimmer achieve B cuts than are invited to the meet. This means the primary function of B cuts in D3 is determining which individual events relay only swimmers can swim at the meet. (Relay only swimmers in D2 can’t swim individuals) D3 has a higher individual cap than D2 does (D3 is 260 men, 319 women, D2 is 157, 183), so it makes sense that D3 is stricter with fast B cuts to limit how many relay only swimmers (who are majority sprint or mid distance freestylers) can participate in individual events.
How are the A cuts for D3 determined?
Average of the last 3 winning times at nationals. I put that in the article.
I blame Andrew Wilson
As a former DIII dad, I saw an influx of DI talent electing or moving to DIII for various reasons. US national teamer Andrew Wilson is the best example, swimming at Emory. But there are many other examples – Anderson, Curley, Katz etc. The top end of DIII has become very fast, but there is a quicker drop off than the other divisions. My son, who was looking from lower DI through DIII found that DIII was the best fit for him as a student athlete.
I’m not sure that Andrew Wilson is an example for what you’re trying to show. He certainly ended his college career as a D1-caliber swimmer, but he was mostly a high school only swimmer in his youth and I’m not sure he ever broke 1 minute in the 100 yard breaststroke before college.
I do recognize your point with Wilson, but his success at DIII could be attributable to the quality of athletes and coaching. And his untapped talent. Back to the original article I was really trying to point out that the top end of DIII has some talent and speed.
Yep, I think Wilson is a good example that it is possible for a talented swimmer to develop in D3, maybe moreso than he proves the point of a mass influx of D1 caliber recruits going to D3 schools.
And, one of our writers found a 59.4 for him in HS. Still probably a D3 caliber recruit, based strictly on times.
Old news?
Relay-only swimmers can’t swim individual events at DII NCAAs. It’s a completely different invite system.
True. The last paragraph was ambiguous on that point. I edited it for clarity.
is there a point to this article? Or merely informational? could it be that there are far more DIII schools than DII and thus many more swimmers to try an keep out of the NCAA Championship meet that the A cuts need to be faster.
The A cuts in D3 are basically for show – they’re an average of the WINNERS (many of whom have broken NCAA records) of the past three years. The B cuts are more telling.
A cuts for D2 are for show, too. And in all honesty, the B cuts aren’t “telling” at all as it relates to an article attempting to compare D2 to D3 because the invite systems are entirely different. This is an apples-to-oranges comparison.
I don’t have knowledge of how the A cuts in D2 are determined. Are they also the average of winners?