2022 ACC SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- When: Tuesday, February 15th to Saturday, February 19th Prelims 10:00am | Finals 6:00 pm (Tuesday 11:00am/4:30pm)
- Where: McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta Georgia (Eastern Time Zone)
- Defending Champions
- Streaming: ACC Network
- Championship Central: Here
- Detailed Timeline: Here
- Psych Sheets: Here
- Live Results
Given the rather…complicated…method of inviting swimmers to the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships, it’s hard to say with certainty exactly who will and will not get an invite until the powers that be release the kraken…er…official psych sheets…early in March.
While getting an ‘A’ time gives you a very nice sense of security, coaches and swimmers and nerdy swim fans know from year to year what sort of times are almost certain to get an invite, and the NC State mens, in addition to dominating the ACC Championships, are racking up a ton of likely NCAA invites this week, building on some fast times from earlier in the season.
In fact, with two days left in the conference championship, it looks like 17 NC State men are pretty well assured of a NCAA invite. Here’s the list of names, along with at least one event in which each swimmer seems to be safe. I’ve been keeping track of this chronologically, so the event listed may not necessarily be the swimmer’s best event or most recent time this season, either. Feel free to fact check and leave scathing comments if I’m wrong on any of this.
- Noah Henderson – 50 free (19.12)
- Luke Miller – 200 free (1:32.46)
- Hunter Tapp – 200 free (1:32.72)
- Will Gallant – 1650 (14:49.10)
- Kacper Stokowski – 100 back (44.79)
- Nyls Korstanje – 100 fly (44.76)
- Aiden Hayes – 200 fly (1:42.02)
- Mikey Moore – 400 IM (3:42.89)
- Sam Hoover – 200 free (1:32.62)
- Ross Dant – 500 free (4:10.35)
- James Plage – 500 free (4:12.57)
- Eric Knowles – 500 free (4:13.60)
- Giovanni Izzo – 200 IM (1:42.97)
- Arsenio Bustos – 200 IM (1:43.41)
- David Curtiss – 50 free (18.74)
- Noah Bowers – 200 free (1:32.97)
- Bartosz Piszczorowicz – 200 free (1:33.23)
So far, the only swimmer on their ACC roster who doesn’t seem to be locked in for an invite is Rafal Kusto, their primary breaststroker. Kusto did earn an invite last year, and he still has the 100 and the 200 breast tomorrow, so if he’s fast enough in either event over the next two days, it looks like the Wolfpack may max out their NCAA roster, as teams are allowed a maximum of 18 swimmers (we’re going assume that NC State isn’t going to qualify any divers, as that would further complicate the math, and it’s getting late).
If Kusto does qualify, and if a swimmer who didn’t make the ACC roster but could still earn an invite (e.g., Zach Brown, who made NCAAs last year), does in fact go fast enough to earn an invite in the next couple of weeks, head coach Braden Holloway and team will find themselves in the same enviable position as the Texas Longhorns the last few years — having to leave NCAA qualifiers at home.
While the Wolfpack men have had a meteoric rise over the last decade, this would be a new, good problem for them.
Number of NC State’s NCAA Qualifiers, 2017-2021
- 2021 – 14
- 2020 – 7
- 2019 – 11
- 2018 – 12
- 2017 – 10
There’s no guarantee that all these qualifiers will repeat their ACC performances at NCAAs, but after a small bump last year, it’s looking increasingly likely that NC State is back on track to make some noise towards the very top of the NCAA standings.
It looks like Florida might have the same problem. Right now, they have 16 guys already under last year’s qualifying times with the mile to go, where Hernandez-Tome is likely to qualify again after setting PBs this week, Al-Wir and/or Julian Smith could make it in a breaststroke (Al-Wir was only half a second off last year in the 200 on a 53.5 100 and he went 52.6 this morning), there are three guys at home who are past individual NCAA qualifiers (Will Davis, Gerry Quinn, Miguel Cancel), and they have a diver who was 9th at NCAAs last year.
Hook ’em pack! They’re running into Texas MSD problems
Might have noticed, the NCAA is insanely fast this year.
Cut times have been as fast as 1:43.79 and 3:43.42 for the IMs before, so Bustos (1:43.41) and Moore (3:42.89) shouldn’t get too comfortable. And as insane as it sounds, it could even take a 1:41 fly or 1:32 free just to get a prelim swim.
I agree — last year was soft, and cut times should, at least, revert back towards what they were a couple years ago. I looked at previous years’ invite times, as well as how each event is shaping up this year, before estimating what I think should be safe. We’ll see if I was right or not…
Let’s go Pack!!!🐺
Does swimswam have 2021 invite times?
Click the link in the first line.
Thanks!
https://staging.swimswam.com/what-will-it-take-to-qualify-for-the-2022-ncaa-division-i-championships/
When will kids quit going there knowing they won’t make the NCAA squad? Such a waste (sarcasm font)
Heard of Texas?
Read it again 🙂
Didn’t see that on my phone haha Makes sense now!
Sam Hoovers relay split lead off was 1:32.62 so he’s in an even better spot if that counts for an individual swim.
Thanks. I think I meant to check that leadoff, then briefly decided it was someone else, then ended up getting distracted and forgetting to go back and check.
Focus!!!! 🙂