Originally published August 6, 2022
The NCAA recently announced their NCAA ‘A’ and ‘B’ Division I time standards for the upcoming 2022-2023 season. This upcoming season, 15 ‘A’ times got faster compared to just six in the year prior.
This past season, Virginia won a back-to-back national title and the Cal men took back the crown after Texas had won in 2021. This upcoming season, the women’s meet will take place in Knoxville, Tennessee while the men’s meet will occur in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The NCAA allows 235 swimming spots for men and 281 swimming spots for women for individual events at the NCAA Division 1 Swimming & Diving Championships. These numbers don’t include relay-only swimmers.
Each team is also limited to bringing 18 athletes, with divers counting as half. If a team qualifies more than 18 athletes, a situation which happened this past season to both the Texas and NC State men, they must cut athletes to get down to 18 total.
Swimmers automatically qualify if they achieve one of the ‘A’ cuts seen below. The ‘B’ cuts are used for consideration and one swimmer is added to each event until the swimming athlete cap of 235 for men and 281 for women is filled.
The new A and B standards for the 2022-2023 season are:
Swimming
| MEN’S B STANDARD | MEN’S A STANDARD | SWIMMING | WOMEN’S A STANDARD | WOMEN’S B STANDARD |
| 19.82 | 18.88 | 50 free | 21.66 | 22.71 |
| 43.59 | 41.64 | 100 free | 47.18 | 49.44 |
| 1:35.88 | 1:31.98 | 200 free | 1:42.84 | 1:47.12 |
| 4:22.35 | 4:11.40 | 500 free | 4:35.76 | 4:47.20 |
| 15:26.19 | 14:37.31 | 1650 free | 15:52.41 | 16:30.59 |
| 47.23 | 44.82 | 100 fly | 50.92 | 53.69 |
| 1:46.31 | 1:40.20 | 200 fly | 1:52.86 | 1:59.23 |
| 47.59 | 44.79 | 100 back | 50.89 | 53.91 |
| 1:44.82 | 1:39.13 | 200 back | 1:50.50 | 1:57.07 |
| 53.87 | 51.4 | 100 breast | 58.1 | 1:01.56 |
| 1:57.95 | 1:51.54 | 200 breast | 2:06.18 | 2:13.89 |
| 1:46.52 | 1:41.22 | 200 IM | 1:53.66 | 1:59.56 |
| 3:51.31 | 3:39.16 | 400 IM | 4:03.62 | 4:17.30 |
| 1:17.58 | 1:16.80 | 200 free relay | 1:28.43 | 1:29.21 |
| 2:52.44 | 2:50.52 | 400 free relay | 3:14.10 | 3:16.32 |
| 6:20.41 | 6:16.02 | 800 free relay | 7:00.86 | 7:05.88 |
| 1:24.42 | 1:23.76 | 200 medley relay | 1:36.24 | 1:37.02 |
| 3:06.84 | 3:04.96 | 400 medley relay | 3:31.38 | 3:33.54 |
Diving
| MEN’S ZONES | DIVING | WOMEN’S ZONES |
| 300 | 1-Meter | 265/220* |
| 320 | 3-Meter | 280/235* |
| 300 | Platform | 225 |
*Denotes 6/5 dive qualifying standards
After going into the 41st female swimmer in 2021, this past season the cutline was about 39 swimmers. On the men’s side, the line was about 32 in 2021 and 31 in 2022. See the exact time it took to receive an invite over the last four years below.
| 2019 INVITE TIME | 2020 INVITE TIME | 2021 INVITE TIME | 2022 INVITE TIME | EVENT (SCY) | 2019 INVITE TIME | 2020 INVITE TIME | 2021 INVITE TIME | 2022 INVITE TIME |
| 19.35 | 19.32 | 19.46 | 19.28 | 50 free | 22.23 | 22.21 | 22.32 | 22.16 |
| 42.53 | 42.57 | 42.88 | 42.34 | 100 free | 48.56 | 48.51 | 48.76 | 48.44 |
| 1:34.21 | 1:34.07 | 1:34.04 | 1:33.08 | 200 free | 1:45.12 | 1:45.23 | 1:46.25 | 1:45.42 |
| 4:16.04 | 4:16.49 | 4:16.75 | 4:14.96 | 500 free | 4:40.96 | 4:41.20 | 4:44.77 | 4:43.08 |
| 14:54.05 | 14:57.07 | 15:01.33 | 14:55.21 | 1650 free | 16:14.21 | 16:17.45 | 16:25.47 | 16:16.47 |
| 45.9 | 45.97 | 46.29 | 45.57 | 100 fly | 52.34 | 52.34 | 52.7 | 52.35 |
| 1:42.35 | 1:43.18 | 1:43.47 | 1:42.42 | 200 fly | 1:56.18 | 1:56.06 | 1:57.42 | 1:56.14 |
| 46.06 | 46.22 | 46.37 | 45.87 | 100 back | 52.46 | 52.73 | 53.01 | 52.46 |
| 1:41.31 | 1:41.49 | 1:41.81 | 1:40.92 | 200 back | 1:54.01 | 1:53.99 | 1:55.05 | 1:53.97 |
| 52.52 | 52.46 | 52.4 | 52.2 | 100 breast | 59.93 | 59.98 | 1:00.12 | 59.87 |
| 1:54.04 | 1:54.03 | 1:54.28 | 1:53.23 | 200 breast | 2:09.77 | 2:10.12 | 2:10.37 | 2:09.15 |
| 1:43.82 | 1:43.79 | 1:44.15 | 1:43.36 | 200 IM | 1:56.76 | 1:57.31 | 1:57.62 | 1:56.85 |
| 3:43.42 | 3:44.36 | 3:45.67 | 3:43.50 | 400 IM | 4:10.00 | 4:10.39 | 4:13.19 | 4:11.60 |
As seen in the chart above, every 2022 invite time was faster than it was during the 2021 season. This was mostly expected as COVID-19 limited many athletes during the 2020-2021 season as well as the fact that Arizona State and the whole Ivy League did not compete during the 2020-2021 season. In addition, almost all of the invite times from 2022 were the fastest they have been over the last four years.
Below are the top 10 (13 for women as there was a tie for 10th) schools that qualified the most athletes for 2022 NCAAs.
Top 10 Schools to Qualify the Most Female Swimmers
| SCHOOL | NUMBER QUALIFIED |
| Tennessee | 16 |
| Louisville | 15 |
| Georgia | 14 |
| Stanford | 14 |
| Virginia | 14 |
| NC State | 14 |
| California | 13 |
| Wisconsin | 12 |
| Ohio St | 12 |
| Michigan | 10 |
| Kentucky | 10 |
| Alabama | 10 |
| Auburn | 10 |
Top 10 Schools to Qualify the Most Male Swimmers
| SCHOOL | NUMBER QUALIFIED |
| Texas | 19 |
| California | 18 |
| NC State | 18 |
| Florida | 15 |
| Arizona St | 12 |
| Stanford | 10 |
| Louisville | 9 |
| Indiana | 9 |
| Southern Cali | 9 |
| Virginia | 9 |
NC State had 19 qualified last year.
So do you guys think the 2023 times will be faster than 2022 times? I’m curious now that we have most of the information.
It’s always safe to assume times will get a little faster every year.
But…too much swimming left to know for sure.
If you swim @ NCAA, you should be tested.
It’s time to do a reality check, friends.
Mike in Dallas.. The Majority of the A finalist at NCAA’s represent there respective country’s national teams, They are drug tested at a ridicules level. At the highest level at NCAA’s it’s probably the cleanest sport.
With the amount of non-returners in specific events, invite times should stay close to or a little faster than what they were last year. Don’t expect huge drops as in last year’s case.
Being engaged. Jk just wanted to have an excuse to mention that but congrats Carson and Meredith!
They really need to start drug testing more. On my team in 2014, we had 5 guy swimmers taking a banned steroid. The coach notified them 6 days before they were going to be tested. They stopped for a couple days and cleaned out their system. Long story short, they were not caught. This is a sensitive topic- but also needs to be discussed!
I would be very interested to know what the estimated percentage of NCAA qualifiers that have used PED’s is. PED usage seems to be common among elite athletes in other sports, but swimming has avoided association with PED use for decades as track and field, weightlifting, cycling, and other sports have been rocked by doping scandals
I’ve anecdotally heard stories of teams even bragging about it. Just stopping a couple days/week before the meets.
I have no idea, but I am curious what steroid clears your system in less than 6 days. Are we talking only urine tests here?
Many glucocorticoids (like prednisone) have a half-life of only a few hours, so those would easily clear your system in 6 days.
That being said….if you can’t get a doc to write you a prescription for prednisone, you really aren’t trying.
That’s a big reach amigo. I answered a specific question that was answered.
I’m on the record several times saying that I think the biggest drivers of young swimmers getting so fast is better athletes in the sport and improvements in coaching education.
Duly noted. But a throwaway comment like that implicates everyone whether you mean it to or not. So if there’s a story there, follow up. If there isn’t… then don’t imply there is.
Which story? That prednisone is overprescribed? That it has a short half life? Those stories have been done hundreds of times.
Are lots of NCAA Athletes doping? Or not? If they are, write a story. If they aren’t, then don’t joke about it in the comments.
I’ll go touch some grass now 🙄
I’m still confused as to where you think I said there are lots of NCAA athletes doping, or where you think I made a joke.
Well you might also mention that prednisone has some nasty side effects including A-fib. Have taken large doses several times for severe bronchitis and it does not make you feel good.
Chanandler Bong seems like he’s new to conversations. Touch some grass bud.