Excerpted from the NCAA NewsAfter 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. Some coaches have requested to compete at short-course yards every year and eliminate metric meets. An informal poll conducted by CollegeSwimming.com found 74% of respondants indicating a preferance for SCY every year, 17% preferring SCM in Olympic years, and 8% preferring LCM in Olympic years. 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.

USA Swimming Executive Director Chuck Wielgus addressed the group on 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, though approximately 11% of Olympic swimming participants had NCAA ties. This number may go down as the NCAA passed legislation that will require foreign-born swimmers (and tennis players) to begin collegiate competition within one year following the completition of their high school graduation (or equivalent). The new rule aims to eliminate swimmers who begin NCAA competition 2-4 years following the conclusion of their high school days.

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. Committee members want to streamline the process to better gauge a membership consensus during its rules deliberations at the annual meeting and will thus issue the rules 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. This change will align the meeting more closely with the NCAA's legislative cycle.

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. Michael Phelps and Megan Quann are frequently identified as athletes who opted out of their collegiate eligibility in order to avoid the 20-hour rule and pursue outside commercial interests.

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 or to allow last-chance meets only the day after conference meets 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.

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

Division I
In Division I, members agreed to study the possible use of qualified personnel not affiliated with participating institutions to judge 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.

Division II
The Division II committee discussed when to conduct heats for the 800-yard freestyle relay at the NCAA 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 is similar to the conduct of the 1,000 and 1,650- yard freestyles where only the final eight swimmers swim at night.

"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."

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.

Division III
In Division III, committee members agreed to ask the Championships Committee for permission to survey the membership about the possibility of a common site combined men's and women's championship (as conducted by Division II). 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 2009. 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.