By Jim Richardson
Is it finally time for the NCAA to consider making changes to the Division 1 championship meet format?
Conferences have experimented with different formats for several years now in an effort to provide their swimmers with better opportunities for peak performances. Swimmers who compete in all of the seven allowed events can race up to 14 times in three days.
Is it any wonder that we start to see declared false starts on the second day during the 200 freestyles? And empty lanes during the morning heats of the 100 freestyle on Saturday are commonplace.
Division III has adopted a four-day format that appears to be very reasonable. It certainly looks to be far more conducive to better performances for both individuals and relays.
One event that takes its toll on the swimmers is the 800 freestyle relay. At this year’s Division I meet, only four out of 25 teams bettered their seed time. In addition, only six out of 29 200 medley relays bettered their seed time this morning.
Part of the reason for this is that many conferences swim the 200 medley relay and the 800 freestyle relay on Wednesday night at their conference championships. The swimmers are fresh for those events and, as a result, those times are often difficult to duplicate later at the NCAA Championships due to the meet format.
Another issue is the length of the Division I meet on Friday night. The ninth through 16th seeded 800 freestyle relays didn’t start until 9:20 pm. The final heat began around 9:30. After post-relay swim downs, many of those swimmers didn’t leave the facility until after 10 pm.
I believe our student-athletes deserve better. They have trained for six to seven months for this peak experience. We owe it to them to provide a more sensible meet format.