Duel in the Pool Times Will Not Count for NCAA Qualifying

PHOENIX, Arizona, November 22. THE 13 collegiate swimmers on the American roster for the upcoming Duel in the Pool are likely to swim fast against the European All-Stars. None of the times they use in the short course meters competition in Glasgow, however, are eligible to qualify for the NCAA championships.

Brian Gordon, the secretary-rules editor on the NCAA Swimming & Diving Committee, told Swimming World today that the Duel in the Pool was not approved as a “Bona Fide Competition” in the publication of the 2013-2015 rules. Any USA Swimming-sanctioned meet during the college season, such as the Arena Grand Prix in Minneapolis, is automatically recognized as a “Bona Fide Competition.” A meet not held on U.S. soil, even those approved by and run by FINA officials, would need to get previous approval from the NCAA committee to get special recognition as a “Bona Fide Competition.”

The 2012 short course world championships was the last meet that received special “Bona Fide Competition” status, to allow swimmers to use times for qualifying for the 2013 NCAA championships. It appears that athletes who competed at the short course worlds didn’t take advantage of that rule, choosing to use short course yards times swum back in the States.

If the Duel in the Pool were held in the United States this year, it would have become a USA Swimming sanctioned meet and part of that blanket rule that accepts times from all meets sanctioned by USA Swimming, Gordon said. The NCAA does not publish a list of short course meters qualifying times, though if a swimmer wanted to use a time from one of the rare short course meters meets held in the U.S. — such as the Navy-Virginia-Yale tri-meet on October 25 — a conversion chart is available to change those times to short course yards.

Also, the NCAA rulebook specifies that long course meters times are not acceptable for NCAA qualification, so no times from the Grand Prix meets in Austin and Orlando this winter can count.

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