Comparing NCAA Division III Invited Times: 2019 to 2018

Earlier this week the NCAA released the unofficial psych sheets for the 2019 Division III National Championships. (Those psych sheets become official Monday, after the completion of diving regionals).

This year 19-20 women have been invited in individual events and 18 selected in relays. For the men 16 have been selected in individual events and 15 in relays. Those numbers were consistent with last year’s for the men, while the women saw a harsher cutline, down from the 20 relays and 22 individuals who made the meet in 2018.

At Mid-Season Swimming World took a look at the National rankings, comparing 2018’s Invited time to where last year’s cutline fell on the times recorded so far this season. For the men, one event (the 400 IM) was already faster, while many times were already approaching the previous season’s mark. The women’s times still had more room to drop before the 2019 NCAA Invited time would become faster than the 2018 mark. At Conference Championships, the times got faster.

Below is a look at the 2018 Invited time, the 2019 Invited time, and what time fell at this year’s cutline as of January 1, 2019.

Across both genders, all but two events (the men’s 200 Fly and men’s 200 IM) required a faster time to make the meet in 2019 than in 2018. For both of those events, the qualification time was only .04 slower this season.

Women’s

Event	Invited 2018	Invited 2019	Cutline at Midseason
50 Free	23.66	23.48	23.70
100 Free	51.59	51.36	51.84
200 Free	1:52.20	1:51.49	1:52.85
500 Free	4:59.14	4:58.76	5:03.24
1650 Free	17:18.18	17:11.27	17:25.88
100 Back	56.49	56.37	57.01
200 Back	2:03.09	2:02.96	2:04.49
100 Breast	1:04.42	1:04.33	1:04.96
200 Breast	2:21.68	2:20.77	2:21.70
100 Fly	56.42	56.13	56.98
200 Fly	2:05.11	2:04.46	2:06.59
200 IM	2:06.27	2:05.75	2:07.22
400 IM	4:29.37	4:28.17	4:31.33
200 Medley Relay	1:44.95	1:44.55	1:47.54
400 Medley Relay	3:51.38	3:49.90	3:56.00
200 Free Relay	1:35.15	1:34.95	1:36.85
400 Free Relay	3:29.41	3:28.45	3:32.86
800 Free Relay	7:36.97	7:35.32	7:48.19

The women’s 400 medley relay made a significant leap forward, with the invited time falling by a second and half. The mile got seven seconds faster, though the 2018 invited time was two seconds slower than the 2017 mark.

Men’s

Event	Invited 2018	Invited 2019	Cutline at Midseason
50 Free	20.43	20.37	20.54
100 Free	44.88	44.86	45.01
200 Free	1:39.29	1:39.28	1:39.99
500 Free	4:30.81	4:29.81	4:32.22
1650 Free	15:51.89	15:44.28	15:53.77
100 Back	49.49	49.10	49.62
200 Back	1:49.04	1:48.17	1:49.17
100 Breast	55.64	55.41	56.10
200 Breast	2:02.55	2:00.90	2:02.54
100 Fly	48.92	48.75	49.09
200 Fly	1:49.30	1:49.34	1:50.14
200 IM	1:50.66	1:50.70	1:51.00
400 IM	3:58.80	3:56.58	3:58.21
200 Medley Relay	1:30.71	1:29.94	1:31.73
400 Medley Relay	3:20.28	3:19.23	3:22.81
200 Free Relay	1:22.18	1:22.02	1:32.54
400 Free Relay	3:02.64	3:01.77	3:04.69
800 Free Relay	6:44.32	6:43.52	6:57.07

The biggest leaps for the men came in the 200 breaststroke and the 400 IM. After mid-season invitationals it was already clear that qualifying for NCAAs in the 400 IM would require a much faster time in 2019. As of season’s end, 30 men were faster than the 2018 Invited mark, double last year’s total under that time. Forty-three Division III men were under four minutes.

The invited time in the 200 breaststroke came down over a second and a half, after 35 men swam faster than the 2018 Invited mark this year. Nine of those 35 are seniors, who will graduate and open up more room, but 10 are freshmen, who aren’t going anywhere, anytime soon!

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