NCAA Makes Waves With Co-Ed Meet, Time Standards, Suits

Suits, standards, and a mixing of the genders – that’s what came out of the NCAA Swimming and Diving Committee meetings held last this week.  With an official announcement forthcoming, its apparent that last week's meetings will make waves across the swimming world.  The committee addressed a ratcheting up of Division I ‘A’ time standards, extension of the moratorium on new suits, and movement towards co-ed meets.

See NCAA Video of Rules Editor Brian Gordon and Sue Peterson Lubow.

Co-Ed Championships
The prospect of co-ed meets took two steps forward – one large, and one small.  The small step was made in Division I where the committee endorsed the concept of a co-ed swimming and diving championship.  The committee stopped short of fully sponsoring a proposal until such time as a suitable facility could come online.  There have been discussions that the NCAA, the Indiana Sports Commission, and Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI) could work together towards renovations to the storied IUPUI facility. 

The big step forward came in Division III where a combined meet will be held in 2009.  A shortage of bids for two consecutive weekends, combined with the availability of the University of Minnesota for a combined meet, led the committee to the decision. 

"I would also say the committee felt this was the best of the available options," said one committee member. "We are planning on returning to separate championships in 2010."

The meet will use the stand four-day established program March 18-21 2009.  The NCAA intends to solicit bids for separate championships in 2010, however, they will likely evaluate the feedback, along with the increasing support for combined championships at all levels, to determine the future of the meet.

Time Standards
As a part of its normal proceedings, the NCAA also evaluated the time standards for all 2009 championships.  While cuts get faster every, year next year’s cuts represent a huge difference, especially in Division I where a record number of swimmers achieved the ‘A’ time standard.  That’s not likely to happen next season.  The Division I ‘A’ standards will become much faster while the ‘B’ standards will become marginally faster.

The extensive changes are meant to protect the meet from exceeding its cap, which is currently set at 281 men and 335 women.  By tightening the ‘A’ standard, but relaxing the difference between ‘A’ and ‘B’ times (4% for women, 3.5% for men), the NCAA will ensure the cap is not exceeded, without decreasing the number of participants in the meet.  

Next Generation Suits
The NCAA also discussed the role of the latest generation of technical suits unveiled by manufacturers.  Last year the NCAA created a moratorium prohibiting the use of suits that were not commercially available prior to January 1, 2008.  The committee voted to extend the moratorium on the new suits for another year. 

The broader swimming world has been in a tumult over the new suits which, many have argued, are responsible for the onslaught of world records.  While the broader swimming world has largely grown to accept the suits as a way of life, many institutions have voiced concern that the new suits will place an undue financial burden on teams.  The committee held that aside, however, and looked closely at the rule governing against artificial aids.  It reads, in part that swimmers are not permitted to use anything that would help their, “speed, pace or buoyancy in competition.”  This stood in contrast to several early marketing efforts which touted the suits’ ability to “add lift” or let swimmers’ hips “ride higher in the water.”

This moratorium will be subject to approval by the NCAA’s legal counsel.