41.9% Want To See Short Course Meters In The NCAA

SwimSwam Pulse is a recurring feature tracking and analyzing the results of our periodic A3 Performance Polls. You can cast your vote in our newest poll on the SwimSwam homepage, about halfway down the page on the right side.

Our most recent poll asked SwimSwam readers if short course meters should be implemented in NCAA Championship competition:

Question: Should the NCAA Championships go back to being in short course meters during Olympic years?

RESULTS

• No – 58.1%
• Yes – 23.2%
• SCM all the time – 18.7%

In 2000 and 2004, we saw the NCAA Championships contested in short course meters. After those two experimental years, which included multiple world records being broken, things have returned to the traditional short course yards every season.

Is there an appetite to bringing back SCM to college swimming, at least every once in a while?

Due to the lack of SCM racing in the United States, and the marquee short course meets throughout the year (World Cup, SC World Championships) coinciding with the NCAA schedule, we rarely get to see the top Americans racing in the format.

That changed during the three seasons of the International Swimming League (ISL) from 2019 until 2021, but with the league defunct as far as we know, it’s few and far between we get to see a lot of Americans racing SCM.

Racing the NCAA Championships in short course meters during the Olympic year is a fun idea, but in reality, does the extra ~9% of pool make much of a difference from a long course preparation standpoint? Probably not.

However, every season we see a smattering of comments calling for SCM competition in the NCAA, so we took it to the A3 Performance Poll to see how our readership really feels about it.

The majority said they don’t want to see it, 58%, which was expected given that SCY is the way things have always operated in the U.S., not to mention the massive amount of complications that would come from switching even just one meet to SCM.

Furthermore, would it make sense to race the entire season in SCY only to have the national championship raced in SCM? In Canada, the entire U SPORTS season runs in SCM, and then in certain years, they’ll switch to long course finals for the championship meet, which from the outside looking in makes zero sense.

However, the SCM options still got plenty of love in the poll. More than 23% voted yes, they’d like to see the NCAA Championships be contested in SCM during Olympic years, and a further 18.7% said they’d like to see in SCM all the time.

From a global perspective, the times would mean something to all—when Leon Marchand goes 3:28 in the 400 IM or 1:46 in the 200 breast, anyone not from the U.S. has a hard time putting that into context. If he went 3:52 in the 400 IM or 1:59 in the 200 breast in SCM, it would hold greater significance internationally.

Being the world record holder is more significant to a worldwide audience than being the NCAA and U.S. Open Record holder.

We will see two of the best teams in the NCAA, Virginia and Florida, race in SCM in October, so perhaps the logistical challenges of having NCAAs in SCM aren’t as tough as we think. If it was raced in that format once every four years, teams could plan accordingly and have a few meets in meters throughout the season.

Below, vote in our new A3 Performance Poll, which asks: Which short course world record will be toughest for Leon Marchand to break?

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ABOUT A3 PERFORMANCE

A3 Performance is an independently-owned, performance swimwear company built on a passion for swimming, athletes, and athletic performance. We encourage swimmers to swim better and faster at all ages and levels, from beginners to Olympians.  Driven by a genuine leader and devoted staff that are passionate about swimming and service, A3 Performance strives to inspire and enrich the sport of swimming with innovative and impactful products that motivate swimmers to be their very best – an A3 Performer.

The A3 Performance Poll is courtesy of A3 Performance, a SwimSwam partner.