The NCAA released qualifying standards for the 2025 NCAA Division I Swimming & Diving Championships this week, and most of the standards got faster from last year’s meet.
While the standards don’t ultimately decide much, they are a good indicator of the trajectory of times in college swimming, because they are set based on the average of the 8th-best time in the country for the last three years and the 125th-best time in the country for the last three years for the individual “A” and “B” cuts, respectively.
Individual Events
- Qualifying Standards:
- Number of standards that got faster: 12 (men) + 8 (women) = 20
- Percentage of total standards: 76.92%
- Provisional Standards:
- Number of standards that got faster: 13 (men) + 11 (women) = 24
- Percentage of total standards: 92.31%
Relay Events
- Qualifying Standards:
- Number of standards that got faster: 4 (men) + 3 (women) = 7
- Percentage of total standards: 70.00%
- Provisional Standards:
- Number of standards that got faster: 5 (men) + 5 (women) = 10
- Percentage of total standards: 100.00%
Highlights
- While the “A” standard for the women’s 1650 free didn’t change, the “B” standard changed by almost 11 seconds. That implies that the top end of the field was stagnant time-wise, but that the deeper ranks of the event (125th rank nationally) got much, much faster last year.
- Relay events, where these time standards are most significant, mostly got faster on the men’s side, though the 400 medley “A” cut stayed the same. On the women’s side, only three of the relay “A” cuts got faster, and one of those was by only .01 seconds.
Comparison Table – Men Individual
| Event | A Standard 2024 | B Standard 2024 | A Standard 2025 | B Standard 2025 | A Standard Difference | B Standard Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 Freestyle | 0:18.82 | 0:19.79 | 0:18.72 | 0:19.69 | -0:00.10 | -0:00.10 |
| 100 Freestyle | 0:41.50 | 0:43.46 | 0:41.34 | 0:43.25 | -0:00.16 | -0:00.21 |
| 200 Freestyle | 1:31.74 | 1:35.79 | 1:31.21 | 1:35.35 | -0:00.53 | -0:00.44 |
| 500 Freestyle | 4:10.74 | 4:21.99 | 4:10.64 | 4:21.28 | -0:00.10 | -0:00.71 |
| 1,650 Freestyle | 14:37.31 | 15:25.12 | 14:37.31 | 15:21.20 | 0:00.00 | -0:03.92 |
| 100 Butterfly | 0:44.64 | 0:47.08 | 0:44.51 | 0:46.80 | -0:00.13 | -0:00.28 |
| 200 Butterfly | 1:40.16 | 1:45.89 | 1:40.05 | 1:45.34 | -0:00.11 | -0:00.55 |
| 100 Backstroke | 0:44.71 | 0:47.47 | 0:44.48 | 0:47.16 | -0:00.23 | -0:00.31 |
| 200 Backstroke | 1:39.13 | 1:44.60 | 1:38.80 | 1:44.03 | -0:00.33 | -0:00.57 |
| 100 Breaststroke | 0:51.10 | 0:53.63 | 0:51.02 | 0:53.43 | -0:00.08 | -0:00.20 |
| 200 Breaststroke | 1:51.09 | 1:57.44 | 1:50.65 | 1:56.96 | -0:00.44 | -0:00.48 |
| 200 Individual Medley | 1:41.03 | 1:46.16 | 1:40.75 | 1:45.68 | -0:00.28 | -0:00.48 |
| 400 Individual Medley | 3:38.90 | 3:50.68 | 3:38.37 | 3:49.53 | -0:00.53 | -1:01.15 |
Comparison Table – Men Relay
| Event | Qualifying 2024 | Provisional 2024 | Qualifying 2025 | Provisional 2025 | Qualifying Difference | Provisional Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 200 Freestyle Relay | 1:16.80 | 1:17.38 | 1:16.51 | 1:17.13 | -0:00.29 | -0:00.25 |
| 400 Freestyle Relay | 2:50.44 | 2:51.86 | 2:49.79 | 2:51.01 | -0:00.65 | -0:00.85 |
| 800 Freestyle Relay | 6:16.02 | 6:18.94 | 6:15.80 | 6:18.42 | -0:00.22 | -0:00.52 |
| 200 Medley Relay | 1:23.71 | 1:24.32 | 1:23.62 | 1:23.90 | -0:00.09 | -0:00.42 |
| 400 Medley Relay | 3:04.96 | 3:06.84 | 3:04.96 | 3:06.37 | 0:00.00 | -0:00.47 |
Comparison Table – Women Individual
| Event | A Standard 2024 | B Standard 2024 | A Standard 2025 | B Standard 2025 | A Standard Difference | B Standard Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 Freestyle | 0:21.63 | 0:22.67 | 0:21.58 | 0:22.58 | -0:00.05 | -0:00.09 |
| 100 Freestyle | 0:47.18 | 0:49.36 | 0:47.10 | 0:49.18 | -0:00.08 | -0:00.18 |
| 200 Freestyle | 1:42.84 | 1:47.12 | 1:42.60 | 1:46.85 | -0:00.24 | -0:00.27 |
| 500 Freestyle | 4:37.89 | 4:47.20 | 4:36.89 | 4:47.20 | -0:01.00 | 0:00.00 |
| 1,650 Freestyle | 15:52.41 | 16:30.59 | 15:52.41 | 16:41.45 | 0:00.00 | 0:10.86 |
| 100 Butterfly | 0:50.69 | 0:53.63 | 0:50.52 | 0:53.34 | -0:00.17 | -0:00.29 |
| 200 Butterfly | 1:52.86 | 1:59.23 | 1:52.47 | 1:58.93 | -0:00.39 | -0:00.30 |
| 100 Backstroke | 0:50.88 | 0:53.82 | 0:50.66 | 0:53.53 | -0:00.22 | -0:00.29 |
| 200 Backstroke | 1:50.50 | 1:57.07 | 1:50.50 | 1:56.71 | 0:00.00 | -0:00.36 |
| 100 Breaststroke | 0:58.02 | 1:01.46 | 0:58.01 | 1:01.22 | -0:00.01 | -0:00.24 |
| 200 Breaststroke | 2:05.73 | 2:13.86 | 2:05.73 | 2:13.28 | 0:00.00 | -0:00.58 |
| 200 Individual Medley | 1:53.66 | 1:59.56 | 1:53.66 | 1:59.35 | 0:00.00 | -0:00.21 |
| 400 Individual Medley | 4:03.62 | 4:17.30 | 4:03.62 | 4:16.78 | 0:00.00 | -0:00.52 |
Comparison Table – Women Relay
| Event | Qualifying 2024 | Provisional 2024 | Qualifying 2025 | Provisional 2025 | Qualifying Difference | Provisional Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 200 Freestyle Relay | 1:28.43 | 1:29.21 | 1:28.42 | 1:29.00 | -0:00.01 | -0:00.21 |
| 400 Freestyle Relay | 3:14.10 | 3:16.25 | 3:13.74 | 3:15.28 | -0:00.36 | -0:00.97 |
| 800 Freestyle Relay | 7:00.86 | 7:05.88 | 7:00.86 | 7:05.56 | 0:00.00 | -0:00.32 |
| 200 Medley Relay | 1:36.24 | 1:37.00 | 1:36.24 | 1:36.76 | 0:00.00 | -0:00.24 |
| 400 Medley Relay | 3:31.38 | 3:33.48 | 3:30.89 | 3:32.88 | -0:00.49 | -0:01.40 |
