By Sam Blacker on SwimSwam
You will likely be aware – qualification for NCAAS this year has a new system.
Auto-qualification (AQ) times have been introduced, set at the three-year-average of the 72nd-fastest time in the NCAA. Any swimmer who wins their conference champion in an event equal to or faster than this time will punch their ticket to NCAAs there and then.
There is no national-level guidance on what conferences should do if two swimmers tie for the win under the AQ time. However, it is mandated that conferences must break the tie.
Individual Events AQ Times
Event Standard 50 Freestyle 22.28 100 Freestyle 48.60 200 Freestyle 1:45.53 500 Freestyle 4:43.70 1,650 Freestyle 16:25.29 100 Butterfly 52.52 200 Butterfly 1:57.11 100 Backstroke 52.65 200 Backstroke 1:54.80 100 Breaststroke 1:00.30 200 Breaststroke 2:11.27 200 Individual Medley 1:57.88 400 Individual Medley 4:13.20At face value, the new approach seems similar to that under the old system, just with conference champions taking the place of the former ‘A’ cut swimmers (the ‘A’ cut was the three-year-average of the 8th-fastest time in the NCAA)
However, there is a key difference. The ‘A’ cuts made no functional difference to qualification – with how tough they were all swimmers who hit them would qualify for the meet anyway. In fact, the qualification system would have worked exactly the same if the ‘A’ cuts did not exist.
That is far from the case with the new auto-qualifiers. There were 16 women who qualified for the meet this year who would not have done so under the old system, which means that the cutlines have shifted upwards.
Technically, there are two cutlines this year to consider – the one under the new auto-qualification system and what would have been the cutline under the old system. One of the main ways we can get a grasp of the effect of the changes is to see how different they are.
We looked at this when seeing how many swimmers made it in under the new system who would not have done under the old one, but we’ll go a little more in depth on the cutline here.
To start off with, every event has a cutline that comes in at least one row higher under the new system than under the old one (and therefore previous years). However, that does not necessarily mean that the cutline itself has gotten faster. In fact, in more than half of events (seven of 13) the cut is slower this year than old year – under both systems.
Cutline Progression (2020-2026)
EVENT (SCY) 2020 Invite Time 2021 Invite Time 2022 Invite Time 2023 Invite Time 2024 Invite Time 2025 Invite Time 2026 Cutline (New System) 2026 Cutline (Old System) 50 free 22.21 22.32 22.16 22.15 22.11 22.01 21.92 21.94 100 free 48.51 48.76 48.44 48.37 48.34 48.11 47.85 47.95 200 free 105.23 106.25 1:45.42 1:45.31 1:44.80 1:44.74 1:44.00 1:44.43 500 free 281.2 284.77 4:43.08 4:41.09 4:41.19 4:39.47 4:41.47 4:42.07 1650 free 977.45 985.47 16:16.47 16:13.73 16:14.82 16:09.37 16:15.74 16:18.61 100 back 52.73 53.01 52.46 52.36 52.28 51.68 51.7 51.83 200 back 113.99 115.05 1:53.97 1:53.94 1:54.01 1:53.31 1:53.27 1:533.30 100 breast 59.98 60.12 59.87 59.73 59.75 59.51 59.53 59.61 200 breast 130.12 130.37 2:09.15 2:09.68 2:09.55 2:09.58 2:08.77 2:09.21 100 fly 52.34 52.7 52.35 52.2 51.88 51.87 51.99 52.03 200 fly 116.06 117.42 1:56.14 1:55.92 1:55.88 1:55.82 1:56.22 1:56.31 200 IM 117.31 117.62 1:56.85 1:56.90 1:57.03 1:56.69 1:57.20 1:57.41 400 IM 250.39 253.19 4:11.60 4:11.36 4:10.74 4:09.53 4:08.80 4:09.45Women’s Cutline Differences: Old System vs New
The time differences between the two systems are largest for the longer events, as you might expect. The 1650 free cutline is 2.87 seconds slower under the old system, moving from 16:15.74 to 16:18.61, while the 500 free moves from 4:41.47 to 4:42.07.
Percentage-wise the biggest changes comes on the 200 free and 200 breast, which would both be over four-tenths slower under the old system.
For the majority of events, the difference between the two systems is minimal – seven of 13 have a change of 0.13 seconds or less.
Cutline Change vs 2025 Cutline (New System)
Cutline Change vs 2025 Cutline (Old System)
The two biggest absolute changes from the 2025 cutlines under both systems come in the distance free events, which both get slower. The cutline for the 500 free is exactly two seconds slower this year than in 2025, when it dipped under 4:40.00 for the first time. The old system would be six tenths slower again, and both systems end up with an invite time slower than in any of the previous three years.
It is a big step down from the historic year in the 500 free last year, where it ranked as the most difficult event of all on the women’s side to qualify in.
Women’s Cutline Year-On-Year Changes: 2020-2026
You can see how the cutlines have changed so far through the 2020’s, with 2026 under either the new system or the old one. No event reverses direction (either positive or negative) compared to last year purely because of the new system – the trends within every event are stronger than any introduced.
Overall, the cutline changes themselves seem notable in only around half of events. However, that isn’t a complete measure of how much harder the event became – the women’s 50 free saw three swimmers miss out because of just a 0.02 second difference. Keep your eyes peeled for some analysis from that angle over the next couple of days.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Women’s NCAAs 2026: How Much Has The New Qualification System Changed The Cutlines?
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