By Madeline Folsom on SwimSwam
Four swimmers at the Big West Conference Championships earned automatic qualifications to the 2026 NCAA Championships on Thursday.
Earlier this year, the NCAA approved massive changes to the NCAA Division I Championships. One of those changes was the addition of a “win-and-you’re-in” standard for conference champions. This new rule gives swimmers who swam an NCAA qualifying time en route to the conference title an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships in March. Since most Power-Four conference champions were receiving invites based on the traditional qualification system, this new rule primarily benefits mid-major swimmers.
Thursday was the first night of individual events during the 2026 NCAA Division I Conference season. The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships and the Big West Conference Championships are the only meets racing this weekend, and night one saw four athletes — all from the Big West — earn auto bids.
The first swimmer to earn an automatic conference bid was UC San Diego’s Eva Boehlke. She won the 200 IM with a final time of 1:57.43, coming in four tenths under the qualifying time of 1:57.88. This was a second-and-a-half drop from her previous best time in the event of 1:58.99 that she set in November.
The University of Hawaii also picked up three automatic qualifiers with Tom Thalau in the men’s 200 IM, Holly Nelson in the women’s 50 free, and Karol Ostrowski in the men’s 50 free.
Thalau swam 1:43.93 to come in two tenths under the cut of 1:44.13. This was also a second-and-a-half drop from his previous best of 1:45.51 that he set in March of 2025.
Nelson swam 22.28 to win the women’s 50 free and exactly meet the qualifying standard of 22.28, dropping nearly two tenths from her previous best 22.43 that she set in November.
Finally, Ostrowski touched in 19.13, three tenths under the qualifying standard of 19.43, but off his lifetime best of 18.89.
Women’s Automatic Qualifiers As of 2/12
Swimmer Name School Conference Event Time 2025 Invite Time Eva Boehlke UC San Diego Big West 200 IM 1:57.43 1:56.69 Holly Nelson Hawaii Big West 50 Free 22.28 22.01Men’s Automatic Qualifiers As of 2/12
Swimmer Name School Conference Event Time 2025 Invite Time Tom Thalau Hawaii Big West 200 IM 1:43.93 1:42.65 Karol Ostrowski Hawaii Big West 50 Free 19.13 19.02Read the full story on SwimSwam: Four Athletes Earn Automatic NCAA Bids To Kick Off Conference Meets
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