While the NCAA is under scrutiny for how it has handled some issues in the past year, one of the developments during the COVID-19 pandemic that was a success was the extra year of eligibility given to athletes who had a season and/or postseason eliminated by the vaccine.
It ensured a fairness option for NCAA athletes, and of course not all athletes chose to take this option, but it was there and changed the course of athletics in all divisions and sports.
It changed the dynamics of teams who had seniors stay for one more year, sometimes a lot of seniors, which we saw with the Cal men’s team as four fifth-year seniors (Trenton Julian, Sean Grieshop, Daniel Carr and Bryce Mefford) led the Golden Bears to the NCAA Championships this past week in Atlanta.
But the dynamic went way past Cal.
There were 17 men’s Division I swimmers who scored at the NCAA Championships this past week. That is a lot of points that could have been won by underclassmen, but also could have been won by these fifth-years when the meet was canceled two years ago.
Julian, Arizona’s Brooks Fail and Georgia Tech’s Caio Pumputis scored in all three of their individual events at the NCAA finals.
Louisville’s Nicholas Albiero scored in two, along with Stanford’s Grant Shoults, Texas’ Cameron Auchinachie, Indiana’s Bruno Blaskovic and Mefford.
NCAA Men’s Fifth-Years
Nicolas Albiero, Louisville
Trenton Julian, Cal
Christian Ferraro, Georgia Tech
Caio Pumputis, Georgia Tech
Brooks Fail, Arizona
Grant Shoults, Stanford
Cameron Auchinachie, Texas
Bruno Blaskovic, Indiana
Sean Grieshop, Cal
Alvin Jiang, Texas
Trent Pellini, USC
Evgenii Somov, Louisville
Gabriel Fantoni, Indiana
Bryce Mefford, Cal
Daniel Carr, Cal
Jacob Steele, Indiana
Samuel Tornqvist, Virginia Tech
The women’s fifth-year participation at the NCAA Championships was not quite as abundant, but definitely affected the meet.
Stanford’s Brooke Forde scored in all three of her individual events and was on an extremely rare winning relay that involved four Olympians (Forde, Taylor Ruck, Regan Smith and Torri Huske) winning the 800 free relay.
Two other women’s fifth-years scored in all three events: Kentucky’s Bailey Bonnet and Penn’s Lia Thomas.
Thomas was the source of great debate at the meet and within the sport as a transgender swimmer who had competed for the men’s team at Penn for three years before undergoing a year of hormonal therapy. She followed all of the NCAA rules, but many believe that those rules did not create a level playing field.
But the fact is that Thomas followed the rules, was there, scored in three events and won the 500 freestyle in her fifth year of eligibility.
Three more fifth-years scored in two events with Texas’ Evie Pfeifer and Arizona State’s Erica Laning and Emma Nordin. You could also make the argument that Virginia Tech’s Reka Gyorgy belongs in this two-scoring group, though she only scored in one. She was 17th in an event that Thomas swam.
NCAA Women’s Fifth Years
Brooke Forde, Stanford
Lia Thomas, Penn
Evie Pfeifer, Texas
Erica Laning, Arizona State
Emma Nordin, Arizona State
Kristen Romano, Ohio State
Bailey Bonnet, Kentucky
Reka Gyorgy, Virginia Tech
Aria Bernal, Arizona
Kate Moore, NC State
But whatever the take is on any of the other rules, the NCAA’s extra year of eligibility affected seasons and teams, giving more swimmers one more shot at the NCAA Championships. And that is just with points.
It also gave many teams one more year of great leadership and experience — especially considering only seniors and fifth years had ever experienced an NCAA Championships that was “normal” with fans and without the pandemic hovering like a cloud above it.
The impact this year had on teams, especially Cal, Texas, Stanford and Louisville will last a lot longer than this year, too.
We’ll see if any current seniors decide to opt for another year, too. One more NCAA title shot is just a decision away.