...and your point is what?
We got a few questions on that whole invite-time thing. Upon reflection, we realize that - deep down - we believe in the NCAA.
Got a few questions on this one. Like, seriously, what are you talking about?
Let me be clearer on the Francesca Schiro story.
Did something corrupt happen: no.1
Did something morally reprehensible happen: no.
Is the NCAA lying in order to cover-up something: no, that does not seem possible.
So what is the point?
The point is that the NCAA is doing something very strange with how they report ‘invite-times.’ There seems to be two plausible explanations. (Cheat-code: explanation 2 is far more likely, but less interesting.)
1. The NCAA has embraced the multiverse
In the post-Rick and Morty, post-Everything Everywhere All at Once culture we have all acquainted ourselves with the concept of the multiverse.2
So, someone in the NCAA is assigning invite-times based on multiverse logic.
In a universe in which Francesca Schiro was invited (let’s call that universe FS51.313), well then the invite-time would have been 51.31, because FS51.31 is a universe in which Ms. Schiro did receive an invite.
Sure this sounds nuts. But FS51.31 is not so far away. After all, Ms. Schiro did opt out of the ‘alternates’ process.4 And the next person on the list behind Ms. Schiro was Izzy Paez of Wesleyan College.
Izzy Paez went to Nationals on an invite for 200 Fly.
So in FS51.31, Francesca Schiro would have gotten an invite to Nationals based on her 51.31 100 Free time had she not opted out.5 Ms. Schiro not opting-out is one of the things that defines the universe known as FS51.31.
If that sounds completely bonkers to you, all I can say: go look at the invite-time reported for Women’s 100 Free.
One more thing. Check out the invite-time for Women’s 100 Breast. It is 1:03.98. Who swam Women’s 100 Breast in 1:03.98? That would be Kenyon’s Sydney Buchman.
And here’s the thing. Ms. Buchman did not receive an invite to Nationals.
You know why?
Squad size caps. Ms. Buchman was one of ten healthy Women athletes with invite worthy-times not invited to Nationals because of limits on squad sizes.
That did not stop the multiverse-minded folks at the NCAA from recording Sydney Buchman’s 1:03.98 (the only 1:03.98 in this event all season) as the invite-time for Women’s 100 Breast even though Ms. Buchman did not receive an invite.
Congratulations, Ms. Buchman, there is an infinite number of universes in which you received an invite to Nationals. In those universes, you got a backpack!
2. The NCAA has some process issues
There seems to be an inconsistency in the NCAA's invite-time reporting process. It's as if the person inputting the 'invite-time' into the Hy-Tek and the one tracking invitations aren't communicating effectively.
While the NCAA has systems in place to avoid predictable major blunders it's essential to remember that not all major mistakes are foreseeable. At times, minor errors in processes, deemed inconsequential, can balloon into significant issues.
Why harp on this?
Because, I don’t think the NCAA is hopeless. They seem to be adapting to changing times and are open to adopting processes used in other competitive settings.6
Currently, we're witnessing regular process errors from the NCAA. While they haven't caused harm yet, the flawed process is evident. Should someone be adversely affected, the NCAA shouldn't hide behind the pretext that such mistakes are rare. And they won’t need to, if they just fix this.
It’s Division III, nobody is stealing money. You are way more likely to get fired for giving money to people who can really use it.
To oversimplify: each decision-point opens up the possibility of entirely distinct universes developing after we make that decision and those universes continue on in another dimension, themselves continuing to splinter off into infinite other universes in countless dimensions. And, for the sake of narrative, maybe we can occasionally drop-in on one of those other universes, or - more ominously - sometimes they might drop-in on us.
In multiverse fiction, it is helpful to give each universe a serialized identifier.
As we noted earlier, she chose to essentially go on a religious mission and help people in need.
No shade on Ms. Schiro or her program. 2023 was an unusual year for alternates making it to Nationals. Usually your chances are really really bad. For some reason, last season was the exception. There is no way she, or her coaches, could have seen that coming.
The NCAA Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Rules Committee…recommended an optional rule to allow the use of underwater cameras for video review to confirm disqualification for swimming infractions. That’s huge! They aren’t there yet, but this is definitely a step in the right direction.