D3 Swimming Outsider
As we transition to the off-season, our cadence will change to something more like once a week, with the occasional breaks. Articles produced during the week will be posted directly to the site. A round-up email will go out at some fairly regular cadence, summarizing new materials. And we will figure out some way on Instagram to signal when we have posted something that might be of interest. Hope it works for you, hope it works for us. We'll see.
What the CSCAA SOY is and is not, in the words of the voters themselves
The Shadow of the Subject is the third of three posts we wrote to help us assess the spectacular 2023-24 season in Men’s Division III swim/dive, and the (honestly, pretty great) events at Nationals that capped it off.
We hope this last post in the series provides useful information on what the CSCAA Swimmer of the Year award is, and is not, based on conversations with coaches who cast votes, or helped others deliberate over their choices, this season and in previous seasons.
We like how this piece fits in with the previous two in the series.1
The first post compared the accomplishments of CSCAA Award winner Justin Finkel with the performance of the other recent award-winners. We found that he stacked-up well, and we also said ‘Justin Finkel’s 200 Fly record time is one of the greatest swims ever by a Division III Men’s Swimmer of the Year award winner.' We stand by that.
The second post in this series - and we used this format for swimmers in both Men’s and Women’s events - looked at the cumulative SRS performance of athletes throughout the season, including Nationals. While we discussed a number of athletes, we put special focus on Derek Maas. We asserted that, beyond his undeniable excellence in the pool, ‘he checked all the boxes that normally elevate one to folk-hero status.’ We stand by that.
The reach of D3 Nationals continues to shrink
Despite the encouraging and thoroughly enjoyable performances we saw at Nationals from small programs and lone-wolves, the number of teams competing at NCAAs, and the number of teams scoring points at NCAAs, continues to shrink. In fact, things are not just getting worse. They are getting worse faster than our gloomy models predicted. And here is why we think it matters.
But the meet is much more competitive than ever
If you are new to Division III national championship meets, you might be surprised to hear that these things used to be blow-outs. And the magnitude of change is almost hard to believe.
Division III Logo Enthusiast looks at a school that - prudently - has no logo
Why we hope the Ithaca Bombers don’t change. And we contemplate a future dystopian hellscape where all D3 teams have been re-branded 'The Owls.'
For those who are frustrated, and who want us to come right out and say that this person should have won this, or that person should have won that, all we can say is that we are sorry you don’t like our approach. Please, go do better than us. If you are dissatisfied, start your own blog, or IG feed, or podcast, or whatever suits you. Just do something. The athletes in Division III swim/dive deserve far more coverage than we can provide. We are heartened by the Anchor Leg Podcast and all they have been able to accomplish, and the other media efforts they have encouraged. But Division 3 swim/dive athletes still deserve more coverage. Please, let your dissatisfaction with d3so be the spur for you to take action.