Reliable 'invite-times' from last year's Nationals.
We did it the simple way.
Last season, if you posted or beat the times listed below, you knew you were getting an invite to Nationals. Even before the invites were announced. And isn’t that the information we want when we ask ‘what was last year’s invite time?’1
ASP stands for the Approved Selection Process spelled out in the NCAA documents on Nationals invites. The gist: they take each of the 20 fastest athletes for Women’s events and the 16 fastest athletes for Men’s events. The ASP time of an event is thus the fastest time by the 20th fastest athlete (Women’s events) or 16th fastest (Men’s events).
ASP = 20th fastest athlete in Women’s events, 16th fastest athlete in Men’s events
Obviously many slightly lower-ranked swimmers got an invite in some of these events. But the point is those were edge cases, and the status of many of those swimmers was not know for a couple weeks after the first invites were announced.