Swimming and Diving 101: Understand Meet Scoring, Events and Terminology
A guide to how meets are scored, what strokes are used, other swim and dive terminology and NCAA standards.
Understand the scoring, events and strokes, terminology and NCAA Division I standards for the Wisconsin Badgers’ swim and dive season.
Collegiate swim meets typically consist of 16–21 swimming events, with the women’s heats preceding the men’s heats for each event. Each race and dive is an opportunity for the team to earn points. The team with the most points at the end of the meet is declared the winner.
Scoring
Individual events are scored in a 9-4-3-2-1-0 pattern, with only the best three swimmers per team scoring any points. That is, if Wisconsin were to place first, second, third and fourth in an event, the fourth place swimmer would not earn two points and they would be allotted to the fifth place swimmer from the opposing team.
Relay events are scored in a similar manner with a pattern of 11-4-2-0 points awarded to the top three finishers. Only the best two relays per team score points. The score imbalance between relays and individual events creates a competitive edge if used strategically.
Invitationals & Championships
Invitationals and championships follow the same scoring idea as other meets, though the greater number of opponents creates more opportunities to score.
These meets utilize a trials-finals structure. In the preliminary trials, or the prelims, every competitor in the event swims and the top 16 finishers qualify for the finals. The finals are broken into two parts: the A final, first through eighth place, and the B final with swimmers placed ninth through sixteenth. A swimmer in the B final may race better than a swimmer in the A final, but the highest place they can earn is still ninth.
The scoring breakdown for invitationals and championships follows a 20-17-16-15-14-13-12-11-9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 pattern for individual events and 40-34-32-30-28-26-24-22-18-14-12-10-8-6-4-2 pattern for relays. With relays earning twice the amount of points as individual events, the score imbalance once again creates strategy for a competitive edge.
Diving
Dives are judged on a 0 to 10 scale to receive their execution score. Zero is a completely failed dive, while 10 is perfect.
When two or three judges are present at a meet, all of the scores for a dive are added together to create the execution total. For example, if a diver receives judges’ scores of six, seven and six, their execution score is 19.
When five judges are scoring a meet, the highest and lowest scores are dropped leaving the median three scores for the execution total. As such, a diver receiving scores of five, six, six, seven and eight would also receive a total of 19.
Execution scores are multiplied by the degree of difficulty for each dive, also called the tariff. The combination of the execution score and the dive’s difficulty generate the diver’s final score.
Points are awarded in a similar fashion to previous events depending on the number of total participants per gender. With three or fewer participants, individual scoring values follow a 7-5-4-3-2-1 pattern. When teams have four or five participants per gender, the scoring pattern is 9-7-6-5-3-2-1. These scores contribute to the teams’ overall meet scores.
Events
Collegiate swimmers race in 25-yard pools. Divers compete in the 1-meter dive and 3-meter dive off of a springboard.
Individual Races
Backstroke: Swimmers performing the backstroke alternate each arm taking a stroke. The legs also alternate, typically at a faster rate than the stroke and use the flutter kick style. The backstroke is the only stroke swum on the back, as the name implies, and athletes begin in the water rather than launching from the blocks. Backstroke is faster than the breaststroke though it is slower than the freestyle and butterfly.
Breaststroke: The breaststroke utilizes synchronous movements of both arms and both legs to propel the swimmer through the water. The swimmer performs one kick with both legs and one pull with both arms in that order. The feet are also to be turned outward during the kick and arms are recovered underwater. Breaststroke is the slowest of the four main strokes.
Butterfly: Similar to the breaststroke in many ways, the butterfly also requires simultaneous arm movements above the water. The butterfly uses a double-leg kick and differentiates itself from the breaststroke with turned-in feet during the kick. Arms are recovered over the water at the same time. Butterfly is slower than the freestyle but faster than the other strokes.
Freestyle: The freestyle allows swimmers to choose which stroke they like and switch at their own tempo. This stroke is also referred to as the front crawl, which is typically the most common stroke performed in freestyle. A swimmer’s arms move in opposition to each other and their legs move in opposition. Freestyle is the fastest stroke.
Individual Medley: Swimmers competing the individual medley will perform each of the strokes for one-fourth of the race in the following order: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. For example, a 200-yard individual medley requires 50 meters of each stroke and a 400-yard IM entails 100 meters of each stroke.
Relays
Freestyle Relay: In this style of relay, each team consists of four swimmers performing the freestyle for one-fourth of the race. The first swimmer in the relay is called the leadoff and the final swimmer is the anchor.
Medley Relay: Like the individual medley, this race must be competed in the order of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. Each of the four swimmers on the relay team perform the required stroke for their one-fourth of the race.
Other Terminology
Blocks: The raised platforms at the edge of the pool swimmers start on and launch into the pool to start a race.
False start: Occurs when a swimmer moves forward into the water or out of set position before the race begins.
Finals: The race that determines the winners of an event. Finals are typically broken into different categories, such as the A final and the B final, where the fastest swimmers compete in the A final for the top places and the remaining swimmers compete in the consolation heat.
Heats: Individual races in the same event, occurring when an event has more competitors than lanes in the pool. Heats are assigned based on the swimmers’ seed times. Scores are determined by comparing the overall fastest times across all heats, not necessarily the winner of each heat.
Heat sheet: The official program outlining the schedule of events at a meet.
Long course: A 50 meter pool, as opposed to the typical 25 meter pool in collegiate swimming.
Preliminaries: The initial race used to determine the fastest swimmers in a given event. The fastest swimmers are grouped into the A final and the remaining swimmers compete in the B final. Preliminaries are used at invitationals and champions and can also be referred to as prelims or trials.
Seed time: Seed times are the fastest time a swimmer has previously raced the event they are competing in prior to the submission of entries for the next meet. They determine the lanes swimmers race in and their heat if applicable.
Short course: A 25 meter pool, standard for collegiate swimming events.
Standards: NCAA-determined times swimmers must exceed to qualify for championship events.
Splits: The time it takes a swimmer to finish a particular segment of a race, such as one lap or a certain number of meters. Splits are used to determine the swimmer’s overall pace.
Turns: A direction reversal once the swimmer meets the wall of the pool lane. Turns can take two forms: flip turns and open turns.
Flip turns: Used in the backstroke and freestyle when swimmers are not required to touch the wall with their hands. Swimmers flip their legs over the head and push from the wall to start the next length.
Open turns: Used in the breaststroke and butterfly when swimmers are required to touch the wall with both hands at the end of the length. Swimmers then bring their feet to the wall and push to begin the next length.
2026 NCAA Division I Standards
Standards in swimming are used to determine qualification for championship events, specifically the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships. To qualify, swimmers must meet or exceed the standard time set forth by the NCAA. Standards are based on the three-year average of the 72nd-best time in an event.
As of the 2026 update, individual events have one qualifying time. Relays continue to use qualifying and provisional cuts.
2026 Women’s NCAA Division 1 Qualifying Times: Individual Events
Event Standard
50 Freestyle 22.28
100 Freestyle 48.60
200 Freestyle 1:45.53
500 Freestyle 4:43.70
1,650 Freestyle 16:25.29
100 Butterfly 52.52
200 Butterfly 1:57.11
100 Backstroke 52.65
200 Backstroke 1:54.80
100 Breaststroke 1:00.30
200 Breaststroke 2:11.27
200 Individual Medley 1:57.88
400 Individual Medley 4:13.20
2026 Women’s NCAA Division 1 Qualifying Times: Relays
Event Qualifying Provisional
200 Freestyle Relay 1:28.26 1:28.78
400 Freestyle Relay 3:13.62 3:14.92
800 Freestyle Relay 7:00.86 7:05.18
200 Medley Relay 1:36.09 1:36.57
400 Medley Relay 3:30.89 3:32.51
2026 Women’s NCAA Division 1 Qualifying Times: Diving
Event Points
1-Meter Diving 265* / 220**
3-Meter Diving 280* / 235**
Platform Diving 225**
*Qualifying point total in any 6 dive list with standard DD
**Qualifying point total in any 5 dive list with standard DD
2026 Men’s NCAA Division 1 Qualifying Times: Individual Events
Event Standard
50 Freestyle 19.43
100 Freestyle 42.55
200 Freestyle 1:33.93
500 Freestyle 4:18.07
1,650 Freestyle 15:06.60
100 Butterfly 46.11
200 Butterfly 1:43.79
100 Backstroke 46.29
200 Backstroke 1:42.14
100 Breaststroke 52.58
200 Breaststroke 1:54.95
200 Individual Medley 1:44.13
400 Individual Medley 3:46.19
2026 Men’s NCAA Division 1 Qualifying Times: Relays
Event Qualifying Provisional
200 Freestyle Relay 1:16.23 1:16.91
400 Freestyle Relay 2:49.36 2:50.42
800 Freestyle Relay 6:14.67 6:16.79
200 Medley Relay 1:23.61 1:23.85
400 Medley Relay 3:04.96 3:06.20
2026 Men’s NCAA Division 1 Qualifying Times: Diving
Event Points
1-Meter Diving 300*
3-Meter Diving 320*
Platform Diving 300*
*Qualifying point total in any 6 dive list with standard DD
