Swimming recruiting benchmarks

What is a good 200 free time?

Athlete Quotient's men's D1 benchmark is 102.0, with D2 at 107.0, D3 at 110.0 and high school varsity at 115.0. The elite D1 rung is 95.4. The women's D1 benchmark is 109.5, with D2 at 116.5, D3 at 119.5 and high school varsity at 124.0. The elite D1 rung is 104.8.

The 200 free time ladder

Times are short course yards (SCY), the format nearly every American high school and college dual meet swims.

Athlete Quotient men's swimming 200 free time benchmark ladder.
Rung200 Free Time
D1 elite95.4
D1102.0
D1 floor104.0
D2107.0
D3110.0
HS varsity115.0
Athlete Quotient women's swimming 200 free time benchmark ladder.
Rung200 Free Time
D1 elite104.8
D1109.5
D1 floor113.5
D2116.5
D3119.5
HS varsity124.0

The number that actually matters

On the men's ladder, the distance from the high school varsity rung (115.0) to the D1 rung (102.0) is 13.0. On the women's ladder, the distance from the high school varsity rung (124.0) to the D1 rung (109.5) is 14.5. That gap is the actual answer to "is my 200 free time good" - not a yes or a no, but a distance you can train against.

Check your number

Check your 200 free time against this ladder

Type your 200 free time and it is read against the ladder above, right here on the page. It is never sent and never stored.

Find out where your number lands

A benchmark tells you the bar. Your AQ Score tells you where you stand against it - all five dimensions, your gaps, and the level you actually fit, scored by the same engine this ladder comes from. Your first score is free.

Get my free AQ Score

Not sure it is worth it? See a full sample report first.

Common questions

What is a good 200 free time?

Athlete Quotient's men's D1 benchmark is 102.0, with D2 at 107.0, D3 at 110.0 and high school varsity at 115.0. The elite D1 rung is 95.4. The women's D1 benchmark is 109.5, with D2 at 116.5, D3 at 119.5 and high school varsity at 124.0. The elite D1 rung is 104.8.

What 200 free time do you need for D2 or D3?

The men's D2 rung is 107.0, men's D3 is 110.0, the women's D2 rung is 116.5 and women's D3 is 119.5. The same rule applies at every level: the number that matters is your distance to the rung above.

What is a good 200 free time for a 15 year old?

Athlete Quotient benchmarks by level, not age. A 15 year old on varsity measures against the same high school varsity rung as a 17 year old, because college coaches recruit against the level an athlete competes at, not the birthday. What changes with age is time - how many training seasons remain to close the gap to the next rung.

How to read this

Each rung is a bar on the Athlete Quotient benchmark ladder - the same tables the scoring engine uses, exported from it rather than retyped, so this page can never quietly disagree with a score. Being under a rung does not close a door; it tells you the size of the gap, which is the only number you can actually train against.

These are Athlete Quotient's own benchmarks. Where a published college figure exists we use it; where none exists, the rung is ours. We would rather say that than claim a source we do not have.

Go deeper