Two more scratches. That's all it will take.
With two more scratches, the Clemson Women's Swimming Team will go out not with a 10th-place finish at ACC's; rather their last performance and memory would be at the big show in March: the NCAA Championships.
If two more swimmers are scratched from NCAA's, then junior Tiger Meg Anderson will be pulled into the meet in the 100 free.
This wouldn't be a huge splash. Anderson would be the 31st seed, and would probably swim her way through a heat, and that would be the end of the Clemson women's swim team.
But the administration that decided that swimming just wasn't worth it would then be forced to at least acknowledge it. They would have to tell the world that they had qualified a swimmer for the National Championship meet and then cut her out of her senior season with their fingers in their ears singing “la la la!” all the way.
Two more scratches at this advanced stage of the season seems to be a stretch. Then again, between last-minute injuries, conflicts with international Olympic Trials, and relay rearrangements, there's already been a large number of scratches this season. Perhaps the stars are aligning for a semi-storybook ending.
(As an aside, ahead of Anderson on the alternates list is Minnesota's Kristen Steenvoorden. That would be another great story – her swimming career could very well be over, and this would give her one last opportunity to swim with twin sister Ashley. Ashley will likely swim on to the Olympic Trials.)