2023-24 NCAA Recap, Week 11: Top Times In Each Division After Midseason Invites

We’re back with another NCAA recap! Midseason invites are over and winter training is looming for most teams. While that might be a daunting prospect for the athletes, for us here at SwimSwam it means a chance to reflect on the first half of the college season.

For this edition of the NCAA recap, we’ve compiled the top times across all three divisions through midseason invites. So without further ado, here’s how things stand as of December 15th.

NCAA Leaderboard: Divisions I, II, III

Note: 1000 free is an individual event in D2, and it’s included on the table for all three divisions

Overall, the men’s D1 leaderboard has the most schools represented as swimmers from 11 different programs top the charts. That’s largely due to the combination of two factors. First in backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly no swimmer holds the division’s top time in both the 100 and 200. That’s true on the women’s side of D1 as well, except there, Virginia’s Walsh sisters hold top times in six individual events. Second, they are the only group that has two different swimmers with the top time in the 50/100 freestyle.

The Walsh sisters’ dominance helps to explain why the D1 and D2 women are tied for least number of schools represented with seven. Colorado Mesa is not dominating the individual events the same way as Virginia, but they have Benedict Nagy locking down the IMs and the top time in all five relays.

Division I

Unsurprisingly, it’s the Virginia women and Arizona State men who are running the Division I leaderboards. The two teams are known for showing up and swimming fast all year round and this season has been no exception. Gretchen Walsh is the standout for Virginia: at the Tennessee Invite, she tied the NCAA record in the 50 free (20.79) with a new American record and set unofficial NCAA and American records when she swam the 100 freestyle final butterfly (48.30).

To go along with G. Walsh’s sensational swims, her sister Alex Walsh owns two division leading times of her own (200 breast, 200 IM). But perhaps best news for the Cavaliers is that they’re leading the league in three of the five relays. They were never going to replace Kate Douglass with one swimmer, but they needed to recreate her times in the aggregate. Jasmine Nocentini‘s breakout has come at the right time, and Aimee Canny has stepped up as well.

On the men’s side, the Sun Devils are in full control of four our of the five relays. They own eight of the 19 top times without Leon Marchand, who was sick at their midseason invite. The fact that they are in such control of the leaderboard without the world record holder and five time NCAA champion highlights their depth this season as well as the breakouts of Hubert Kos (200 back, 200 IM, 400 IM) and Ilya Kharun (200 fly) who are their individual swimmers on the leaderboard.

Division II

It’s the usual suspects on the leaderboard in Division II. That includes Colorado Mesa’s Ben Sampson, McKendree’s Jackson Lustig, Nova Southeastern’s Emily Trieschmann, and Henderson State’s sprint pair Jack Armstrong and Kiara Pozvai.

G. Walsh has the most individual top times (five) and close behind her are Sampson and Trieschmann each with four. Sampson, who entered the transfer portal during the offseason and elected to stay at CMU, is the defending D2 champion in the 200 back and 200 IM. He leads the division in both those events, along with the 100 back and 400 IM, the two events which rounded out his four NCAA events last season.

Meanwhile, Trieschmann has taken over the freestyle events. Povzai owns the top times in the 50/100 free (22.61/48.82) but Trieschmann’s got the 200/500/1000/1650 free locked up. She was 3rd in the 200 free at 2023 NCAAs, then won the 500/1000/1650 so she’s set herself up early as once again the swimmer to beat.

Armstrong and his teammate Lamar Taylor set the bar in September with a pair of 19.5s. Armstrong lowered his season-best to a 19.43 at midseason, and his 42.77 from September is still holding strong. Both of his times would easily slot him through to the 2023 ‘A’ final, where he finished 2nd in the 50 (19.30) and 3rd in the 100 (43.40).

UIndy’s Celia Schmidt has taken over the women’s breaststrokes. At the stacked Denison Invite, she threw down the swim of the meet with a 2:11.02 200 breaststroke. It was a huge PB for her and also puts her three seconds ahead of the next fastest swimmer in her division. That goes alone with her D2 leading personal best 1:00.94 in the 100 breast, putting her in strong position to climb up from her 4th and 7th place finishes last season.

Division III

First year Ella Roberson has made a huge impact for the MIT women in just a few months. She’s leading D3 in both the 50/100 freestyle thanks to the 23.05/50.12 double she swam at the MIT invite. Her speed has also been a huge boost to the MIT relays: her 22.37 split on the 200 medley relay helped them secure the top time in the division (1:41.00). And with her teammate Tobe Obochi holding down the sprints on the men’s side, MIT is positioned well heading into the new year.

The second NCAA record on the season’s leaderboard belongs to Frank Applebaum. At the CMS vs. PP rivalry dual meet, which both teams treat as midseason invites, the CMS senior lowered his own 200 fly national record to 1:43.88. This is the third time in two years that Applebaum’s broken the record and he was the first to bring the mark under 1:44.

Emory’s got an incredibly strong breaststroke group led by Jake Meyer, the defending national champion in the 100 breast and runner-up in the 200. He hit two personal bests en route to topping the midseason leaderboard. At the Denison Invite, Meyer clocked 52.69/1:55.02. He’s well up on the rest of the division in both events, holding a nine-tenths lead in the 100 and 4.99 second in the 200.

And of course, Derek Maas, NYU’s graduate transfer from Alabama, has also made his presence known. NYU’s got a strong roster and Maas has helped elevate that squad. In addition to Maas’ individual events, the NYU men own D3’s season best times in the 200 and 400 medley relays.

While the other divisions’ leaderboards give some sign of how things are going to shake out in March, the D3 leaderboards aren’t giving away much on either the women’s or men’s sides. Taking the leaderboard at face value would tell you it’s the Kenyon women and either the Kenyon or NYU men who are the favorites. But, as for all divisions, the leaderboard does not take into account the depth of the teams–which is what wins you the title. Expect perennial D3 powerhouses like Denison and Emory to start to make more noise down the stretch.

But no matter which division you’re in, there’s still everything to play for as the calendar flips to 2024.