Editor’s Note: SwimSwam does not participate in the voting for the CSCAA Poll. Our first Power Rankings of the 2015-16 season were released last week.
The Collegiate Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) has unveiled their second women’s rankings of the 2015-2016 season, and University of Virginia has overtaken the Georgia Bulldogs at the top. The Cavaliers moved up three spots from the prior poll, thanks to their victories over Michigan and Penn State in the Michigan Tri Meet over the weekend.
Leading the way for UVA were double event winners Leah Smith (500 free and 1000 free) and Kaitlyn Jones (100 fly and 400 IM), while Vivian Tafuto, Courtney Bartholomew, Jen Marrkand, and divers Kylie Towbin and Rebecca Corbett each scored individual wins.
University of North Carolina also moved up three spots to number 2, after sweeping Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee in dual meets at Indiana University’s Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatics Center.
University of Georgia, last year’s NCAA Championships runner-up, slipped to number 3 in the rankings. They beat University of Florida over the weekend in Gainesville. University of Michigan and Stanford University rounded out the top 5.
About: The College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Division I Team Rankings are compiled by nine CSCAA-member coaches and one media member. The rankings will be released on a weekly basis throughout the 2015-16 season, alternating weeks between a men’s and women’s team ranking.
Methodology: The CSCAA Division I Poll Committee will produce in-season rankings of the 25 best performing NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving teams in rank order at the time of each poll. The poll is not designed to predict the results of the NCAA Championship, but rather which teams would win head-to-head against other teams in the country. Ranking are based on performances that have taken place since the previous poll and include invites as well as dual meets. The committee does not consider teams that have not yet competed in the current college season.
CSCAA NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Ranking as of November 4, 2015
| Rank | Prev | Team | Points |
| 1 | 4 | Virginia | 225 |
| 2 | 5 | North Carolina | 204 |
| 3 | 1 | Georgia | 202 |
| 4 | 23 | Michigan | 201 |
| 5 | 2 | Stanford | 192 |
| 6 | 3 | Texas | 190 |
| 7 | 13 | NC State | 161 |
| 8 | 7 | California | 144 |
| 9 | 11 | Indiana | 142 |
| 10 | 12 | Auburn | 140 |
| 11 | 6 | Florida | 137 |
| 12 | 8 | Louisville | 127 |
| 13 | 10 | Tennessee | 121 |
| 14 | 15 | Texas A & M | 118 |
| 15 | 20 | Penn State | 80 |
| 16 | 14 | Southern California | 66 |
| 17 | 22 | Duke | 64 |
| 18 | 9 | Wisconsin | 58 |
| 19 | 16 | UCLA | 57 |
| 20 | 18 | Arizona | 55 |
| 21 | 19 | Missouri | 53 |
| 22 | 17 | Minnesota | 46 |
| 23 | NR | Purdue | 40 |
| 24 | NR | Ohio State | 21 |
| 25 | 25 | Alabama | 14 |
Also Receiving Votes
Florida Gulf Coast 10 , Kentucky 4 , South Carolina 3 , Arkansas 2 , Washington State 2 , Boise State 1
Women’s DI Poll Committee:
Chair: Suzanne Yee, Princeton University; Dan Colella, Duke University; Roric Fink, University of Texas; Naya Higashijima, UCLA; Tanica Jamison, Texas A&M University; Mike Keeler, University of San Diego; Colleen Murphy, United States Air Force Academy; Sue Novitsky, University of Illinois; Katie Robinson, Tulane; Colin Shannahan, Wagner College
Early season rankings don’t mean much; I think we can all agree on that. Rankings after the big invites in November/December will be more meaningful, but I’m wondering how you rank teams that go to Winter Nationals, run this year as a long course meet, against all the other teams whose invites they attend are short course. I’m guessing the collegeswimming.com poll will probably ignore times from Winter Nats, and the coaches who vote in the CSCAA poll might use some sort of fudge factor to account for long course swims (maybe?). It may be that the somewhat subjective but fairly predictive SwimSwam poll, if done at the end of the invite meets, is the most informative.
Always hard to make this poll- I was charged with running it at one point. The most egregious is that Georgia beat UNC head-to-head but is somehow behind them in the rankings
This poll seems way off!! Cal, Stanford, Louisville & Texas below MI & NC?????
It’s obvious that teams who have swam multiple meets might have a slight edge over teams that have only swam one or two meets, that is deceiving. We will truly have to wait till December to get a better idea of where every team stands!
Or, you could look at the SwimSwam Power Rankings. We’re a little biased toward them as a truer representative of what to look for in March. 😉
this poll is normally ridiculous, but this week especially so. Cal at 8?? They are the number one team without a doubt. Michigan moving up to 4 because they lost to UVA? UNC at 2? Louisville at 12? Worrell by herself is practically top 10…