We’re now through the second round of NCAA midseason invites and it’s time to take a look at where the division 1 teams stand. Per the request of some of our commenters, we’ve gone through and scored out how the women’s NCAA team battle would go based on the midseason rankings. This article only discusses scores based on the women’s rankings, which you can find here. You can find the men’s rankings here and the men’s midseason scoring post here.
It should be noted that a handful of teams were without some of their best swimmers, but those swimmers are expected to be back in action in the second half of the season. For example, Stanford’s Simone Manuel, the reigning NCAA sprint champion, has been out with an injury. It’s also important to note that the Cardinal is absent from the 800 free relay because they chose not to swim it at the Art Adamson Invite. Other notable names missing are Stanford’s Megan Byrnes, Ohio State’s Liz Li, and USC’s Kirsten Vose, and NC State’s Courtney Caldwell.
A FEW THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND:
- Ocasionally, we’ll see a swimmer rank in the top 16 of more than 3 individual events. For example, Louise Hansson (6), Mallory Comerford (5), and Janet Hu (5) were each ranked in at least 5 events. In that case, we take their 3 highest finishes and dropped them out of the others, bumping the next fastest swimmers up into the top 16 and assigning scores accordingly.
- Swimmers were able to swim all 5 relays at these invites, which they won’t be able to do at NCAAs unless they only swim 2 individual events.
- Diving will play a role in the team scoring at NCAAs, which isn’t accounted for here.
- The article only includes division 1.
- In some cases, the top teams may have had more than one relay rank in the top 16. We have only ranked and scored the fastest relay for each school.
- If there was a tie for 8th or 16th, both swimmers were given the normal amount of points for their place because we can’t just call them up and ask for a swimoff.
NCAA WOMEN’S TEAM SCORES BASED ON MIDSEASON RANKINGS:
| Place | Team | Score |
| 1 | Stanford | 383.5 |
| 2 | Texas A&M | 368 |
| 3 | Cal | 359.5 |
| 4 | Louisville | 260 |
| 5 | Michigan | 246.5 |
| 6 | Southern Cal | 211.5 |
| 7 | Georgia | 203.5 |
| 8 | Tennessee | 190 |
| 9 | Texas | 181 |
| 10 | Kentucky | 117 |
| 10 | Indiana | 117 |
| 12 | Missouri | 98 |
| 13 | Virginia | 95 |
| 14 | Wisconsin | 89 |
| 15 | NC State | 82 |
| 16 | North Carolina | 72 |
| 17 | Florida State | 65 |
| 18 | Auburn | 57.5 |
| 19 | Arizona | 54 |
| 20 | Ohio State | 40.5 |
| 21 | Hawaii | 40 |
| 22 | Arizona State | 36 |
| 23 | Minnesota | 32.5 |
| 24 | Purdue | 30 |
| 25 | Alabama | 22 |
| 25 | Denver | 22 |
| 27 | Penn State | 21 |
| 28 | Pitt | 18 |
| 29 | Akron | 13 |
| 30 | UCLA | 11.5 |
| 31 | Florida | 7 |
| 32 | Duke | 6.5 |
| 33 | Virginia Tech | 6 |
| 34 | Georgia Tech | 3 |
| 35 | South Carolina | 2 |
| 36 | Notre Dame | 1 |
| 36 | Rice | 1 |
| 36 | Houston | 1 |
Important to note too that Baker wasn’t present at the mid-season invite. She’s a gamechanger in the Cal medley & 8Free relays and might have put up some potentially faster times than at the College Challenge (maybe taking over the top spot in 200 back?)
Also weird to see McLaughlin ranked top 8 in the 100 fly but not ranked at all in the 200 fly…
I suspect the gap between 1 and 2 will significantly grow at season’s end.
Most Likely. Stanford is the heavy favorite and didn’t have Manuel or an 800 free relay. They would be up probably another 40 for the relay (because they’re the favorite there) and likely another 50 points at the least with Manuel’s individuals if she’s on form.
Possible but I wouldn’t bet “the farm” on it! Stuff happens & it could happen this year. I’m biased but without Manuel, your assumption is questionable. It’ll all play out early next year.
4th thru 9th will be a dogfight depending on who shows up in March and who has some good divers!
Great breakdown. One note, total for Cal seems off based on the top 16 rankings. Weitzel (20,17,6) Bilquist (11,9.17) Baker (20,18.5, 16) Thomas (16,13) McLaughlin (11) Darcel (7) = 181.5 and the relays (1st, 1st, 4th, 2nd, 4th) = 174. 355.5
I’ll go over it again and change if necessary. Thanks.
I double checked and it adds up to 359.5. Possible that I just made a typo on that 2nd digit. I’ll fix it though. Thanks! Might add up a little differently than it would if you went through the rankings post because I had to go through and take out people who were top 16 in more than 3 events and account for the shift in rankings (and shift in points) accordingly. For example, Comerford wasn’t counted in the 500 free because it wasn’t one of her 3 highest rankings. That bumped McLaughlin up to 16.
No worries, appreciate the efforts! Easy to have a typo with that many numbers flying around.
The ASU Sun Devils are moving up in rankings!!!
Woot woot…let’s Go Devils…??☀️?
Arizona State at #22 in mid season, and CSCAA ranked Arizona State #26 ahead of UCLA, Florida State, Duke, Houston & Arkansas in mid season.
It is definitely a huge improvement and a great position to be in before winter training. Can’t wait for PAC-12 Championship! Time to break the Top 20 this year. Go Devils! ??☀️?
SwimFan/TheBowmanEffect – please review the commenting policies and don’t use multiple usernames in the same comment thread. We’ve requested this of you before, and would appreciate your cooperation – thanks.
How do you remove the default name or change it once you’ve hit ‘Post’?
Once you’ve hit post, you cannot change it.
Crazy that Alex Walsh would’ve placed 3rd at NCAAs in 100 breast.
It really makes no difference. Alex is not a college swimmer yet and who knows what will happen in the next 4 years. There are lots of record breaking age group swimmers that peak or burnout before they ever begin the college recruiting process!
Florida #31
Ouch
At least they’re projected to score. Even that is a win after last year. And they’ve got some great freshmen coming in. Vanessa Pearl is swimming lights out at Jnats.
Texas A n M stepped up this yr freshman through seniors have swam well. In addition the breaststroke they have is so unmatched by everyone.
A&M has had a great season so far, but I think there are a few Big 10 swimmers that may be there at NCAAs in the breaststroke events.
Agree actually but a n m a step above all they have 3 girls that could be top 8 in both 100 n 200