The poll results are in, and our readers have spoken. They have agreed with our picks and like the USC Trojans to win the 2011 NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship. Despite being the top vote getter, they are by no means clear-cut favorites as there was a pretty even vote distribution. Here are the results in order of the percentage of the number of votes received:
1. USC – 23.5%
2. Stanford – 20.0%
3. Other – 14.8%
T-4. Cal – 13.0%
T-4. Florida – 13.0%
6. Georgia – 12.2%
7. Arizona – 6.1%
Stanford and USC are neck-and-neck in the majority of voters’ minds, with the slight advantage probably coming as a result of USC’s much stronger diving corps.
Based on the geographical locations of the “other” voters, they are likely split pretty evenly between the Auburn and Texas women. This makes the result of last weekend’s dual meet between the two, which Auburn won in a major upset, all the more interesting.
Defending champs Florida tied with Cal for the fourth most votes. The real surprise is that Georgia, who has an incredible lineup of freestylers along with a fantastic support group, received only 12.2% of the vote. Though Arizona is in a bit of a rebuilding year, they still will surprise people with the strength of their relays thanks to a loaded freshman class.
The narrow spread of the votes really demonstrates how tight the women’s race is this year, and the title hunt might be one of the tightest and deepest that we’ve seen in years.