The College Swim Coaches Association has released their latest poll: the final one prior to the Conference Championship meets. The men’s side didn’t have much movement in the top 8, but the women’s poll was all over the place.
For the gentlemen, Cal has increased their stranglehold on the top overall place, thanks to a big win over #7 USC. The Golden Bears now hold 27 out of a possible 35 first-place votes, with the remaining nods going to #2 Stanford (3), #3 Auburn (4), and #4 Texas (1). This is compared to the previous poll, when Cal only grabbed just over a third of the first place votes. Despite the loss, along with another one against Stanford, the Trojans flipped spots with the Tennessee men, who dropped a spot to #8.
The #9 Michigan men dominated a slate of four Big Ten meets to make a big jump from thirteenth back into the top ten. In the course of a week, the Wolverines won two-day duals against #11 Ohio State, Northwestern, and Penn State, as well as a single-day meet against Michigan State. In the biggest of those matchups, against their rivals the Buckeyes, they won by a dominating 46 points. With that win, the Wolverines likely made themselves the favorites at the Big Ten Championships.
To make room for the Wolverines in the top 10, the Virginia Men dropped from tenth to No. 12.
On the women’s side, The top two, Stanford and Georgia, were unchanged. Stanford continued to garner a wide majority of the first place votes, though teams as far down as #6 USC and #7 (t) Arizona each received a single nod. The #3 Auburn women jump from fifth is a little confusing, as they haven’t swum a single meet since the last ranking. The USC women were hammered by both Stanford and Cal, so their slide is logical, but it seems strange that Auburn would have jumped #4 (t) Cal, based on results since the last ranking.
The #4 (t) Texas women also moved ahead of USC, thanks to a big win in a two-day dual over Arizona. The #7 (t) Florida women also moved up from ninth after a big 60-point win over #9 Tennessee.
There are still a few big matchups left prior to the conference championship meets. None will be bigger than the #1 versus #2 matchup of Cal vs. Stanford in Berkeley on February 19th. Couple that with the same matchup on the women’s side, #1 Stanford vs. #4 Cal, a week earlier in the same pool, and there’s some great dual meets left in northern California.
| Men’s Rankings | Women’s Rankings | ||||||
| Rank | Prev | Men | Points | Rank | Prev | Women | Points |
| 1 | 1 | California (27) | 836 | 1 | 1 | Stanford (34) | 1016 |
| 2 | 2 | Stanford (3) | 817 | 2 | 2 | Georgia (3) | 925 |
| 3 | 3 | Auburn (4) | 790 | 3 | 5 | Auburn | 872 |
| 4 | 4 | Texas (1) | 787 | 4 | 4 | California (1) | 854 |
| 5 | 5 | Florida | 733 | 4 | 6 | Texas | 854 |
| 6 | 6 | Arizona | 714 | 6 | 3 | Southern California (1) | 799 |
| 7 | 8 | Southern California | 631 | 7 | 7 | Arizona (1) | 735 |
| 8 | 7 | Tennessee | 593 | 7 | 9 | Florida | 735 |
| 9 | 13 | Michigan | 551 | 9 | 10 | Tennessee | 699 |
| 10 | 9 | Georgia | 526 | 10 | 9 | Texas A&M | 649 |
| 11 | 11 | Ohio State | 526 | 11 | 11 | Virginia | 610 |
| 12 | 10 | Virginia | 483 | 12 | 12 | North Carolina | 543 |
| 13 | 12 | North Carolina | 454 | 13 | 13 | Minnesota | 500 |
| 14 | 13 | Indiana | 427 | 14 | 14 | Indiana | 458 |
| 15 | 15 | Minnesota | 356 | 15 | 16 | Louisville | 368 |
| 16 | 17 | UNLV | 266 | 16 | 15 | Michigan | 322 |
| 17 | 16 | Alabama | 234 | 17 | 17 | Wisconsin-Madison | 316 |
| 18 | 19 | Texas A&M | 233 | 18 | 20 | Arkansas | 281 |
| 19 | 18 | Louisville | 208 | 19 | 18 | Ohio State | 252 |
| 20 | 23 | Purdue | 190 | 20 | 19 | Purdue | 251 |
| 21 | 20 | Florida State | 180 | 21 | 21 | UCLA | 240 |
| 22 | 21 | Louisiana State | 123 | 22 | NR | Florida State | 175 |
| 23 | 22 | South Carolina | 106 | 23 | 22 | Southern Methodist | 138 |
| 24 | 25 | U.S. Naval Academy | 81 | 24 | 24 | San Diego State | 116 |
| 25 | 24 | Iowa | 63 | 25 | 25 | Arizona State | 113 |
| Also Receiving Votes: | Also Receiving Votes: | ||||||
| Harvard 58, Princeton 53, UC-Santa Barbara 39, Southern Methodist 30, Virginia Tech 27, Kentucky 24, Oakland 20, Notre Dame 14, Penn State 14, Northwestern 13, Cal Poly 12, Michigan State 11, Hawaii 10, Missouri 8, Eastern Michigan 7, Texas Christian 7, California State-Bakersfield 5, Wisconsin 5, Clemson 4, Old Dominion 4, Army 4, Bucknell 2, East Carolina 1, Lehigh 1, Pennsylvania 1, Wyoming 1 | Penn State 107, Louisiana State 98, Georgia Tech 53, Missouri 43, Notre Dame 30, Brigham Young 27, Princeton 27, Alabama 19, UC-Davis 19, North Carolina State 19, Kentucky 18, Florida Gulf Coast 15, Ohio 15, Oregon State 10, South Carolina 10, Navy 10, San Jose State 9, Wyoming 9, UNLV 8, Utah 8, East Carolina 6, Kansas 6, Virginia Tech 6, Buffalo 5, Cal Poly 5, Maryland 5, Boston University 4, UC-Santa Barbara 4, Nebraska 4, Towson 4, Yale 4, Boise State 3, Miami (Florida) 3, UW-Green Bay 3, UNC-Wilmington 3, West Virginia 3, Duke 2, Harvard 2, Colgate 1, Miami (Ohio) 1, Nevada 1, Rice 1, Toledo 1 | ||||||