The American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) released their 2023 Top 100 Age Groups Teams on Wednesday. The rankings are based solely on 10 & under and 11-12 age groups. Per the ASCA release, the top ranked swimmers in the 10&U and 11-12 age groups for the 2022 Long Course season and 2022-23 Short Course season were compiled. Swimmers were scored for 1st through 20th place in individual events only; no relays included in these rankings.
You can find the full ASCA press release here.
Taking a look at these rankings, the West coast really showed out, with DART, Irvine Novaquatics, and Crow Canyon Sharks taking the top three spots. Of note, there is a wide margin between the top two teams and the rest of the field, while the standings are pretty tight from there on out.
Also worth mentioning, Sandpipers of Nevada, without question one of the highest performing clubs at the senior level currently, did not make this list of top 100 age group teams for 2023. Similarly, Elmbrook Swim Club, which won the girls team title at the 2022 Speedo Junior Nationals last summer, didn’t make this list either. Carmel Swim Club, which won the combined team title at last summer’s Junior Nationals, had a relatively high ranking on this list, coming in at 28th.
On the other side of the ledger, Dynamo Swim Club won the boys team title at Junior Nationals last summer and came in fourth in this list of top age group teams. Of course, Junior Nationals team finishes are just one of many metrics we could use to measure success at the senior level of club swimming. It should be taken into account that teams don’t always go to Summer Junior Nationals. For example, DART only sent one swimmer to the meet, while a highly competitive senior team like Sandpipers didn’t attend the meet at all.
While looking at success at the senior level, we could also take a look at the 2022-2023 USA Swimming Club Excellence program. SwimMAC Carolina came in first in this year’s Club Excellence standings, and they tied for 46th in these age group rankings. TAC Titans was second in Club Excellence and came in 26th in the age group rankings.
So, without further ado, here is full list of ASCA’s top 100 age group teams for 2023:
| Place | Score |
Team Name and LSC
|
| 1 | 950 |
DART Swimming, SN
|
| 2 | 819 |
Irvine Novaquatics, CA
|
| 3 | 582 |
Crow Canyon Sharks, PC
|
| 4 | 562 |
Dynamo Swim Club, GA
|
| 5 | 537 |
Terrapins Swim Team, PC
|
| 6 | 516 |
NASA Wildcat Aquatics, IL
|
| 7 | 480 |
Long Island Aquatic Club, MR
|
| 8 | 445 |
Club Wolverine, MI
|
| 9 | 428 |
NOVA of Virginia Aquatics, Inc, VA
|
| 10 | 403 |
Santa Clara Swim Club, PC
|
| 11 | 399 |
Saint Petersburg Aquatics, FL
|
| 12 | 363 |
Lakeside Aquatic Club, NT
|
| 13 | 353 |
West Coast Aquatics, PN
|
| 14 | 348 |
Sacramento Aquatics Club, SN
|
| 15 | 346 |
Pleasanton Seahawks, PC
|
| 16 | 339 |
Aquazot Swim Club, CA
|
| 17 | 327 |
CSP Tideriders, OZ
|
| 18 | 318 |
Jersey Wahoos, MA
|
| 19 | 309 |
North Baltimore Aquatic Club, MD
|
| 20 | 291 |
North Carolina Aquatic Club, NC
|
| 21 | 275 |
Greensboro Community YMCA, NC
|
| 22 | 256 |
Machine Aquatics, PV
|
| 23 | 255 |
Lakeside Swim Team, KY
|
| 24 | 248 |
Opelika Swim Team, SE
|
| 25 | 233 |
Mansfield Aquatic Club, NT
|
| 26 | 227 | TAC Titans, NC |
| 27 | 225 |
La Mirada Armada, CA
|
| 28 | 220 |
Carmel Swim Club, IN
|
| 29 | 217 |
Tide Swimming, VA
|
| 30 | 206 |
Aquajets Swim Team, MN
|
| 31 | 202 |
Nation’s Capital Swim Club, PV
|
| 32 | 199 |
North Channel Aquatics, GU
|
| 33 | 197 |
Swim Florida, FL
|
| 34 | 194 |
Cypress Fairbanks Swim Club, GU
|
| 35 | 193 |
Dads Club Swim Team, GU
|
| 36 | 192 |
Madison Aquatic Club, WI
|
| 37 | 190 |
Falfins Swimming, CO
|
| 38 | 185 |
Rochester Swim Club, MN
|
| 39 | 182 |
Beach Cities Swimming, CA
|
| 40 | 180 |
BeFirst Swim Team, MA
|
| 41 | 161 |
Denver Swim Academy, CO
|
| 41 | 161 |
SwimAtlanta, GA
|
| 43 | 158 |
Nitro Swimming, ST
|
| 44 | 157 |
Racer X Aquatics, AM
|
| 45 | 156 |
Fox Chapel Killer Whales, AM
|
| 46 | 155 |
Saint Andrew’s Aquatics, FG
|
| 46 | 155 |
SwimMAC Carolina, NC
|
| 48 | 154 |
Alamo Area Aquatic Association, ST
|
| 49 | 153 |
Life Time Arizona Swim Team, AZ
|
| 50 | 151 |
Suburban Seahawks Club, MA
|
| 51 | 146 |
Academy Bullets Swim Club, IL
|
| 52 | 137 |
Mission Viejo Nadadores, CA
|
| 53 | 133 |
Eagle Aquatics, FG
|
| 54 | 132 |
Bolles School Sharks, FL
|
| 54 | 132 |
Olympic Cascade Aquatics, PN
|
| 56 | 129 |
Club Olympia Swim Team, IN
|
| 57 | 127 |
Katy Aquatic Team For Youth, GU
|
| 58 | 126 |
Quicksilver Swimming, PC
|
| 58 | 126 |
South Jersey Aquatic Club, MA
|
| 60 | 124 |
First Colony Swim Team, Inc., GU
|
| 61 | 121 |
Gold Medal Swim Club, AZ
|
| 62 | 120 |
Scottsdale Aquatic Club, AZ
|
| 63 | 118 |
QNS Aquatic Club, MR
|
| 64 | 117 |
Metro Area Life Time, NJ
|
| 65 | 113 |
Loggerhead Aquatics, FL
|
| 66 | 111 |
Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics, PC
|
| 67 | 110 |
City of Mobile Swim Association, SE
|
| 67 | 110 |
Magnolia Aquatic Club, GU
|
| 67 | 110 |
Rockville Montgomery Swim Club, PV
|
| 67 | 110 |
Stamford Sailfish Aquatic Club, CT
|
| 71 | 109 |
Schroeder YMCA Swim Team, WI
|
| 72 | 108 |
Eagle Swimming Association, GU
|
| 73 | 107 |
AnglerFish Aquatics, NE
|
| 74 | 106 |
TSM Aquatics, CA
|
| 75 | 105 |
Fog City Hammerheads, PC
|
| 76 | 104 |
Scarlet Aquatics, NJ
|
| 77 | 101 |
Rivertown Aquatics, MR
|
| 78 | 99 |
Nu Wave Swim Club, LA
|
| 79 | 97 |
Rocket Swim Club, OH
|
| 80 | 96 |
Gold’s Aquatic Club Camas, OR
|
| 80 | 96 |
New Albany Aquatic Club, OH
|
| 82 | 90 |
Franco’s Fins, LA
|
| 83 | 87 |
Gator Swim Club, NE
|
| 84 | 85 |
VillaSport Athletic Club & Spa, GU
|
| 85 | 84 |
New Wave Swim Team, NC
|
| 86 | 83 |
Bluefish Swim Club, NE
|
| 87 | 82 |
Rockwall Aquatic Center of Excellence, NT
|
| 88 | 81 |
Portland Aquatic Club, OR
|
| 89 | 79 |
Jupiter Dragons Swim Team, FG
|
| 90 | 78 |
Kamehameha Swim Club, HI
|
| 91 | 75 |
Asphalt Green Unified Aquatics, MR
|
| 91 | 75 |
Charger Aquatics, NM
|
| 93 | 74 |
Edina Swim Club, MN
|
| 94 | 71 |
Irish Aquatics, IN
|
| 94 | 71 |
Verona Area Swim Team, WI
|
| 96 | 70 |
Fox Swim Club, MD
|
| 97 | 69 | BEAST, NM |
| 97 | 69 |
North Bay Aquatics, PC
|
| 99 | 67 |
Glenbrook Swim Club, IL
|
| 99 | 67 |
Three Village Swim Club, MR
|
SUPER INACCURATE. that’s all i need to say, like look at some of these teams! barely above average. i won’t call out any in particular like the fog city hammerheads to conserve feelings, but my team and many of yours have way more swimmers and much more skilled. none of these teams are bad, but just much smaller than some teams that didn’t make the list.
Quality over quantity and as it should be!
Dumbest list I’ve ever seen to gauge a team. A team with 1 good swimmer can be a top 20 team.
Yes, they should cap an individual contribution to maybe 100 points.
Agree. Or limit the number of events that count towards the ranking.
This metric is silly – if you have 1 stud swimmer in any one age group you can easily be on the list. I am sure there are a few teams who did it on depth – but to say that a team is a great “age group” team because they have 1 kid killing it is not accurate at all.
True, but USA Swimming and ASCA have made it pretty clear that they don’t really care about a club’s “depth” in terms of putting a bunch of kids on Division 1 teams every year. They primarily care about the studs who have the potential to make the National Team.
As far as the organizations who create the rankings are concerned, having 1 stud with the potential of going to the Olympics is preferable to having 100 kids who will swim in college but never sniff the National Team roster. The metrics used merely reflect that mindset.
But, seriously…1 fast 10 year old will get you in the top 25 on this list. 9-10 times aren’t exactly consistent with who is going to the Olympics.
Yeah, I tend to agree. But I’m also not sure what the perfect system is. Maybe scale it so that each age group is worth progressively more points?
It’s tricky. Like you said, I don’t think having one fast 10 year old is an indication of a “top” club. But if you extend the scoring criteria out too far, the list will just be dominated by the largest clubs. While this list isn’t perfect, it does seem to have a decent mix of small and large clubs.
My one takeaway from this article is that Dads Club Swim Team is an amazing team name!
Is this metric even important?
Can I venture a guess that these might have been drawn from USA Swims database, specifically long course which is wildly inaccurate?
USA Swimming Club excellence rankings are a better metric than Junior National meet results.to use for identifying the development of 18&Under talent. As you pointed out, some teams don’t even attend the junior meet.
VCC is also a very effective tool
I like VCC a lot, but would like it more if there was a way to customize results (have results populate based on chosen events) because if you are a smaller team, it is hard to fill every event under the current parameters. It would also be cool if you were able to filter by club size.
You can filter VCC in your club portal to view it by every metric possible (club size, event, specific strokes, zones, etc). One of the nice new editions in the site upgrade
But doesn’t it only show your team’s results? Does it allow you to rank and compare to other teams? For instance, can you find out which team has the most points for 11-12y?
terrapins most likely.