2023-24 NCAA Women’s Power Rankings: Final Edition

As in previous years, SwimSwam’s Power Rankings are somewhere between the CSCAA-style dual meet rankings and a pure prediction of NCAA finish order. SwimSwam’s rankings take into account how a team looks at the moment, while keeping the end of the season in mind through things like a team’s previous trajectory and NCAA scoring potential. These rankings are by nature subjective, and a jumping-off point for discussion. If you disagree with any team’s ranking, feel free to make your case in our comments section.

Braden Keith, Yanyan Li, Sophie Kaufman, and Anya Pelshaw contributed to this report.

The NCAA Championships are upon us, with the meet set to kick off in just two days’ time from Athens.

In the wake of the conference championship meets, we’ve seen a ton of shifting in the women’s rankings, particularly among the top teams.

Tennessee has leaped up six spots into 4th, while Cal, USC and Stanford impressed at Pac-12s as they all moved up and sit inside the top eight spots.

On the flip side, NC State’s slide continues, moving them out of the top 10, while Louisville and Ohio State also dropped down significantly.

Previous Ranks

• NCAA Women’s Power Rankings – Pre-Season Edition
• NCAA Women’s Power Rankings – November Edition
• NCAA Women’s Power Rankings – December Edition
• NCAA Women’s Power Rankings – January Edition

Honorable Mentions: Pennsylvania Quakers, South Carolina Gamecocks

#25: UCLA BRUINS + (PREVIOUS RANK: NR)

James: I’m higher on the Bruins than everyone else—in addition to their medley duo of Paige MacEachern and Rosie Murphy, I’m also expecting to see diver Lauren Hallaselka score some big points.

#24: PURDUE BOILERMAKERS – (PREVIOUS RANK: 24)

James: The Boilermakers qualified five female divers at the Zone C Championships. Look for them to climb the standings on the final night in the platform event.

#23: VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES -1 (PREVIOUS RANK: 22)

James: The relays will need to perform as Caroline Bentz is their only swimmer seeded to score.

#22: LSU TIGERS +1 (PREVIOUS RANK: 23)

James: Three divers qualified, plus multiple relays in scoring position.

#21: MINNESOTA GOLDEN GOPHERS -1 (PREVIOUS RANK: 20)

James: Viviana Del Angel will be the driving force behind the Gophers, and with the departure of Joy Zhu, she’ll be joined by freshman Elna Widerstrom on the boards with a chance to score.

#20: ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE +1 (PREVIOUS RANK: 21)

James: It’s now the medley relays, not free, that serve as Alabama’s key scoring opportunities.

#19: AUBURN TIGERS – (PREVIOUS RANK: 19)

James: Meghan Lee was impressive in the 100 fly at SECs—50.66 is no joke.

#18: DUKE BLUE DEVILS – (PREVIOUS RANK: 18)

James: Three swimmers in scoring position, led by Kaelyn Gridley, while Margo O’Meara returns after she was missing last year. She was 6th on 1-meter in 2022 and was solid at Zone B, as was Aliyah Watson.

#17: ARIZONA STATE SUN DEVILS – (PREVIOUS RANK: 16)

Yanyan: I’m high on this ASU women’s team this meet. I think their top swimmers will shock people.

#16: TEXAS A&M AGGIES +1 (PREVIOUS RANK: 17)

James: Miranda Grana has been impressive in her freshman season and has some major international experience under her belt so the big stage shouldn’t phase her.

#15: NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS – (PREVIOUS RANK: 15)

Sophie: Once again, diving is going to earn UNC the bulk of their points. But they’ve got some relays in scoring position as well, which will help their cause.

#14: WISCONSIN BADGERS – (PREVIOUS RANK: 14)

James: Expecting Bacon to sizzle and a big swim from Paige McKenna from Lane 8 in the 1650.

#13: MICHIGAN WOLVERINES – (PREVIOUS RANK: 13)

James: The additions of Balduccini and Bellard have been key for the Wolverines this season.

#12: GEORGIA BULLDOGS – (PREVIOUS RANK: 12)

Sophie: Georgia’s freestyle crew is going to play a large role in how NCAAs go for this squad.

#11: NC STATE WOLFPACK –2 (PREVIOUS RANK: 9)

James: The Wolfpack only have three swimmers seeded to score.

#10: OHIO STATE BUCKEYES -5 (PREVIOUS RANK: 5)

James: The Buckeyes have always performed better than the sum of their parts at NCAAs, and that will be put to the test again this season. Nine swimmers in scoring position, but 13 is the most any of them are projected to score (Hannah Bach).

#9: INDIANA HOOSIERS -2  (PREVIOUS RANK: 7)

James: Diving will be leaned on heavily, but Anne Fowler and Skyler Liu really showed out at the Zone C Championships as should provide the Hoosiers with a big bump.

#8: CAL GOLDEN BEARS +3 (PREVIOUS RANK: 11)

Yanyan: Based on track history, I don’t think Pac-12s was the best we’ve seen from this Dave Durden-led Cal team this year.

Sophie: I agree that Durden’s track record suggests the Cal women have more left for NCAAs. I considered kicking them up ahead of their (now former) Pac-12 rivals, but I think not having divers puts a ceiling on their performance in the standings.

#7: LOUISVILLE CARDINALS -3 (PREVIOUS RANK: 4)

Sophie: Abby Hay is “day to day” with a knee injury. If she’s out of NCAAs, that will slide the Cards down a few spots in the standings.

Yanyan: Louisville and NC State aren’t projected to do as well as some of the Pac-12 and ACC teams on this list, but they have also had historical success and tend to hold their tapers better.

#6: USC TROJANS +2 (PREVIOUS RANK: 8)

Braden: The USC women looked pretty good at Pac-12s, placing 2nd behind Cal and ahead of Stanford. That’s a good sign because this is a top-heavy team built for NCAA success. They also have a really good diver in Nike Agunbiade. We still don’t know which USC team is going to show up in Athens. Last year, they were not good in March. That weighs down a team that is better than this ranking.

#5: STANFORD CARDINAL +1 (PREVIOUS RANK: 6)

Sophie: If you told me in September that I was going to rank Stanford 5th right before NCAAs, I’d have laughed in your face. Yes, it’s still a risk but the teams from 4th through 10th all have reasons that could make you hedge your bets on their NCAA performance. Stanford’s exceeded my expectations this year, and I trust them to execute in Athens more than USC, a team I think has more to lose from a projected points lens.

#4: TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS +6 (PREVIOUS RANK: 10)

James: There’s a lot of trepidation around Tennessee and their #4 seeding on the psych sheets. We’ve seen them peak for SECs and then fall flat at NCAAs before. However, this time feels different….maybe? In the past we’ve seen them go all-in for the conference title, but that wasn’t really within reach with Florida. We’ll have to wait and see, but their top swimmers like Fuller and McSharry usually show up when it counts. 

#3: FLORIDA GATORS – (PREVIOUS RANK: 3)

Sophie: Florida is expected to be 2nd until the last individual event, when the Texas butterfliers will go to work. They’re going to need multiple swimmers to outperform their seeds if they want to counteract the Longhorns’ 200 fly depth and hold onto 2nd.

#2: TEXAS LONGHORNS – (PREVIOUS RANK: 2)

James: Near identical with Florida on the psych sheet scores, but the Longhorns qualified six divers for NCAAs, four of which scored points last year.

#1: VIRGINIA CAVALIERS – (PREVIOUS RANK: 1)

James: Clear-cut. Exactly 100 points up on Texas in psych sheet scores.

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