Revisiting NCAA Recruit Rankings: Women’s High School Class of 2021

Each summer, college swimming fans look forward to recruiting – the lifeblood of any NCAA swim program. Since 2012, we’ve been ranking down the top NCAA prospects in the nation from each recruiting class. But sports are inherently unpredictable, and even the most sure-fire prospect can go awry or completely change their role over four years.

As we do each year, we’ll look back at the high school class of 2021, which just finished four years of college eligibility this spring.

First, a few notes:

• Most of the data we’re tracking here deals with NCAA scoring. Obviously, some swimmers are great assets for their teams in dual meets and conference competition without ever being national factors. While we don’t discount the impact of those types of swimmers, the difference in competition between various teams’ dual meet schedules and conference meets makes NCAA scoring the best “apples to apples” comparisons between swimmers.
• Relays are another point of contention, as a swimmer in a strong program has more opportunity for NCAA relays, though they also have more competition for those relay spots. We’ve left relay results out of the data below, except where specifically indicated. That, too, gives us a more fair comparison between athletes.
• We don’t rank diving recruits, but we have started to track individual diving scoring, which is helpful in determining how much of an impact a diver is likely to have on NCAA finish.
• We did our best to scour NCAA results over the past four-plus years, but it’s certainly possible we made a mistake in compiling our data. If you spot an error, please respectfully let us know in the comment section so we can update our work!

We only include domestic recruits in our recruit rankings, as it’s often harder to predict if and when an international recruit will join the NCAA, and which class they should be ranked with. However, we’ve gone back through and tallied up all individual scorers that roughly fit into this class – international and domestic.

REVISITING OUR TOP 20

Check out this post for our analysis of the top 20 recruits in the high school class of 2021. For the sake of being the most accurate in terms of gauging a swimmer’s pre-college ability, we’re using the re-ank of the class after their senior year of high school rather than the original ranks from their junior seasons.

Here’s a look at our top 20 recruits, plus how many individual points they scored at NCAAs in each of their four years:

Note: we’ve made an effort to put a dash (–) in a season in which an athlete didn’t compete (or was cut short due to injury) rather than “no invite”. If you see an error please let us know in the comments.

The Hits:

• After a standout final year of high school, Torri Huske edged out Gretchen Walsh for the #1 spot in our final edition of our recruit rankings for this class, which looks silly in retrospect.
• Huske is an individual Olympic champion and has a long list of accolades, but Walsh has established herself as arguably the greatest college swimmer of all-time over the past four years. Out of a possible 240, Walsh scored 231 points over the course of her career at Virginia, winning nine individual titles and finishing as the runner-up in her three other individual events. She won four straight titles in the 100 free, claimed back-to-back titles in the 50 free and 100 fly as an upperclassman, and her only 2nd-place finishes were the 50 free in 2022 and 2023, and the 100 back as a freshman in 2022. She also was perfect in NCAA Championship competition in relays, winning 16 national titles with successful four-peats in the 200 free, 400 free, 200 medley and 400 medley relays.
• Huske took a redshirt year last season, but still scored the second-most points among ranked recruits over the four-year period with 147, averaging 49 per NCAA Championships. Amid several runner-up finishes, Huske won the first individual NCAA title of her career this past season in the 200 IM, edging out defending champion Alex Walsh.
• #4 Letitia Sim and #6 Paige McKenna managed to score at NCAAs every season they competed, with Sim redshirting the 2023-24 campaign. Sim’s best showing came in 2025, earning second swims in all three of her events, while McKenna’s best season came as a freshman when she won the 1650 free, though she’s continued to produce for Wisconsin, finishing no lower than 9th in the mile during her NCAA career.
• Josephine Fuller really hit her stride after her freshman year at Tennessee, scoring 110 points over the last three NCAA meets. Between the 2023, 2024 and 2025 NCAAs, the #9 ranked recruit’s lowest finish in an individual event was 11th.
• Similar to Fuller, Georgia’s Rachel Stege didn’t score as a freshman but hit double-digit points in the three years after that, highlighted by a 25-point showing as a sophomore. She was an ‘A’ finalist in the 500 free for three straight seasons after placing 50th as a freshman.
• Michigan’s Lindsay Flynn, the #12 recruit in the class, had her best performance this season, scoring 16 points after she had combined for six in the previous three seasons (all scored as a first-year). Flynn was a strong relay performer for the Wolverines throughout her career despite not scoring in her sophomore and junior seasons, and she was close, placing 21st in 2023 and 17th in 2024 in the 100 free.
• The only scorer among the Honorable Mention recruits was Georgia’s Abby McCulloh, who put points on the board in all four years with the Bulldogs, including a career-high 33 as a junior and 20 this past season. After winning the 1650 free last season, McCulloh was 4th in 2025 and also scored in the 500 free.

The Misses:

• The #3 recruit in the class, NC State’s Grace Sheble, scored 14 points as a sophomore but despite qualifying for NCAAs all four years, which is no small feat, failed to score in her junior and senior seasons. In 2025, she was 21st in the 200 breast and 25th in the 400 IM.
• Stanford’s Samantha Tadder scored in the 400 IM as a sophomore and qualified for the meet last year, but was about a second and a half shy of the cutline to qualify in the 400 IM this season.
• Auburn’s Ellie Waldrep qualified for NCAAs in her first three seasons but didn’t score, and missed out on qualifying this season. She was still solid with 52.26/1:55.16 backstroke swims as a senior.
• Among the swimmers ranked 11-20th, Brooke Zettel, who transferred from Florida to Virginia Tech early in her career, was the only one who never competed at NCAAs, while Ella Bathurst (Virginia) and Anna Shaw (Stanford) were two others who continued swimming through their senior years but didn’t qualify in 2025.
• Northwestern’s Ashley Strouse‘s (#14) career was hampered by injuries, as she medically redshirted the 2023-24 campaign and did not return this past season. Cal’s Mia Kragh (#15) wasn’t a miss by any means, but notably didn’t compete past the Minnesota Invite in December this season after making NCAAs in the previous three seasons, scoring 11 points as a junior.
• #19 Caroline Pennington originally committed to Virginia, transferred to USC, and then ultimately landed at Florida, narrowly missing out on scoring at NCAAs last season in the 1650 free. She hasn’t raced since last summer.

OTHER IMPACTFUL RECRUITS IN THE HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 2021

Of course, not every contributor comes from our top 20 list. Some swimmers develop extremely well in college. Some swimmers slip under our radar, or don’t prove to be late bloomers once they hit the NCAA.

We dug through NCAA results to find the best American swimmers from this class to not appear on our top 20 list. Again, it’s not always easy to account for redshirt years, gap years or mistakes in an athlete’s listed class each season. So if we forgot anyone, please let us know in the comments.

Standouts:

• Anna Peplowski followed up her breakout 2024 NCAA performance by matching her point total in 2025, scoring 45 points for the second straight year for Indiana while winning her first career national title in the 200 free. With 119 career points, only Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske had more among swimmers in this class.
• Stanford’s Aurora Roghair more than doubled her career point total as a senior, scoring 40 points in 2025 after recording two runner-up finishes in the 500 free and 1650 free while also scoring in the 200 free (11th). Roghair scored two points as a freshman and zero as a sophomore before taking off in her upperclass seasons, combining for 77 points in two seasons.
• Two swimmers featured in the “Best of the Rest” section in our recruit rankings, Olivia Peoples and Sara Stotler, were consistent scorers after their freshman seasons, with Peoples following up her 13 points last year with 11 this year, while Stotler hit a career-high 15 points this season after earning second swims in the 200 fly and 200 IM.
• South Carolina’s Greta Pelzek moved up from 10th last year to 8th in the 200 fly as a senior, scoring 11 points and bringing her career total up to 18.
• Scoring for the first time in her senior year was Ohio State’s Ava DeAngelis, who swam three years at George Washington, earning her first NCAA invite in 2024, before transferring to the Buckeyes last offseason. She broke through at her second and final NCAAs, setting best times in the 100 breast (58.74) and 200 breast (2:07.91) to finish 14th and 13th, respectively. Coming into the season, her best times stood at 59.75 in the 100 breast and 2:09.94 in the 200 breast.
• Also scoring their first points as a senior was Minnesota’s Eliot Kennedy, who placed 14th in the 1650 free after earning her first NCAA invite last season.

INTERNATIONAL RECRUITS

Standouts:

• Indiana’s Ching Hwee Gan concluded her impressive career for the Hoosiers with 28 points, placing 3rd in the 1650 free and 7th in the 500 free as a senior. The Singaporean Olympian finished in the top three of the mile in three straight seasons, placing 2nd in 2023 and then 3rd last season.
• Cal’s Leah Polonsky had a breakthrough performance at NCAAs this past season, scoring 38 points after she combined for 16 in the previous three years. Polonsky set best time across the board, placing 3rd in the 200 IM (1:51.51), 200 free (1:41.85) and 200 fly (1:53.24) after her previous highest finish was 12th in the 200 IM as a freshman.
• Brooklyn Douthwright was a reliable contributor for Tennessee in her final three seasons, following up her career-best 33 points as a sophomore with nine last year and 11 as a senior. This past season she took 8th in the 200 free, finishing in the top 10 of the event for the third straight year after finishing as the runner-up in 2023 and winning the ‘B’ final for 9th last season.
• SIU’s Celia Pulido made history in her senior year, becoming the first mid-major swimmer to break 50 seconds in the women’s 100 back, clocking 49.84 in the prelims and then following up with a 49.77 clocking in the final to place 4th. That gave the Mexican native 15 points after she potted 16 as a junior with a 7th-place finish in the 100 back and a 13th-place showing in the 200 back in 2024.
• Houston’s Henrietta Fangli, a Hungarian native, scored for the first time last year as a junior, and her best career showing came this past season as she finished 6th in the 100 breast to score 13 points. After breaking 59 for the first time at the 2024 NCAAs (58.98), Fangli nearly went sub-58 this year, clocking 58.06 in the prelims to qualify 4th into the final.
• Scoring for the first time in her senior year was Indiana’s Brearna Crawford, a New Zealand native who stepped up and placed 3rd in the 200 breast in a time of 2:05.66. She qualified for NCAAs in every season but hadn’t scored until her senior year, notably finishing 17th in the 200 breast last season.
• After failing to earn an invite in her first two seasons, Miami (FL)’s Giulia Carvalho scored in back-to-back years to close out her career, following up a 14th-place finish in the 100 fly in 2024 with two second swims in 2025, tying for 11th in the 50 free and placing 16th in the 100 fly.

DIVING RECRUITS

Standouts:

• A Tokyo Olympian and Pan Am medalist, Hailey Hernandez was a reliable contributor for Texas throughout her NCAA career, finishing with 104 points after peaking at 33 last year. She scored 21 as a senior, placing 5th on 1-meter and 10th on 3-meter.
• Purdue’s Sophia McAfee scored double-digit points in the last three years of her career, including a career-high 26 last year. She was 7th on platform and 9th on 3-meter as a senior for 21 points.
• Chiara Pellacani, who started career at LSU and then transferred to Miami (FL), didn’t score as a freshman, put 14 points on the board as a sophomore for LSU, and then took an Olympic redshirt in the 2023-24 season. She came back with 37 points this past season, winning the 1-meter national title and finishing as the runner-up on 3-meter. Her point total in 2025 ranked 2nd among all divers and tied for 15th in the meet.
• Scoring for the first time as seniors was Arizona’s Brooke Earley and Purdue’s Jenna Sonnenberg. Earley was 12th on 3-meter and 16th on 1-meter, while Sonnenberg placed 16th on platform.

OTHER ‘SENIORS’ THIS SEASON

There were nine competitors at the 2025 Women’s NCAA Championships who were classified as seniors but weren’t members of this high school class, primarily due to redshirt seasons.

• Stanford’s Lillie Nordmann was a part of the high school class of 2020 but deferred her freshman year, which was the COVID-interrupted campaign.
• Florida’s Emma Weyant also deferred her freshman year as a member of the high school class of 2020.
• Alabama’s Avery Wiseman, a Canadian native, did the same.
• Indiana’s Skyler Liu joined the Hoosiers in the 2022-23 season, meaning this is her third year (and for ranking purposes will be included in the high school class of 2022), but she’s listed as a senior this season.
• Cal’s Lilou Ressencourt joined the Bears from France this season and was originally believed to have two years of eligibility (so one remaining).
• Miami (FL) diver Mia Vallee took a pair of redshirt years, so despite being listed as a senior this year, was a member of the high school class of 2019.
• Three more divers were listed as seniors this year but were members of the class of 2020: Aranza Vazquez Montano (UNC), Montserrat Lavenant (LSU) and Else Praasterink (Texas A&M).

ALL INDIVIDUAL SCORERS IN THE CLASS

1-20 = Recruit Ranking
HM = Honorable Mention Recruit
NR = Unranked Domestic Recruit
INT = International Recruit
DIVE = Diving Recruit

ARCHIVES: REVISITING RECRUIT RANKS