Editor’s Note: SwimSwam is not on the voting panel for the CSCAA Dual Meet Rankings, but the rankings are posted as a courtesy to the CSCAA. See our most recent women’s Power Rankings here and men’s Power Rankings here.
The first regular-season CSCAA dual-meet poll of the 2019-2020 NCAA Division I swimming & diving season has been released and both the men’s and women’s rankings have seen significant changes.
On the men’s side, while the top 3 of Cal, Texas, and NC State remain the same, with the first big shakeup coming from a rapid rise by the Missouri Tigers. That program, under the leadership this year of new head coach Andy Grevers, has been the topic of a lot of discussion as a result of their decision to suit up for every meet in the 2019-2020 NCAA season. But they also turned heads with a 190.5-109.5 trouncing of the Florida men in their first dual meet of the season. The loss slid Florida from 7th to 9th in the rankings.
Other big men’s movers to the positive are Texas A&M, who moved from 11 to 7 after sliding past the then-#5 Ohio State men; and the Tennessee men, who jumped from #16 to #10 after a 32-point victory over then#4 Virginia. That loss dropped Virgini all the way to #13.
Kentucky (#17) and Minnesota (#25) both moved into the men’s rankings for the first time this season.
On the women’s side of the pool, there’s a new #1 as the Florida Gators have vaulted ahead of the defending NCAA Champion Stanford Cardinal after a few convincing early-season wins. The 5-0 Gators took victories over both then-#18 Minnesota (202-97) and then-#6 Missouri (176-124) since the last polls were released. In total, the Florida women have outscored their first 5 opponents by a combined 995.5-491.5. Things don’t get any easier for the Gators moving forward: their next two dual meets are against #12 Georgia and #20 Florida State.
Tennessee also jumped in the rankings, from 15 to 3 after beating Virginia; so too did Auburn from 13 to 6. Auburn hasn’t had any really significant dual meets yet, but did place 2nd at the elite SMU Classic meet.
Meanwhile, the Indiana women had the biggest drop, falling from #9 to #18 in the latest polls. They opened their season by losing to Kentucky 161-39 and beating Notre Dame 172-128. The Hoosier women now sit one spot ahead of poll newcomers Akron. The Zips’ only intercollegiate dual meet so far this season was a 186-114 win over Miami University, but some strong swims at the Akron Zips Classic last weekend (including a 53.06 in the 100 fly, 1:57.55 in the 200 fly, and 22.84 in the 50 free from Paulina Nogaj) was enough to impress the voters.
The Northwestern women also made their poll debut for the season, jumping all the way to 15th. While they don’t have any big dual meet wins yet, they were 3rd at the SMU Classic behind only Louisville and Auburn. Between a nation-leading 400 IM time from Calypso Sheridan and a handful of school records (including from Sheridan in the 200 back in 1:56.57), the Wildcats did enough to impress voters.
Note that these CSCAA dual meet polls are intended to be reactive to team’s dual meet results, rather than a predictor of end-of-season rankings at the NCAA Championships.
See Also:
October 23rd Polls
Division I Men
| Rank | Previous | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | California | 249 |
| 2 | 2 | Texas | 241 |
| 3 | 3 | NC State | 228 |
| 4 | 13 | Missouri | 213 |
| 5 | 6 | Indiana | 213 |
| 6 | 8 | Michigan | 185 |
| 7 | 11 | Texas A&M | 181 |
| 8 | 5 | Ohio State | 167 |
| 9 | 7 | Florida | 166 |
| 10 | 16 | Tennessee | 165 |
| 11 | 9 | Louisville | 157 |
| 12 | 10 | Stanford | 145 |
| 13 | 4 | Virginia | 144 |
| 14 | 15 | Georgia | 104 |
| 15 | 17 | Florida State | 98 |
| 16 | 14 | Arizona State | 95 |
| 17 | NR | Kentucky | 91 |
| 18 | 12 | Notre Dame | 90 |
| 19 | 18 | Arizona | 78 |
| 20 | 25 | Auburn | 47 |
| 21 | 20 | Alabama | 42 |
| 22 | 23 | Southern California | 36 |
| 23 | 19 | Iowa | 25 |
| 24 | 22 | Virginia Tech | 18 |
| 25 | NR | Minnesota | 16 |
Also Receiving Votes: Penn State (13), Wisconsin (12), Georgia Tech (11), Pittsburgh/Duke (10)
Division I Women
| Rank | Previous | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | Florida | 315 |
| 2 | 1 | Stanford | 307 |
| 3 | 15 | Tennessee | 293 |
| 4 | 2 | Virginia | 279 |
| 5 | 3 | California | 267 |
| 6 | 13 | Auburn | 254 |
| 7 | 4 | NC State | 244 |
| 8 | 5 | Texas | 228 |
| 9 | 6 | Missouri | 223 |
| 10 | 7 | Southern California | 222 |
| 11 | 11 | Michigan | 190 |
| 12 | 8 | Georgia | 188 |
| 13 | 21 | Louisville | 185 |
| 14 | 19 | Kentucky | 151 |
| 15 | NR | Northwestern | 141 |
| 16 | 12 | Texas A&M | 121 |
| 17 | 22 | Duke | 109 |
| 18 | 9 | Indiana | 92 |
| 19 | NR | Akron | 84 |
| 20 | 24 | Florida State | 68 |
| 21 | 17 | Alabama | 66 |
| 22 | 18 | Minnesota | 64 |
| 23 | 16 | Notre Dame | 53 |
| 24 | 14 | Ohio State | 46 |
| 25 | 25 | Arizona State | 17 |
Also Receiving Votes: North Carolina (12), Louisiana State (6)
Women’s Poll Committee
Dan Colella, Duke; Niko Fantakis, Brown; Chris Hansen, CSU Bakersfield; Neil Harper, Arkansas; Naya Higashijima, Southern Methodist; Nathan Lavery, Texas Christian; Matthew Leach, Washington State; Sergio Lopez, Virginia Tech; Christine Mabile, Boise State; Jonathan Maccoll, Rutgers; Jesse Moore, Minnesota; Jeff Poppell, Florida; Jos Smith, Utah
Men’s Poll Committee
Steve Barnes, Penn State; Chase Bloch, Southern California; Jason Calanog, Texas A&M; Chad Cradock UMBC; Daniel Dozier, West Virginia; John Hargis, Pittsburgh; Jamie Holder, Dartmouth; Lars Jorgensen, Kentucky; Craig Nisgor, Seattle; Bill Roberts Navy; Rachel Stratton Mills, Arizona State; Neal Studd, Florida State .
Someone explain how Florida women are #1. They do not have any top times in the country except the 400 FR. Dressel has a few top 10 or 8 times but only 2 of those could be in a dual meet. They lack serious depth in a couple events that would lose big time points for them in a dual meet as well. In almost every single event, they do not have a swimmer who ranks ahead of a Tennessee or Virginia swimmer either. Throw in Stanford who is obviously better, and Cal who hasn’t really done anything yet and they should be 5th at best.
UF is ranked faster than UT in the 200IM, 400IM, 100BR, 500Fr, 1000Fr, 100BK, 200BK, 200FL, 200FR, 400FR, etc, etc. Are you looking at a different list than me?
https://www.collegeswimming.com/times/?dont_group=false&event=2100&gender=F&page=1®ion=countryorganisation_usacollege&season_id=23
Fine, they can be ahead of TN, but again if you limit Dressel to 2 events, then that adds to ones with TN having a better time. Explain why they should be ahead of UVA, Stanford and Cal.
Umm, so the Wisconsin men, with a bunch of serviceable, not elite, dudes received votes, but the Badger ladies with the returning NCAA Swimmer of the Year are unranked and received no votes? Seems fishy to me…
Here’s the problem with the poll as I see it so far…
First of all (and this is stated in the article) “Note that these CSCAA dual meet polls are intended to be reactive to team’s dual meet results, rather than a predictor of end-of-season rankings at the NCAA Championships.” and people do not read that part.
2nd, they are trying to make this more like other sports such as football and basketball and base it on performance so far…. you beat a good team, you move up, lose to a lower rank then you move down, etc.
3rd, the 2nd reason I mention is being too confused with ranking on potential also at this point… several… Read more »
I am pleased with the Lady Vols being ranked 3rd which is where I believe they will finish, However I believe the pollsters are not thinking clearly when they only rank our mighty Men Vols 10th??? WTF. With some of our studs and amazing diving I believe we are a top 8 team!!! This is our year as the Lady Vols and Men Vols will be decimated by graduation SO give us some love THIS YEAR!!!
The “amazing diver” that didn’t even beat the UVA diver in the 3m last weekend?
Yea the amazing diver who will kick the tar out of any UVA diver when it is needed and/or counts!!!!
Cause diving was exhibition this past weekend??
They “faulted” ahead? Or they “vaulted” Ahwaz?
Hello!
Seems legit.
Did the poll look at Michigan’s intrasquad? Would have though the women would get a boost from that as well as the men.
See other articles about intrasquas results not considered official or counted by CCSA.
Lets see if they can repeat those performances against competition! It is one thing to do it against nobody like playing horse against yourself in basketball BUT playing horse against a real person is TOTALLY different. Admittedly not a fan of Michigan BUT that “meet” was bogus
Actually, in a sport like swimming it’s easier to get motivated to put in a hard effort in a “real” meet than in an intra-squad meet. I don’t even think in basketball a game of horse is any harder with or without another person, though maybe it would be for someone who suffers from competitive nerves. Shooting unguarded baskets (ie in horse) vs having a defender in your face, that’s the real difference but isn’t much of an analogy in this case.