NCAA recruiting churns on, and so do our yearly recruit rankings. We’ve already ranked out the top recruits in the current high school sophomore and junior classes, but now it’s time to revisit our recruiting ranks of the graduating seniors.
As recruiting classes get closer to actual NCAA competition, we start to weigh certain factors more heavily: NCAA scoring times become more important, and we tend to value one or two standout events a bit more heavily (compared to a wide range of just decent events) than we would for a high school sophomore who has more time to develop across the board. Having already ranked this class about a year ago, we also get a clearer picture of momentum and trajectory: which recruits are continuing to drop time through their senior seasons, and which have stagnated.
You can look back on our original ranks for this class below, but do remember that those ranks are merely a snapshot in time – we didn’t have a working crystal ball then, nor do we now:
- Ranks As Juniors (from April 2021)
- Ranks As Sophomores (from April 2020)
THIS CLASS
- Really strong class at the top
- Continues to be an elite IM group
- Sprint free depth has surged
- Strong backstroke depth
- Somewhat thin in fly and breast, though with elite talents at the top
- Thinner distance class
We’re in the midst of a real recruiting renaissance on the women’s side: the last four recruiting classes into the NCAA have been historically good, to the point where we’re almost becoming numb to how fast these recruits are.
And that’s not just a product of swimming continuing to get faster. These last few classes have been truly special, with 4 of the 8 swimmers on Team USA’s women’s medley relay at the 2021 Olympics coming from the classes of 2020 (Regan Smith), 2021 (Torri Huske) and 2022 (Claire Curzan and Lydia Jacoby).
This class of 2022 is loaded at the top. The top 5 in this class would stack up favorably against almost any class we’ve ever ranked, perhaps with the exception of the standout 2020 class.
Since ranking this group as sophomores, we’ve noted how good the class is as a whole in the IMs. But by these senior re-ranks, the other strokes have caught up the IMs a bit. Sprint freestyle has really come along, with a huge group of 22/49 types behind Curzan’s elite top-end speed.
Overall, the fly and breast classes are a little thinner, though they’re buoyed by all-time talents at the top in both strokes. Backstroke has become a bit of a standout for this class, with a lot of depth and some big names in the top 20.
If there’s a weakness with this class, it’s probably the distance free group as a whole, but even they can hold their own with almost any class we’ve ranked in recent memory.
Top Times in the Class of 2022 | ||
50 Free | Claire Curzan | 21.50 |
100 Free | Claire Curzan | 47.32 |
200 Free | Claire Curzan | 1:42.43 |
500 Free | Blair Stoneburg | 4:38.83 |
1000 Free** | Blair Stoneburg | 9:34.74 |
1650 Free | Hayden Miller | 16:02.22 |
100 Back | Claire Curzan | 49.52 |
200 Back | Claire Curzan | 1:49.35 |
100 Breast | Lydia Jacoby | 58.87 |
200 Breast | Kaelyn Gridley | 2:08.30 |
100 Fly | Claire Curzan | 49.24 |
200 Fly | Claire Curzan | 1:50.85 |
200 IM | Charlotte Hook | 1:54.79 |
400 IM | Justina Kozan | 4:05.67 |
**The 1000 free isn’t an event at the Division I NCAA Championships, but is swum instead of the 1650 in many Division I dual meets and is part of the NCAA program in Division II.
THE METHODOLOGY
Our goal in these rankings is to reflect what college coaches look for in recruits, based on many years of conversations and coverage.
We focus only on American-based athletes, simply because there is so much uncertainty with international recruits – if they’ll come to the states, when they’ll come to the states and with what graduating class they should be ranked. Projecting international recruits often becomes more a discussion of when they’ll first join a college program and not which program they’ll join.
A few other factors that weigh heavily in our rankings:
- Relay Value – Relay points count double in college swimming, and any program needs a strong stable of quality sprinters to fill out all 5 relays with studs. Obviously, a special distance swimmer can easily rank ahead of a very good 100 freestyler, but college swimming generally values a sprint freestyler over a distance swimmer, all other factors being equal.
- Improvements – Actual times are a the trump card, but any big improvements in quality can make a difference as well. For example, a swimmer who only took up year-round swimming as a junior in high school going the same time as a swimmer whose been swimming year-round since they were 8 will probably get the edge in our rankings. Think Breeja Larson.
- Short Course over Long Course – we recognize that some programs, many programs, put their focus with their high school aged swimmers on long course, especially depending on when the high school championships may fall. That said, college swimming is short course, so a swimmer who is great in short course but struggles in long course will have the advantage over the reverse.
- NCAA scoring ability – NCAAs are the big show for college teams, so we’ve weighted NCAA scoring potential very highly. Swimmers who already have NCAA scoring times wind up mostly filling out the top our of rankings. Since college athletic directors – and by extension coaches – also place high value on conference championships, scoring ability at conference meets is also a factor in our rankings.
- Relative depth in the NCAA and recruiting class – a wealth of elite depth nationwide in one stroke discipline makes a big difference in what times are considered more valuable in that event. Events rise at different rates in the NCAA, but when one event gets extremely deep and fast at the college level, it makes high school prospects in those events a little less valuable, relatively, with lots of other veteran options. In the same way, a recruiting class stacked with swimmers in butterfly, for example, would make each butterflyer a little less sought-after in the market, with lots of other recruiting options able to provide similar production.
Of course, there’s no way to predict the future, and the most concrete data we have to go on are cold, hard times. These rankings in no way mean that all of these 20 swimmers will be NCAA standouts, and they certainly don’t mean that no swimmer left off this list will make big contributions at the NCAA level.
With that out of the way, let’s get to our rankings.
Disclaimer: there are a lot of high school seniors in the country, and no really good, complete, 100% accurate listing of them all. If you don’t see your favorite swimmer on the list, feel free to politely point them out in the comments. There’s a chance that we disagree with your assessment of their spot in the top 20, and so long as it’s done civilly, there’s no problem with differences of opinions. There’s also a chance that we’ve simply missed a no-brainer (we’ve taken every precaution to avoid that), and if that happens, we want to make sure we correct it.
TOP 20 SWIMMERS FROM THE CLASS OF 2022
*We’re noting where athletes have publicly verbally committed. While most of these athletes have signed NLIs with their schools, we can’t always verify who has physically signed on the dotted line and who hasn’t – for that reason, the verbiage below is still “verbally committed,” as it was in our junior ranks last year.
1. Claire Curzan – TAC Titans – Cardinal Gibbons High School – Cary, NC **Verbally committed to Stanford**
Previous Rank: #1 junior / #1 sophomore
Best Times:
- 100 fly: 49.24 (best in class)
- 200 fly: 1:50.85 (best in class)
- 100 back: 49.52 (best in class)
- 200 back: 1:49.35 (best in class)
- 50 free: 21.50 (best in class)
- 100 free: 47.23 (best in class)
- 200 free: 1:42.43 (best in class)
- 200 IM: 1:58.87
- 400 IM: 4:11.98
Curzan has been the clear-cut #1 recruit in all three rounds of our rankings. She just keeps getting better, taking three seconds off her 200 free since our junior ranks, breaking 50-seconds in the 100 back, and cutting another three seconds in the 200 fly. She should be an incredible relay weapon who can throw down elite-level splits on either the butterfly or backstroke legs of the medleys while fitting into any of the three free relays. The only real question is how much she specializes in college. Does Curzan double down on butterfly, or continue to split time with the backstroke and freestyles? As good as the past three recruiting classes has been, there’s no easy option among those events. But as good as Curzan is, she doesn’t really need to worry about chasing “easier” events.
2. Charlotte Hook – TAC Titans – Cary Academy – Raleigh, NC **Verbally committed to Stanford**
Previous Rank: #2 junior / #2 sophomore
Best Times:
- 200 IM: 1:54.79 (best in class)
- 400 IM: 4:06.43
- 200 fly: 1:52.72
- 100 fly: 52.20
- 500 free: 4:41.83
- 200 free: 1:45.38
- 100 free: 49.98
- 50 free: 22.81
- 1000 free: 9:42.51
- 1650 free: 16:27.38
- 100 back: 52.85
- 200 back: 1:55.28
- 100 breast: 1:01.59
- 200 breast: 2:13.91
Hook remains our #2 recruit, giving the TAC Titans a 1-2 sweep across all three years of rankings. Hook is incredibly versatile, with notable times above in every single NCAA event. She seems to have found her niche as an IMer, where she’s the best in this class in both distances. (Those are also her most likely events to avoid Curzan, for what that’s worth). The only red flag is that Hook hasn’t dropped a whole lot of time in her best events since our junior ranks, but there’s just no way to argue against her unprecedented versatility.
3. Lydia Jacoby – Seward Tsunami Swim Club – Seward High School – Seward, AK **Verbally Committed to Texas**
Previous Rank: #8 junior / unranked sophomore
Best Times:
- 100 breast: 58.87 (best in class)
- 200 breast: 2:08.61
The breakout Olympic champion of 2021, Jacoby’s history in these ranks is a compelling story. Unranked as a sophomore, Jacoby was just 1:00.4 in the 100 breast and 2:14 in the 200 breast. She rose to 8th in last year’s rankings and has now landed at #3 overall in this class. Jacoby is a game-changer in the breaststrokes, and her short course times don’t even tell half of the story. Jacoby has had much more success in the long course pool, going 1:04/2:25 in the 100/200-meter breaststrokes. (Say what you will about time conversions, but those convert to roughly 57 and 2:07 in short course yards). Jacoby isn’t very versatile and doesn’t have a great third event. But hey, we just saw Max McHugh turn basically that same two-event skillset into becoming the #3 overall scorer in the boys class of 2018, so #3 seems plenty fair for Jacoby.
4. Kayla Wilson – Tide Swimming – Norfolk Academy – Virginia Beach, VA **Verbally committed to Stanford**
Previous Rank: #15 junior / #17 sophomore
Best Times:
- 500 free: 4:42.10
- 200 free: 1:43.17
- 100 free: 48.38
- 50 free: 22.56
- 100 back: 53.58
- 200 back: 1:54.52
Wilson has had a meteoric rise as a senior, cracking our top four after ranking 15th and 17th the past two years. The key drops were from 1:44.9 to 1:43.1 in the 200 free, 4:47 to 4:42 in the 500 free, and 49.3 to 48.3 in the 50 free. She’s got incredible range that should allow her to contribute on a wide range of relays early in her NCAA career. Wilson’s 200 free time is the second-best in this class, and would have ranked #1 in each of the past four senior classes we’ve ranked, besting Torri Huske and Regan Smith, among others.
5. Justina Kozan – Mission Viejo Nadadores – Santa Margarita Catholic High School – Brea, CA **Verbally committed to USC**
Previous Rank: #3 junior / #3 sophomore
Best Times:
- 400 IM: 4:05.67 (best in class)
- 200 IM: 1:56.31
- 200 fly: 1:54.28
- 100 fly: 52.42
- 100 back: 53.35
- 200 free: 1:44.40
- 100 free: 49.05
- 50 free: 23.08
- 200 back: 1:55.74
Kozan is another extraordinarily versatile athlete who probably projects as an IMer at the college level, like #2 Hook. Kozan is slightly better than Hook in the 400 IM, but a ways behind in the 200 IM and 200 fly, as the two roughly project to swim the same three events in the NCAA lineup. Like Hook, Kozan hasn’t seen huge time drops as a senior, but did cut about a half-second in her 200 free and 200 fly.
6. Kennedy Noble – YMCA Westside Silver Fins – Millennium High School – Avondale, AZ **Verbally committed to NC State**
Previous Rank: #6 junior / #9 sophomore
Best Times:
- 100 back: 51.51
- 200 back: 1:51.91
- 200 IM: 1:56.60
- 400 IM: 4:13.74
- 100 fly: 53.00
- 200 fly: 1:55.33
- 200 free: 1:48.36
- 100 free: 49.81
It wasn’t that long ago that 51-second backstrokers were leading their recruiting classes, before the absurd backstroke classes of the past few years. Noble is an awesome high school swimmer who probably doesn’t get the buzz she deserves heading into a brutally loaded NCAA backstroke field. Noble didn’t drop much in short course backstroke as a senior, but did cut three seconds in her long course 200 back and had nice drops in the short course 200 IM and 200 fly to give her two very solid options for a third NCAA event.
7. Blair Stoneburg – Treasure Coast Aquatics – Jensen Beach High School – Jensen Beach, FL **Verbally committed to Wisconsin**
Previous Rank: #4 junior / #16 sophomore
Best Times:
- 500 free: 4:38.83 (best in class)
- 1000 free: 9:34.74 (best in class)
- 1650 free: 16:14.60
- 200 free: 1:44.63
- 100 free: 49.22
- 50 free: 22.85
- 100 fly: 53.78
Stoneberg is the best distance swimmer in the class, even if she’s not necessarily the best miler. That 4:38 in the 500 free carries a lot of weight – that time puts her among the better seniors we’ve ranked over the past five years. She rocketed up our recruiting board as a junior after some massive time drops, but that improvement curve has leveled out some over her senior year. Dropping her mile down under 16 minutes seems totally possible given her great 500 free and 1000 free times, and that would go a long ways in securing her value as an NCAA scorer.
8. Carly Novelline – NASA Wildcat Aquatics – New Trier High School – Winnetka, IL **Verbally committed to Virginia**
Previous Rank: #12 junior / #13 sophomore
Best Times:
- 100 back: 51.61
- 200 back: 1:53.17
- 100 fly: 52.58
- 200 free: 1:45.14
- 100 free: 48.16
- 50 free: 22.26
Novelline is a tailor-made NCAA swimmer: a strong sprinter across three different strokes. As we noted above, 51-second backstrokers are still very rare out of high school, even as some generational backstroke talents have broken our ability to put backstroke times into context. Being on the cusp of 21/47 sprint freestyle speed gives Novelline a massive relay scoring ceiling. Unlike many of our top 10 swimmers, Novelline did have some massive time drops as a senior, including from 1:56 to 1:53 in the 200 back and 53.0 to 51.6 in the 100 back.
9. Zoe Dixon – Nova of Virginia – Mills E. Godwin High School – Richmond, VA **Verbally committed to Florida**
Previous Rank: #9 junior / #5 sophomore
Best Times:
- 400 IM: 4:06.43
- 200 IM: 1:56.29
- 100 back: 52.87
- 200 back: 1:53.82
- 200 free: 1:47.54
- 200 breast: 2:12.55
- 100 fly: 53.83
- 200 fly: 1:56.21
Yet another great IMer in a strong IM class. Dixon isn’t far from being the best 400 IMer in the class, and she’s also a very strong 200 IMer. Dixon doesn’t necessarily have a clear third event yet – in the NCAA lineup, the 200 back, 200 breast or 200 fly make the most sense along with the two IM races, but Dixon herself might project best into the 200 free or 100 back. Her 200s seem to be dropping the most time right now, including a drop of almost two seconds in the 200 free as a senior.
10. Lucy Bell – Fort Collins Area Swim Team – Fossil Ridge High School – Fort Collins, CO **Verbally committed to Stanford**
Previous Rank: #7 junior / #7 sophomore
Best Times:
- 200 fly: 1:54.90
- 100 fly: 51.83
- 200 IM: 1:56.41
- 400 IM: 4:07.32
- 50 free: 22.99
- 100 free: 49.09
- 100 breast: 1:00.79
Bell has transformed from a flyer who swims IM into a true IMer who can also fly. Since last year’s ranks, she’s dropped five full seconds in the 400 IM to close in on the best in the class there. She’s also cut more than a second in the 200 IM and remains one of the better 100/200 flyers in the class. It’ll be worth watching what events she focuses on at the college level – the 100 fly and 400 IM would appear to be the key conflict, so it depends how much Bell can continue to drop in that 400 IM.
11. Kristina Paegle – Indiana Swim Club – Bloomington South High School – Bloomington, IN **Verbally committed to Indiana**
Previous Rank: #18 junior / unranked sophomore
Best Times:
- 50 free: 22.38
- 100 free: 48.00
- 200 free: 1:45.02
Paegle really only has three key events, but if you’re swimming in the NCAA, they’re the three you want. She’s got really nice balance between the three relay-distance freestyles, sitting on the cusp of 21/47/1:44 with times that have continued to drop. Paegle has cut almost a second in both the 100 and 200 frees since our junior ranks, and she’s made massive strides since she was an unranked 23.2/49.5/1:48.2 freestyler as a sophomore.
12. Hayden Miller – Cypress Fairbanks – Cypress Creek High School – Houston, TX **Verbally committed to Florida**
Previous Rank: #14 junior / #12 sophomore
Best Times:
- 1650 free: 16:02.22 (best in class)
- 1000 free: 9:40.19
- 500 free: 4:40.66
- 200 free: 1:46.35
Miller is the best miler in the class, close to a sub-16:00. She’s also got really good 500 free speed and pretty solid range down to the 200, which is really the key for a distance swimmer to unlock more NCAA scoring potential. Miller has made more drops in long course over her senior year than short course, but did take about two seconds off her 500 free.
13. Claire Tuggle – Santa Maria Swim Club – Clovis North High School – Mariposa, CA **Verbally committed to Virginia**
Previous Rank: #5 junior / #4 sophomore
Best Times:
- 200 free: 1:44.96
- 500 free: 4:41.36
- 400 IM: 4:16.91
- 100 free: 49.43
The ceiling still seems really high for Tuggle, the former age group standout who remains one of the better 200/500 freestylers in this class. But these four times are the exact same ones that ranked her #4 as a sophomore – her time progressions have stalled somewhat. Often, the transition to the college level can be a great catalyst for a swimmer hitting a plateau, shaking things up and spurring new time drops. The good news for Tuggle is that while she hasn’t been dropping time, she hasn’t regressed at all, either – her season-bests as both a junior and senior have stayed very close to her lifetime-bests, and she remains one of the better long course swimmers in this class.
14. Emma Weber – University of Denver Hilltoppers – Fairview High School – Boulder, CO **Verbally committed to Virginia**
Previous Rank: #13 junior / #8 sophomore
Best Times:
- 100 breast: 59.03
- 200 breast: 2:09.04
Another two-event breaststroker, Weber has plenty of speed in the 100/200 breaststrokes to score big in the NCAA format. For the moment, she’s not that far behind the standout Jacoby in the 100 breast or 200 breast, though Jacoby obviously has the long course trump card. Weber has dropped more than a full second in the 200 breast across her senior year.
15. Kaelyn Gridley– NASA Wildcat Aquatics – New Trier High School – Winnetka, IL **Verbally committed to Duke**
Previous Rank: unranked junior / unranked sophomore
Best Times:
- 200 breast: 2:08.30 (best in class)
- 100 breast: 59.66
Gridley rockets into our ranks after dropping nearly five seconds in the 200 breast and taking over the top time in the class in that race. She cut almost a second in the 100 breast, too, and should be a key contributor to medley relays at the college level. There’s not much of a third event to speak of, though Gridley has been 23.1 in the 50 free and could develop into a solid sprinter there.
16. Ella Welch – Cardinal Aquatics – Assumption High School – Louisville, KY **Verbally committed to Louisville**
Previous Rank: #20 junior / unranked sophomore
Best Times:
- 50 free: 22.35
- 100 free: 48.53
- 200 free: 1:46.04
- 100 breast: 1:00.79
- 100 fly: 53.58
Welch continues to develop her 200 free to go along with strong 50/100 free speed – she dropped 1.7 seconds in the 200 over her senior year. That type of range across the relay-distance freestyles is huge for NCAA value. Welch is also a very good long course swimmer with times of 25.6 and 55.2 in long course meters.
17. Katherine Helms – Mason Makos Swim Team – South County High School – Fairfax Station, VA **Verbally committed to NC State**
Previous Rank: #17 junior / #19 sophomore
Best Times:
- 50 free: 22.39
- 100 free: 48.84
- 200 free: 1:46.18
- 500 free: 4:48.46
- 400 IM: 4:09.80
Good sprint freestylers will always carry NCAA value, and Helms fits perfectly into the relay-centric college swimming landscape. She’s had decent drops in the 50 free and 100 free as a senior, but most impressive (and interesting) is a 3.4-second drop to 4:09.8 in the 400 IM. That’s not an event you usually see added to a sprint freestyler’s program. It suggests some untapped versatility, and should bode really well for Helms’ development in the 200/500 frees moving forward.
18. Devon Kitchel – Carmel Swim Club – Zionsville Community High School – Zionsville, IN **Verbally committed to Michigan**
Previous Rank: #18 junior / unranked sophomore
Best Times:
- 200 IM: 1:56.39
- 100 fly: 52.85
- 100 breast: 1:00.53
- 50 free: 22.97
- 100 free: 49.72
- 400 IM: 4:18.36
Kitchel has a really interesting portfolio of events stretching across the IMs, butterfly, breaststroke and freestyle. That kind of versatility makes her an intriguing 200 IM prospect, and she’s coming off a 1.3-second drop there as a senior. Kitchel dropped time in all three of her top events this year, and is one to watch as a freshman in the NCAA.
19. Martina Peroni – New Albany Aquatic Club – Olentangy High School – Powell, OH **Verbally committed to Duke**
Previous Rank: unranked junior / unranked sophomore
Best Times:
- 200 IM: 1:57.77
- 100 fly: 52.96
- 200 fly: 1:55.19
- 200 free: 1:47.91
- 400 IM: 4:14.48
Peroni is a versatile type who might project as a 200-specialist, combining the IM, butterfly and freestyle races. On the other hand, she’s dropped 1.7 seconds in the 200 fly over her senior season, and also cut a full second in the 100 fly, so keep an eye on her event focuses as a freshman in the NCAA.
20. Katie Crom – Mission Viejo Nadadores – Tesoro High School – Rancho Santa Margarita, CA **Verbally committed to Michigan**
Previous Rank: unranked junior / #14 sophomore
Best Times:
- 200 fly: 1:56.00
- 100 fly: 52.82
- 500 free: 4:44.39
- 200 free: 1:47.57
- 100 free: 48.64
Crom jumps into back end of our list after just falling out of the ranks as a junior She’s a strong butterflyer with solid freestyle range down to the 100, and carries some good relay potential with a 48.6 in the 100 free.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Paring the list down to 20 always feels like pulling teeth. This isn’t an exhaustive list of others we considered, but the top few left off the list who made the decisions on 18-20 very difficult.
Lucy Malys – OLY Swimming – Clarkston High School – Clarkston, MI **Verbally committed to Ohio State**
Previous Rank: #11 junior / unranked sophomore
Best Times:
- 1650 free: 16:09.22
- 1000 free: 9:39.58
- 500 free: 4:42.55
- 400 IM: 4:13.60
Malys isn’t far off of being the best miler in the class, and 4:42 is seriously good out of high school in the 500 free. She hasn’t cut much time as a senior, but still carries big potential as an NCAA distance swimmer.
Aubree Brouwer – Springfield Aquatics – Joplin, MO **Verbally committed to NC State**
Previous Rank: unranked junior / unranked sophomore
Best Times:
- 100 breast: 59.37
- 200 breast: 2:10.58
- 100 fly: 53.50
Brouwer is a breaststroke speedster at this point, with developmental potential in the 200 breast. She dropped 1.3 seconds as a senior in the 100 breast, so keep an eye on her early in her freshman year of college.
Renee Gillilan – Fort Collins Area Swim Team – Fossil Ridge High School – Fort Collins, CO **Verbally committed to Notre Dame**
Previous Rank: unranked junior / #18 sophomore
Best Times:
- 100 fly: 52.95
- 200 fly: 1:56.71
- 100 back: 53.76
Another very solid butterflyer who can cross over well into backstroke. Gillilan is on the cusp of cracking a minute in the long course 100 fly as well.
Zoe Skirboll – Racer X Aquatics – Fox Chapel Area High School – Pittsburgh, PA **Verbally Committed to Virginia**
Previous Rank: unranked junior / #15 sophomore
Best Times:
- 50 free: 22.77
- 100 free: 49.65
- 200 free: 1:46.50
- 100 breast: 1:00.19
- 200 breast: 2:11.12
- 200 IM: 1:58.75
Skirboll is a hyper-versatile swimmer, and it’s still not clear what her best NCAA events are. Perhaps sprint breaststroke and sprint freestyle are the ticket, though Skirboll has dropped a second and a half in the 200 breast over her senior year.
BEST OF THE REST
New this year: this isn’t an exhaustive list, but we can rattle off a few of the athletes we studied who wound up just outside the top 20 in each event discipline. For the purposes of space, we won’t include every top event for these athletes, but just a few of their standouts. Each of these athletes is still an extremely high-level recruit:
- Sprint free:
- Gigi Johnson (22.8/49.5/1:47.4) **Stanford**
- Gretchen Lueking (23.2/49.4/1:45.4) **Notre Dame**
- Kirsti McEnroe (22.5/48.9/1:46.3) **Stanford**
- Julia Burroughs (22.6/49.3/1:46.9) **Tennessee**
- Riley Francis (22.8/49.5/1:46.8) **Michigan**
- Emily Claesson (22.5/49.4/1:47.5) **Virginia Tech**
- Tatum Wall (22.5/49.5/1:47.4) **Duke**
- Catherine Meisner (1:46.5/4:48.5) **Penn State**
- Sabrina Johnston (22.7/49.2/1:47.2) **Princeton**
- Distance free:
- Paige Kuwata (4:43.8/9:48/16:11)**Louisville**
- Claire Dafoe (4:43.9/9:42/16:15) **South Carolina**
- Laci Black (4:46.4/9:53/16:21) **Alabama**
- Michelle Morgan (1:48.5/4:46.0/9:49/16:32) **UNC**
- Morgan Razewski (1:46.4/4:47.7/9:46/16:38) **Georgia**
- Backstroke:
- Emma Karam (52.1/1:54.5) **UNC**
- Natalie Mannion (52.9/1:54.2)**Stanford**
- Mya Dewitt (52.8) **Indiana**
- Lydia Hanlon (53.5/1:55.6) **Kentucky**
- Anya Mostek (53.2/1:56.2) **Harvard**
- Breaststroke:
- Denise Phelan (1:00.6/2:11.2) **Kentucky**
- Mary Codevilla (1:00.8/2:12.8) **Notre Dame**
- Catherine Yu (1:00.9/2:11.9) **Brown**
- Katherine Adams (1:02.2/2:10.3)
- Emily Lundgren (1:00.5/2:13.4) **Washington State**
- Jessey Li (1:00.3) **Yale**
- Butterfly:
- Sydney Lu (52.7/1:56.8) **Harvard**
- Kyleigh Tankard (52.7/1:57.8) **UNC**
- Jordan Agliano (52.9/1:58.2) **Kentucky**
- Scarlet Martin (53.0/1:57.9) **Iowa**
- IM:
- Sophie Duncan (1:58.9/4:09.8) **Stanford**
- Krista Marlin (1:59.2/4:10.4) **Penn State**
- Ashley Kolessar (1:59.9/4:12.6) **UCLA**
- Hana Shimizu-Bowers (4:12.9) **Northwestern**
BONUS LOOKBACK:
Feeling nostalgic? Here’s a look back at our recruiting class rankings from the past, plus our retrospective looks at classes after 4 years in the NCAA:
Girls | ||||
Recruiting Class | ||||
High School Class of 2024 | Way Too Early Ranks As Sophomores | |||
High School Class of 2023 | Way Too Early Ranks As Sophomores | Ranks as Juniors | ||
High School Class of 2022 | Way Too Early Ranks As Sophomores | Ranks as Juniors | ||
High School Class of 2021 | Way Too Early Ranks As Sophomores | Ranks as Juniors | Re-Rank As Seniors | |
High School Class of 2020 | Way Too Early Ranks As Sophomores | Ranks as Juniors | Re-Rank As Seniors | |
High School Class of 2019 | Ranks as Juniors | Re-Rank As Seniors | ||
High School Class of 2018 | Ranks as Juniors | Re-Rank As Seniors | Post-college retrospective | |
High School Class of 2017 | Ranks as Juniors | Post-college retrospective | ||
High School Class of 2016 | Ranks as Juniors | Post-college retrospective | ||
High School Class of 2015 | Ranks as Juniors | Post-college retrospective | ||
High School Class of 2014 | Ranks as Juniors | Post-college retrospective | ||
High School Class of 2013 | Ranks as Juniors | Post-college retrospective |
Any details on International swimmers and Divers ?
Wonder how this class ranks in “best recruits of the decade? “. Would be fun to see.
I feel like that goes to 2020. Regan Smith, Alex Walsh, Phoebe Bacon, Isabelle Stadden, Kaitlyn Dobler, among others
I can’t remember which year it was, but the year with McLaughlin, Eastin, Baker, et al. has to be up there too.
It’s crazy how Kaelyn exploded this season in all her events that she swam, also she split a 22.8 on free at Illinois state as a bit of reference, certainly one of the best female recruits that Duke is getting this year especially for breaststroke.
2023 NCAA projections?
1- UVA
2- Stanford
3- Bama
4- Texas
*unless Texas successfully replaces/returns Pfeifer, Pineda, and Cook, and their relay legs….
Pineda is returning for a 5th year – https://staging.swimswam.com/all-american-diver-paola-pineda-will-return-to-texas-for-her-5th-year/
Texas is returning about 265 individual points from NCAAs, as things currently stand. Stanford is returning about 120. Even with Stanford’s great incoming class and strong relays (still no breastroker tho), I’ve got to give the edge to UT.
Alabama is returning all 168 individual points, just for reference. They also have strong relays, but I agree with Braden that they’re still probably a step away from top 3.
I know Alabama doesn’t graduate much, so there’s a lot of excitement there…but Texas brings in Jacoby and Dakota Luther. They lose a little bit, but what they lose is nowhere near the 120-point gap from them to Alabama at NCAAs last year.
Alabama brings in a deep group that I think will probably produce a few NCAA scorers over the next four years, but none bring that ‘instant impact’ of Jacoby and Luther.
It could happen, but I think on a neutral perspective entering the season, it’s hard to project Alabama jumping Texas.
TFW an Olympic gold medalist is (reasonably) the third ranked recruit
Alabama has some freshman girls that will be scoring at NCAA. Swimswam hasn’t done a good job with Re-Rank of incoming Freshman girls. RTR
Name the Alabama freshmen who you think will score at NCAAs as freshmen. Then we can see if you’re right or not.
I have a guess at one of them 😉
My baby. My sweet CT. Tuggle At #13:( not fair. Her long arms and her miraculous kick make her a huge force at the college level. Her amazing building feeling that she has in each race, and getting ranked outside of top 10.
The only way this isn’t creepy is if you happen to be her mother.
gosh you are so weird about her. your obsession with her is uncomfortable. she’s a teenager.
This def is mom/coach
i don’t think that makes it any better. melanie makes very disparaging comments about claire on here as well and always calls out when she doesn’t swim well. if that’s a mentor of hers that’s pretty messed up.
An individual who is a couple cans short of a six pack.
Time to return to your padded cell.
Up and down cycles- remember when Georgia and Auburn used to dominate these lists and now one has to scroll real far down or not at all. It isn’t a perfect science but recruiting is essential.
Paige Kuwata is the 2nd fastest swimmer in the class in the 1650, at 16:11. She has gone PB’s this past season in the 50/100/1000/1650 Free, 100/200 Back, 200 Breast, 100 Fly, and 200 IM. She’s a World Cup silver medalist in the 800 Free, a JR Team member in both the pool and OW, a 16:27 1500 freestyler, and has a wide variety of events. She’s not even included in the honorable mention section. Logic please?
She won’t be a relay contributor and is better LC than SC. Lucy Malys was “just” honorable mention and she has faster times in the 200/500/1000/1650 and 4IM. Best of the rest makes sense for Kuwata. The 1000 isn’t a championship event, and her OW has no bearing on the college team.
LC is irrelevant in the US for college swimmers unfortunately. Just swim LC meters for the NCAA Championships.
This isn’t a “best swimmer in the class” list. It’s best recruit. It’s about who is primed to do the best at the NCAA level. I actually argue that Jacoby is a bit over-ranked, given her LC over SC specialization. I think she should be around #6-#9 range. LC times and medals/international experience suggest someone has potential, but it doesn’t exactly mean that they are at the moment a “top NCAA recruit”.
I partly agree but I think that her LCM time is just so fast that it just has to be factored in
That 1:04.93 is an outlier though. She didn’t break 1:06 at World trials this year. Her second fastest time ever in the 100 is 1:05.52. She has yet to prove that she can consistently be a high 1:04/low 1:05 performer in the event.
That goes against the argument of not including internationals for these rankings though. They aren’t proven in SCY debate
She is not the 2nd-fastest swimmer in the class in the 1650 free. She’s 3rd. Lucy Malys (16:09) and Hayden Miller (16:02) are both faster.
distance swimmers are not worth much at ncaa. A lot of them don’t even convert down to the 500 very well.