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Revisiting NCAA Recruit Rankings: Men’s High School Class of 2019

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 2019, 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!

2023 Note: Due to swimmers being granted an extra year of eligibility after the 2020 NCAA cancelation, some of these athletes may still have years of scoring still to come.

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 2019. This class was just the second in which we did a re-rank for the swimmers when they were high school seniors (previously the final rankings were done during their junior years only). Since the re-rank gives us the best gauge of where the athletes were coming into the NCAA, and therefore we get a better idea of who improved the most during their time in college, we’re using the re-ranked top-20 rather than the original rankings from their junior seasons.

Here’s a look at our top 10 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.

Rank Name College Team Total NCAA Points 2020 NCAA Points 2021 NCAA Points 2022 NCAA Points 2023 NCAA Points
2020 NCAA Psych Sheet Points
1 Brendan Burns Indiana 121 29 46 46 17.5
2 Jake Foster Texas 86 28 30 28 10
3 Jack Walker Virginia 0 0 7
4 Caspar Corbeau Texas 99 30 34 35 23
5 Jack Dolan Arizona State 28 redshirt 3 25 3
6 Ross Dant NC State 83 27 27 29 14
7 Jack Wright Virginia 0 no invite 0 (relay-only) 0 (relay-only)
8 Noah Bowers NC State 13 0 0 13
9 Peter Larson Texas 11 11 0 0
10 Ethan Harder Texas 0 scratch scratch no invite
11 AJ Pouch Virginia Tech 14 6 8 0
12 Jason Louser Cal 43 16 27 11
13 Liam Bell Alabama/Cal 42 scratch 25 17 14
14 Hunter Tapp NC State 6 0 6 0
15 Noah Henderson NC State 14 0 7 7
16 Jonah Cooper Ohio State 0
17 Will Myhre Iowa/Wisconsin 0 scratch 0 0
18 Dillon Downing Georgia 17 16 1 0
19 Max Saunders USC 0 no invite 0 (relay-only) no invite
20 Sean Conway Virginia 0 0 no invite no invite
HM Cason Wilburn Notre Dame 0 no invite 0 (relay-only) 0 (relay-only)
HM Shane Blinkman Stanford 0 0 no invite no invite
HM Luke Thornbrue Notre Dame 0 no invite no invite
HM Zach Hils Georgia 0 0 0 0
HM River Wright Michigan 8 8 no invite
HM Derek Maas Alabama 30 12 18 7

The Hits:

  • Top-ranked Brendan Burns certainly lived up to the billing for Indiana, scoring 46 points in back-to-back seasons and amassing 121 over his three NCAA appearances—good for second in the class overall and first among ranked recruits by 22. Burns won the national title in the 200 fly as a sophomore, and followed up this past season by earning an upset victory in the 100 back while adding a runner-up showing in the 200 fly. He was a driving force behind’s Indiana fourth-place finish at NCAAs in 2023.
  • #2 recruit Jake Foster was a reliable contributor for the Texas Longhorns in all three championships, scoring 28/30/28 for a total of 86 points. Foster scored in all nine individual events in which he raced in at NCAAs, earning back-to-back fifth-place finishes in the 400 IM in 2021 and 2022 and then securing top-eight finishes in the medley events this past season. As a senior, Foster notably made the ‘A’ final in the 200 IM (0.12), 400 IM (0.05) and the ‘B’ final of the 200 breast (0.13) by a combined three-tenths of a second. The point bumps he earned ultimately proved crucial as his Longhorn team held off Burns’ Hoosiers to place third at NCAAs.
  • Another consistent scorer for Texas was Caspar Corbeau, who represents the Netherlands internationally but grew up in the U.S. club system. Corbeau scored 30+ points in all three NCAA appearances, including a runner-up finish in the 200 breast this past season, and was a key contributor for Texas on both free and medley relays.
  • NC State’s Ross Dant put up near-identical point totals to Foster, having placed in the top three of 1650 free every year. Dant was third in both 2021 and 2022, and then had a memorable swim from the early heats this past season to ultimately take second to teammate Will Gallant.
  • Cal’s Jason Louser was absent from championship season in 2021, missing both Pac-12s and NCAAs, but has put up double-digit points the last two seasons to help the Bears win consecutive team titles. As a senior, Louser made the first two ‘A’ finals of his career, placing fifth in the 400 IM and sixth in the 200 breast.
  • A similar scenario goes for Louser’s teammate Liam Bell, who scratched the 2021 NCAAs while with Alabama and then transferred to Cal. Bell placed third in the 100 breast last year and then placed sixth in 2023 while also scoring in the 50 free, scoring 42 points across two NCAA appearances.

The Misses:

  • Third-ranked Jack Walker (Virginia) qualified for NCAAs in his freshman and sophomore seasons, and was seeded to score in 2020 before the cancelation, but retired during the 2021-22 season.
  • Another UVA recruit, #7 Jack Wright, was an ACC ‘A’ finalist in his first three seasons and has performed relay duties for the Cavaliers at three straight NCAAs, but never competed individually.
  • Sean Conway also never scored, giving Virginia zero individual points despite having three swimmers ranked in the top 20.
  • Texas’ Ethan Harder had some tough luck, as he was fast enough to qualify for NCAAs in each of his first three seasons (and close this year), but never competed as the Longhorns either didn’t enter him or scratched him due to roster numbers. His teammate Peter Larson only scored in one season, 2021, but was a member of the record-setting 800 free relay in 2023.
  • Despite being a member of the U.S. National Team and representing the U.S. at the 2021 Short Course World Championships, NC State’s Hunter Tapp only scored in one event over three NCAA appearances, placing 11th in the 200 back last season.
  • Ohio State’s Jonah Cooper never competed after the COVID pandemic, earning a pair of top-eight finishes at the 2020 Big Tens.
  • Iowa commit/Wisconsin transfer Will Myhre typically had his best meet of the season at Big Tens and never scored at NCAAs. USC’s Max Saunders also didn’t scored individually, having never really improved much beyond his high school times.

OTHER IMPACTFUL RECRUITS IN THE HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 2019

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.

DOMESTIC

Name College Team Total NCAA Points 2020 NCAA Points 2021 NCAA Points 2022 NCAA Points 2023 NCAA Points
2020 NCAA Psych Sheet Points
Brooks Curry LSU 128.5 32 53 43.5 28
Ian Grum Georgia 54 19 7 28
Jack Hoagland Notre Dame 53 27 26 28
Will Gallant Indiana/NC State 42 17 25 3
Alfonso Mestre Florida 40 3 19 18
Alexander Colson Arizona State 24 redshirt 12 12
Hunter Armstrong West Virginia/Ohio State 19 4 15 pro
Matt Menke Alabama 17 5 12 0
Aidan Stoffle Auburn 16 2 14
Kevin Houseman Northwestern 15.5 9 6.5 0 0.33
Colby Mefford Cal 14 4 5 5
Julian Hill Arizona State 14 redshirt 1 13
Andrew Gray Arizona State 12 redshirt 0 12
Ben Patton Missouri 10.5 5 0 5.5
Tyler Watson Florida 10 5 5
Kevin Vargas Florida 6 6 scratch
Sam Artmann Texas 5 scratch 5
Josh Fong Virginia 3 0 3
Jake Marcum Indiana/Alabama 2 2 no invite
Zhang Wen Air Force 2 0 2
Cam Peel Michigan 1 1 0 (relay-only) 0 (relay-only)
Forest Webb Virginia Tech 1 1 0 (relay-only)
Brennan Gravley Florida 0 no invite 5
Harry Homans Georgia/USC 0 no invite 1

Standouts:

  • Emerging as the class’ top scorer as an unranked recruit, Brooks Curry‘s career at LSU has been nothing short of phenomenal, having broken out at the 2020 SEC Championships when he won the 100 freestyle as a freshman. Over three NCAA appearances, Curry was an ‘A’ finalist in eight of his nine individual events and picked up two national titles as a junior in the 50 and 100 free. His 128.5 points clears Burns for tops in the class, and is well over double the next-highest total from an unranked recruit.
  • Ian Grum had a strong career at Georgia, highlighted by his fourth-place finish in the 200 back and sixth-place showing in the 400 IM this past season.
  • Jack Hoagland missed last year’s NCAAs due to injury, but has placed fifth in the 1650 free in both of his NCAA appearances, scoring a total of 53 points. He was also seeded to score 28 in 2020.
  • Will Gallant didn’t compete at NCAAs until his junior year, as after the 2020 meet was canceled, he announced he was transferring from Indiana to NC State midway through 2020-21. After placing second in the 1650 in 2022, Gallant went one better this past season, winning the national title in a best time of 14:28.94 while also scoring in the 500 free.
  • Arizona State swimmers Alexander ColsonAndrew Gray and Julian Hill were all in the same boat as Gallant, with the Sun Devils redshirting the 2021 season. They combined to score 37 individual points this past season to help ASU place second in the team race.
  • Hunter Armstrong is a clear standout in this group of athletes, but more so in long course meters, which is a primary reason why he turned pro after last season.

INTERNATIONAL

Name College Team Total NCAA Points 2020 NCAA Points 2021 NCAA Points 2022 NCAA Points 2023 NCAA Points
2020 NCAA Psych Sheet Points
Eric Friese Florida 25 25 0 0 (relay-only)
Leon MacAlister Stanford 20 20 0
Andres Puente Bustamente Texas A&M 13 2 11 9
Fabio Dalu McKendree/Ohio State 4 4 no invite
Peter Varjasi Florida State 2.5 2.5 0 0 9
Sebastian Somerset Cal 1 0 0 1
Abdelrahman Elaraby Louisville 1 0 1
Federico Burdisso Northwestern 0 0 3

Standouts:

  • After scoring 25 points individually in 2021, Eric Friese didn’t hit that same level in either of the next two seasons, but did contribute on three NCAA winning relays, including Florida’s 200 free relay in 2023 that broke Auburn’s 14-year-old super-suited NCAA and U.S. Open Record.
  • Australian Leon MacAlister went from missing an NCAA invite in 2021 to scoring in two events last season, including a fifth-place finish in the 200 back. He narrowly missed scoring individually in 2023, but did contribute to Stanford’s medley relays that scored.
  • Consistently a reliable scorer for Texas A&M at the SEC level, Andres Puente Bustamante broke through at NCAAs this past season by making the championship final in the 200 breast.

DIVING

Name College Team Total NCAA Points 2020 NCAA Points 2021 NCAA Points 2022 NCAA Points
2023 NCAA Points
Lyle Yost Ohio State 109.5 29 34 46.5
Leonardo Garcia Missouri/Florida 51.5 11 26 14.5
Maxwell Flory Miami (FL) 30 14 16
Brodie Scapens Miami (FL) 26 26 0
Bjorn Markentin Arizona 19 18 1
Victor Povzner Texas A&M 19 2 17
Alexander Hart UNC 15 15
Emanuel Vazquez South Carolina 15 15
Luke McDivitt Utah 11 11 0
Andrew Harness Texas 11 7 4
Jake Butler Minnesota 3 3
Carlo Lopez Missouri 2 2
Dylan Reed Pitt 1 1

Standouts:

  • Ohio State’s Lyle Yost more than doubled up the rest of the divers in this class and ranks third overall, joining Curry and Burns with more than 100 points. Yost won the 1-meter event in 2023 while placing fifth on 3-meter and sixth on platform, and finished in scoring position in all nine of his NCAA entries. He was responsible for 41.5 percent of the Buckeyes’ points to help propel them to a 11th-place finish at the 2023 NCAAs.
  • Leonardo Garcia transferred from Mizzou to Florida after his freshman year and contributed points in three straight seasons for the Gators, including a total of three top-eight finishes.
  • Maxwell Flory was a main component in Miami (FL) finishing inside the top 25 (23rd) in the past two seasons despite having no swimmers. Another Hurricane, Brodie Scapens, scored 26 points in 2021 with two ‘A’ final appearances, and then sat out last year and placed 21st on 3-meter this past season.

ALL INDIVIDUAL SCORERS IN THE CLASS

(Ranked recruits are listed with their 2018 rank. International recruits are listed with “INTL” and unranked recruits with “NR.” Diving recruits are listed with “DIVE”)

FINAL RANK 2019 RANK Name College Team Total NCAA Points 2020 NCAA Points 2021 NCAA Points 2022 NCAA Points
2023 NCAA Points
2020 NCAA PSYCH SHEET POINTS
1 NR Brooks Curry LSU 128.5 32 53 43.5 28
2 1 Brendan Burns Indiana 121 29 46 46 17.5
3 DIVE Lyle Yost Ohio State 109.5 29 34 46.5
4 4 Caspar Corbeau Texas 99 30 34 35 23
5 2 Jake Foster Texas 86 28 30 28 10
6 6 Ross Dant NC State 83 27 27 29 14
7 NR Ian Grum Georgia 54 19 7 28
8 NR Jack Hoagland Notre Dame 53 27 26 28
9 DIVE Leonardo Garcia Missouri/Florida 51.5 11 26 14.5
10 12 Jason Louser Cal 43 16 27 11
11 13 Liam Bell Alabama/Cal 42 0 25 17 14
11 NR Will Gallant Indiana/NC State 42 17 25 3
13 INTL Alfonso Mestre Florida 40 3 19 18
14 HM Derek Maas Alabama 30 12 18 7
14 DIVE Maxwell Flory Miami (FL) 30 14 16
16 5 Jack Dolan Arizona State 28 redshirt 3 25 3
17 DIVE Brodie Scapens Miami 26 26 0
18 INTL Eric Friese Florida 25 25 0 0 (relay-only)
19 NR Alexander Colson Arizona State 24 12 12
20 INTL Leon MacAlister Stanford 20 20 0
21 NR Hunter Armstrong West Virginia/Ohio State 19 4 15 pro
21 DIVE Bjorn Markentin Arizona 19 18 1
21 DIVE Victor Povzner Texas A&M 19 2 17
24 18 Dillon Downing Georgia 17 16 1 0
24 NR Matt Menke Alabama 17 5 12 0
26 NR Aidan Stoffle Auburn 16 2 14
27 NR Kevin Houseman Northwestern 15.5 9 6.5 0 0.33
28 DIVE Alexander Hart UNC 15 15
28 DIVE Emanuel Vazquez South Carolina 15 15
30 11 AJ Pouch Virginia Tech 14 6 8 0
30 15 Noah Henderson NC State 14 0 7 7
32 NR Colby Mefford Cal 14 4 5 5
32 NR Julian Hill Arizona State 14 redshirt 1 13
34 8 Noah Bowers NC State 13 0 0 13
34 INTL Andres Puente Bustamente Texas A&M 13 2 11 9
36 NR Andrew Gray Arizona State 12 redshirt 0 12
37 9 Peter Larson Texas 11 11 0 0
37 DIVE Luke McDivitt Utah 11 11 0
37 DIVE Andrew Harness Texas 11 7 4
40 NR Ben Patton Missouri 10.5 5 0 5.5
41 NR Tyler Watson Florida 10 5 5
42 HM River Wright Michigan 8 8 no invite
43 14 Hunter Tapp NC State 6 0 6 0
43 NR Kevin Vargas Florida 6 6 scratch
45 NR Sam Artmann Texas 5 scratch 5
46 INTL Fabio Dalu* Ohio State (McKendree) 4 4 no invite
47 NR Josh Fong Virginia 3 0 3
47 DIVE Jake Butler Minnesota 3 3
49 INTL Peter Varjasi Florida State 2.5 2.5 0 0 9
50 NR Jake Marcum Indiana/Alabama 2 2 no invite
50 NR Zhang Wen Air Force 2 0 2
50 DIVE Carlo Lopez Missouri 2 2
53 NR Cam Peel Michigan 1 1 0 (relay-only) 0 (relay-only)
53 NR Forest Webb Virginia Tech 1 1 0 (relay-only)
53 INTL Sebastian Somerset Cal 1 0 0 1
53 INTL Abdelrahman Elaraby Louisville 1 0 1
53 DIVE Dylan Reed Pitt 1 1
58 3 Jack Walker Virginia 0 0 7
59 NR Brennan Gravley Florida 0 no invite 5
60 NR Harry Homans Georgia/USC 0 no invite 1
61 INTL Federico Burdisso Northwestern 0 0 3

ARCHIVES: REVISITING RECRUIT RANKINGS

Analysis as of: Spring 2023 Spring 2022 Spring 2021 Spring 2020 Spring 2019 Spring 2018 Spring 2017
Class of 2022 After Freshman Year
Class of 2021 After Sophomore Year
Class of 2020 After Junior Year After Sophomore Year
Class of 2019 After Senior Year After Junior Year After Sophomore Year
Class of 2018 After Senior Year After Junior Year After Sophomore Year
After Freshman Year
Class of 2017 After Senior Year After Junior Year After Sophomore Year
After Freshman Year
Class of 2016 After Senior Year
After Junior Year
Class of 2015
After Senior Year
Class of 2014
After Senior Year
Class of 2013
After Senior Year

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still love dean farris
1 year ago

Does anyone have insight on why UVA men seem to show less improvement than the women? Is it just that they look bad in comparison to the exceptional women or is there more there?

Samuel Huntington
Reply to  still love dean farris
1 year ago

If you’re a freestyle sprinter, it seems like you improve a lot at UVA.
But back/fly guys and 200-500 guys don’t do much. Maybe the style of training but I’m not sure.

Swimdad
Reply to  Samuel Huntington
1 year ago

After reviewing this I am not sure why any top ranked men would go to UVA. We will see how recent transfers fare next year.

bobthebuilderrocks
Reply to  Swimdad
1 year ago

I mean we all saw Connery’s 1:46 IM and 44 free at NCAA’s this year.

NoMorePancakes
Reply to  bobthebuilderrocks
1 year ago

He went best times at ACCs in all his events though.

Chachi
Reply to  bobthebuilderrocks
1 year ago

That’s a Connery problem, not a UVA problem…

Penguin
1 year ago

Crazy thing is even just from an NCAA perspective (not taking into account his Olympic performance), Curry is under valued by this metric. He has insane relay value compared to other swimmers who are more 200 stroke / 4IM guys.

jeff
1 year ago

2 swimmers in this class going from unranked to Olympian is crazy

jeff
Reply to  jeff
1 year ago

Armstrong’s 50 back SCY personal best at the end of high school was slower than the all time women’s best (22.60 vs 22.52) and 3 years later he was a WR holder in the long course version 💀

CADWALLADER GANG
Reply to  jeff
1 year ago

he got that magical dawg in him

rence coker
1 year ago

the sheer potential lost due to covid makes my heart hurt.

RTR
1 year ago

Great article as usual Swim Swam!

Curious as to how Brooks Curry came in unranked? Did he simply have massive time drops at LSU?

Definitely more hits than misses, though, strong work!

jeff
Reply to  RTR
1 year ago

his top times were 20.65/44.53/1:38.88 in the 50/100/200 free coming into college and he was 19.30/41.81/1:32.43 by the end of freshman year (at SECs, since NCAAs was canceled)

Ty L
Reply to  RTR
1 year ago

Agreed, great article. But, I see way more misses than hits. There appears to be a modest correlation between being ranked in high school and being successful in college.

jeff
Reply to  Ty L
1 year ago

I think it’s just hard to predict since men tend to improve more than women in college since they peak later. 7 out of the top 10 female swimmers in the class of 2019 ranking would’ve scored at 2018 NCAAs for example (which took place a month before the ranking), with Ivey making the A final in the 200 free and a couple others on the cusp, while in the male ranking, no one’s best time would’ve made any finals.

Even looking at the rerank compared to 2018 NCAAs again, there would’ve been 3 swimmers that scored with their PBs, with Dant and Burns sneaking into 16th in the 1650 free/200 fly and Bell placing 8th in the A… Read more »

Zthomas
1 year ago

We all think the same thing when reading this: don’t peak too early. But what does that mean in a practical sense? If you are coaching an elite 17 year old, do you hold something back? Of course not! The opportunities for a 1:36 freestyler and 1:34 freestyler coming out of HS are not the same. We all know the names of 4 or 5 age groupers coming up right now who are setting records and doing things that have never been done before. Sadly in 4-5 years we are going to look at a few of those names and think they peaked to early. That should bother all of us. The simple fact it the biggest inflection point in… Read more »

Chlorine Scene
Reply to  Zthomas
1 year ago

They need big times as sophomores in high school to get recruited early.

RealSlimThomas
Reply to  Zthomas
1 year ago

I completely disagree. There’s no way of knowing what your peak is until you look back and reflect. How could a high school coach look at his athlete and say “I’m not going to push you to your limit because it might mean you don’t improve past this limit…let’s save that for college”. That is utterly ridiculous.

There’s nothing guaranteed in life. I say you should push yourself and swim as fast as your limit NOW because who knows if your college program will be cut, someone will beat you out for scholarship, or there is a season-ending injury. You’ll look back and wonder what could have been.

ZThomas
Reply to  RealSlimThomas
1 year ago

I’m not sure we disagree. I wrote that a coach shouldn’t hold anything back. You gave good examples of uncertainties.

RealSlimThomas
Reply to  ZThomas
1 year ago

I might have misinterpreted some of what you said. I don’t think I’ll look back at Reece Whitley and think he peaked too early. He just peaked, plateaued. I think the phrasing “too early” insinuates he did it at the wrong time, and I don’t think there’s every a wrong time to peak when you look at your career as a whole. Of course if you look at it in segments, peaking at a dual meet rather than NCAAs is peaking too early…but to say someone who swam their best in at high school championships or freshman year NCAAs peaked too early is just wrong.

Unknown Swammer
Reply to  RealSlimThomas
1 year ago

Everyone of these age group swimmers feels there’s more left in the tank, no elite athlete has ever finished a race and though, man, that was it – no way I could ever do better than that….just sometimes you end up not.

RealSlimThomas
Reply to  Unknown Swammer
1 year ago

I agree. And there are a million of outside factors that play into your performance that are often forgotten: academics, social life, and general mental health.

I could say with relative proof I had my worst championship showing when I was taking my toughest course load and was overall very defeated and unhappy.

Chachi
1 year ago

I think you need to take relay contributions into account somehow. A kid like Caspar was the BR leg on scoring relays all 3 years (4th lost to COVID) (including 1st in the 400 medley in 2021), and a key part of the free relays as well (including 1st in the 400 free in 2022). Not sure how to weight it, but it’s worth more than 0 points.

Justin Pollard
Reply to  Chachi
1 year ago

Slight wrinkle in taking relay scoring into account is that it depends on 3 other swimmers as well. Brooks Curry doesn’t get to benefit from relay points, not because he isn’t good enough to be on a relay, but because he doesn’t have a team around him to score highly. Caspar does. It wouldn’t really make sense to rank Caspar above Curry due to relay contributions, would it?

Chachi
Reply to  Justin Pollard
1 year ago

I’m not suggesting a rerank of swimmers, but that there possibly be a methodology for taking relay contributions into account.

Word up
Reply to  Justin Pollard
1 year ago

Yes! I know 10 time all Americans that had 0 points. A 10 time All-American deserves recognition not bashed for 0 points.

Unknown Swammer
Reply to  Word up
1 year ago

Seems like that 10-time All American who never scored individually benefited greatly from going to a team that had very strong relays. Not bashing them – but they clearly also benefited from their surroundings. If the goal is to see how accurate the rankings were, I don’t think relay performance should be included at all. Potential to help relays should be included in the ranking criteria though for sure.

Word up
Reply to  Unknown Swammer
1 year ago

If you go a strong enough team for the relays to finish top 8, you have to be pretty fast to even make those relays!

Lap counter
1 year ago

What does it mean that the top 2 “other impactful” swimmers were both from Dynamo? Coincidence? Undervalued by SwimSwam?

Ga swimmer
Reply to  Lap counter
1 year ago

Some might say that dynamo was holding them back tremendously.

uhh what
Reply to  Ga swimmer
1 year ago

or setting them up for tremendous success when it really matters

thezwimmer
Reply to  Lap counter
1 year ago

Undervalued more likely. Curry was a junior national-level sprinter who was on a massive improvement curve committing to a bottom SEC team. Grum had little-to-no relay potential, although he was a better swimmer in his events compared to some others.

About James Sutherland

James Sutherland

James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism. Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …

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