Stanford, Georgia Women in Dead Heat at Top of Final Women's Poll

The College Swim Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) has released their final women’s dual-meet rankings of the 2009-2010 season, and the Georgia Bulldogs hung on to the top spot, but just barely. The Stanford Cardinal received 12 out of the 34 first-place votes placing them in a first-place tie with the Bulldogs, who only received 8. Third-ranked Texas also received 8 first place votes, Arizona was in fourth receiving 2, and California rounded out the top 5.

The Florida Gators were no. 6, and received a single first-place vote, followed by Texas A&M, Auburn, USC, and Minnesota.

Georgia has not done anything to lose their first place ranking since the last poll was released in the middle of January, but they have also not had any big-time meets to cement their place, which resulted in them going from 12 to 8 first-place votes. The Bulldogs biggest win since then was a 78-point victory over no. 13 Tennessee. The Cardinal, on the other hand, have run through the gauntlet that is known as the Pac-10 dual-meet schedule and has emerged undefeated. This includes wins over no. 4 Arizona, no. 5 Cal, and no. 9 USC.

Texas remained in the top 3 despite a 49-point loss in their two-day dual against Arizona, their only dual meet loss of the season. Arizona was unable to jump the Longhorns, even after beating them, due to back-to-back losses to Arizona and Cal the weekend before.

The lone new team to crack the top 25 was Ohio State, who scored an upset victory over their heated rival no. 16 Michigan. The Buckeyes debuted at no. 23, and Florida State dropped out after a loss to no. 18 Virginia Tech.

Altogether, there were 50 teams who received votes in the latest CSCAA poll. The poll stayed fairly stable overall, as the only team aside from Ohio State to move more than 2 spots were the Cardinal.

Founded in 1922, the College Swimming Coaches Association of America, Inc. (CSCAA), is the oldest coaches association in the United States of America.