You are working on Staging1

Women’s NCAA Team Scores- Conference Breakdown

2022 NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

  • March 16-19, 2022
  • McAuley Aquatic Center, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia (Eastern Daylight Time)
  • Prelims 10AM /Finals 6PM
  • Short Course Yards (25 yards)
  • Championship Central

Two weeks ago, the University of Virginia women put up a dominant performance to win their second straight NCAA championship. The Cavaliers were led by a slew of stars, including Alex Walsh, Gretchen Walsh and Kate Douglass, giving Virginia a nearly 150 point cushion over second place Texas. 

Scores by conference

Conference Points
ACC 1256.5
SEC 816
Pac 12 738
Big 10 713.5
Big 12 406
Ivy League 61
Mid Major 9

ACC

UVA wasn’t the only ACC school to impress at NCAA’s, however, as the conference had half of the top six teams in the country this season. NC State, which finished runner-up to UVA last year, finished 5th this season with 279 points. 

The Louisville Cardinals also had a strong meet, finishing 6th with 196.5 points. Overall, the ACC had 7 teams finish in the top 25, including the North Carolina Tar Heels, who finished 14th with 109 points, their highest finish since 2013. The ACC finished the season with more top 25 teams than any conference in the country. 

Team Place Points
Virginia 1st 551.5
NC State 5th 279
Louisville 6th 196.5
North Carolina 14th  109
Miami (FL) 22nd 41.5
Virginia Tech 23rd 37
Duke 24th 36
Notre Dame 33rd 6

Pac 12

The Stanford Cardinal, who came into the season with a revamped roster, led the way for the Pac 12 with a 3rd place finish with 399.5 points, just behind Texas. While the Cardinal lose fifth year senior Brooke Forde, they have another stellar recruiting class coming in, including #1 recruit Claire Curzan, as they try to close the gap on Virginia. Their Bay Area rivals, the Cal Bears, also secured a top 10 finish after finishing 8th with 180 points. Despite remaining in the top 10, this year was Cal’s worst NCAA finish since 2003, when they also finished 8th. 

Team Place Points
Stanford 3rd 399.5
Cal 8th 180
USC 16th 102
Arizona 19th 52.5
Arizona State 26th 29
UCLA T-34th 4

Big 10

The Big 10 was led by rivals Michigan and Ohio State, who both finished in the top 10 with 7th and 9th place finishers, respectively. The two programs seem to be heading in different directions, however, as the Buckeyes now have two consecutive top 10 finishes after not finishing in the top 10 since 1983, while the Wolverines posted their lowest finish since 2017 and will need to find a way to replace their superstar, Olympic gold medalist Maggie MacNeil, who announced she is transferring to Cal. 

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights posted their highest team finish since 2006, finishing 27th with 18 points. 

Team Place Points
Michigan 7th 184.5
Ohio State 9th 165
Indiana 11th 116
Wisconsin 17th 100
Northwestern 18th 73
Minnesota 21st 43
Rutgers 27th 18
Purdue 30th 14

Big 12

The runner-up Texas Longhorns, who featured the meet’s strongest diving program, was the only Big 12 program to score, though they will be heading to the SEC soon and face much stiffer competition on the conference level. 

Team Place Points
Texas 2nd 406

SEC

The SEC was led by Alabama, which finished 4th in Margo Geer’s first season as the program’s head coach. Her appointment, which came after Coley Stickels left the program mid-season last year, was met with some surprise by the swimming community as she had very little full-time coaching experience before being handed the reins. Geer and her team proved all of the doubters wrong, however, swimming fast all season and leading the Crimson Tide to their highest-ever NCAA finish. The Tennessee Lady Volunteers, who won the SEC title this season, secured another top 10 finish after finishing 10th with 127 points, their fourth straight top 10 finish. Overall, the SEC had 6 programs finish in the top 25. 

One of the most notable results for the SEC is the rapid decline of Texas A&M, which finished 39th with just 1 point. Under head coach Steve Bultman, the Aggies had become one of the most consistent women’s programs in the country, recording 6 straight top 4 finishes between 2013 and 2018, including back-to-back third place finishes in 2017 and 2018. They also had 12 consecutive years as a top 10 program from 2007 to 2018. Now, just four years later, the Aggies are on the verge of not scoring at all. 

Team Place Points
Alabama 4th 288
Tennessee 10th 127
Kentucky 12th 115.5
Florida 13th 115
Georgia 15th 104.5
Missouri 25th 34
Arkansas 28th 15
South Carolina 31st 8
LSU 32nd 8
Texas A&M 39th 1

Ivy League

Penn led the way for the Ivy League, with Lia Thomas scoring 44.5 points, their highest finish ever. Yale finished 29th with 14.5 points, while Harvard finished tied for 37th with two points. 

Team Place Points
Penn 20th 44.5
Yale 29th 14.5
Harvard T-37th 2

Mid-Major

Wyoming, FIU and San Diego State were the only three mid-major programs to score points at these championships. Wyoming’s 34th place finish was the highest in program history, while Florida international scored for the fourth time in team history. San Diego State has now scored at 4 of the last 5 NCAA championships. 

Team Place Points
Wyoming T-34th 4
Florida International 36th 3
San Diego State T-37th 2

In This Story

13
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

13 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Swammer2009
2 years ago

Wild to see A&M drop so low so quickly.

swimgeek
Reply to  Swammer2009
2 years ago

Any word on what’s going on at A&M? They were no flash-in-the-pan team. They were the model of consistency. Is this just a weird aberration or a bigger trend?

2swim2kick
Reply to  Braden Keith
2 years ago

It’s worth noting that the Lady Ags still finished 6th at SECs, not stellar but still in the top half. I think it proves Braden’s point that Steve is still good at getting walk-on levels to score at a conference meet, but he hasn’t recruited the talent needed for NCAAs.

coach
Reply to  swimgeek
2 years ago

A&M recruiting took a huge hit when it was rumored that Steve Bultman was going to retire in 2020. For the record, I’m glad Steve is still on the deck. We need more coaches like him,

Mike
2 years ago

There has been an obvious shift in the balance of power regarding women’s swimming. Just a few short years ago the ACC was hammered by the Big Ten in the challenge meet held at Purdue. That meet was supposed to be an anuual event; but it was so one sided I believe the conferences decided against it. If that meet was held today the result would be a victory for the ACC. The SEC and the PAC12 are down. The Big 12 has always been just Texas. The ACC has out recruited all the other conferences and is now the best women’s swimming conference in the country.

MCH
2 years ago

Now layer Texas into the SEC and see what happens.

PancakeLover
Reply to  MCH
2 years ago

Still be second.

Yup
2 years ago

the wording makes it sound like NC State ‘impressed’.
They returned all but 7 points of their 2021 scoring, yet scored 75 points less and dropped from 2nd to 5th….

K Chilly
2 years ago

POINTS BY CONFERENCE
_______________________

ACC: 1256.5
PAC 12: 738
BIG 10: 713.5
BIG 12: 406
SEC: 816
IVY: 61
MID MAJOR: 9

I would like to what kind of 18 member rosters each conference could put up and what scoring that would look like

RTR
Reply to  K Chilly
2 years ago

Historically, which conference typically scores the most? Is it the SEC?

PancakeLover
Reply to  RTR
2 years ago

SEC or Pac 12

swimswamswum
2 years ago

I think for the SEC it’s also interesting to flag Georgia which has struggled to recapture its magic from the early 10’s

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

Read More »