2019 MEN’S NCAA SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, March 27 – Saturday, March 30
- Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center, Austin, Texas
- Prelims 10 AM / Finals 6 PM (Central Time)
- Defending champion: Texas (4x) (2018 results)
- Psych Sheet
- Live Stream
- Live results
We’ve already done a deep dive into our recruiting archives, looking at how the top 20 recruits from the high school class of 2015 did after four NCAA seasons. Now it’s time to look back at a more recent recruit ranking: the current year’s freshmen, whom we ranked in the spring of 2017, then re-ranked one year later after the close of their high school careers.
Relevant links:
- Top 20 recruits, high school class of 2018 (original rank as of June 1, 2017)
- Top 20 recruits re-rank, high school class of 2018 (ranked on June 7, 2018)
Naturally, this analysis has a far smaller sample size than our reports from the past two days, so it’s much more difficult to read too much into these numbers. Still, it’s useful to look at which first-year NCAA swimmers had the best performances relative to their recruiting ranks.
The ranks listed below are from our re-rank last summer – they are not current ranks of NCAA athletes. We also do not rank international athletes as recruits, as it’s hard to predict if and when they’ll come to the U.S., and which class with which to include them.
TOP 20 RANKED RECRUITS
HM=Honorable mention
Rank | Name | College Team | Total NCAA Points | 2019 NCAA Points |
1 | Reece Whitley | Cal | 29 | 29 |
2 | Drew Kibler | Texas | 25 | 25 |
3 | Alexei Sancov | USC | 0 | no invite |
4 | Max McHugh | Minnesota | 33 | 33 |
5 | Daniel Krueger | Texas | 15 | 15 |
6 | Trey Freeman | Florida | 2 | 2 |
7 | Cody Bybee | Arizona State | 0 | no invite |
8 | Patrick Callan | Michigan | 7 | 7 |
9 | Jack Levant | Stanford | 0 | — |
10 | Daniel Roy | Stanford | 5 | 5 |
11 | Kieran Smith | Florida | 25 | 25 |
12 | Robert Finke | Florida | 5 | 5 |
13 | Michael Brinegar | Indiana | 17 | 17 |
14 | Matthew Willenbring | Texas | 0 | 0 |
15 | Noah Henry | Arizona State | 0 | no invite |
16 | Jason Park | Texas | 0 | no invite |
17 | Danny Kovac | Missouri | 0 | 0 |
18 | Khalil Fonder | Arizona State | 0 | no invite |
19 | Andrew Abruzzo | Georgia | 0 | 0 |
20 | Mason Gonzalez | Stanford | 0 | no invite |
HM | Shaine Casas | Texas A&M | 10 | 10 |
HM | Andrew Koustik | Texas | 0 | 0 |
HM | Zach Brown | NC State | 0 | no invite |
HM | Jack Dahlgren | Missouri | 0 | 0 |
HM | Will Davis | Florida | 0 | 0 |
HM | Jack Franzman | Indiana | 0 | no invite |
- There was a lot of discussion at the time of our ranks about the battle for the #1 spot between Reece Whitley and Drew Kibler. That race is far from over, but ironically enough, neither was the top scorer as a freshman. That honor went to Minnesota breaststroker Max McHugh, who was second in the 200 breast and 3rd in the 100 breast, ahead of Whitley in both. McHugh has been on a tear with time drops, and had the best freshman year of any breaststroker in the history of NCAA swimming, at least based on times.
- Whitley did outscore Kibler individually, though you could still make an argument for either as the more impactful freshman. Both swam two finals relays, but Kibler did swim prelims of two other relays. Neither will really see his full relay value until later in his career, though, as it’s hard for freshmen to break into relay spots, especially on the two best and deepest rosters in college swimming.
- One comment from our original ranks said then-#8 recruit Kieran Smith was “at least 20 places higher than he should be.” Smith responded by tying for 3rd in the class in individual points as a rookie. Good on ya, Kieran. Thanks for making us look smart.
- It’s not easy for freshmen to earn NCAA invites, particularly on the men’s side. But we did have six of our top 20 not earn invites. The most surprising one was #3 Alexei Sancov, who was the last alternate not called in on the men’s side. #7 Cody Bybee is another name to watch out for: he didn’t even swim Pac-12s for Arizona State, though there’s no word on why he was out.
UNRANKED RECRUITS
And of course, we’ll include everyone’s favorite part: which unranked recruits scored NCAA points as freshmen, both domestic up-and-comers and international prospects who competed as freshmen this year.
Name | College Team | Total NCAA Points | 2019 NCAA Points |
Zane Backes | Indiana | 14 | 14 |
Mikey Calvillo | Indiana | 7 | 7 |
Charlie Scheinfeld | Texas | 6 | 6 |
Mitchell Whyte | Louisville | 6 | 6 |
Raunak Khosla | Princeton | 6 | 6 |
Casey Storch | Virginia | 4 | 4 |
- Zane Backes has had a really good two-year run. He was 54.3/2:02.6 in the breaststrokes when we first ranked. By the re-rank, he was 53.1/1:55.0 and pushing for a top 20 spot. This year, he went 51.3/1:53.7 for Indiana.
- All of these guys had really notable drops as freshmen: Mikey Calvillo from 15:05 to 14:40 in the mile, Charlie Scheinfeld from 53.6 to 51.4 in the 100 breast, Mitchell Whyte from 1:46 to 1:40.2 in the 200 back, Raunak Khosla from 3:52 to 3:42 in the 400 IM and Casey Storch from 3:46 to 3:42 in the 400 IM.
INTERNATIONAL:
Name | College Team | Total NCAA Points | 2019 NCAA Points |
David Schlicht | Arizona | 22 | 22 |
Nyls Korstanje | NC State | 9 | 9 |
Kacper Stokowksi | Florida | 9 | 9 |
Antani Ivanov | Virginia Tech | 5 | 5 |
Victor Johansson | USC | 3 | 3 |
- The Australian David Schlicht was a great pickup, scoring in all three events, including a 6th-place showing in the 400 IM.
More recruiting rank analysis:
Women’s:
- Revisiting recruiting ranks: High school class of 2015
- Re-Ranking the recruiting classes: Collegiate class of 2016-2019
- Revisiting recruiting ranks: High school class of 2018
- All recruits, Classes of 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 (coming soon)
Men’s:
- Revisiting recruiting ranks: High school class of 2015 (coming soon)
- Re-Ranking the recruiting classes: Collegiate class of 2016-2019 (coming soon)
- All recruits, Classes of 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 (coming soon)
From what I’ve heard, Bybee was sick prior to Pac12 and couldn’t travel to compete, thus no end of season for him.
Where’s my boy dirty Dean Farris?!
“current year’s freshmen” which does not include Dean Farris.
Whoosh
L!
Farris has actually conquered time travel now . . .
“McHugh has been on a tear with time drops, and had the best freshman year of any breaststroker in the history of NCAA swimming.”
Little Minnesota bias showing? Cordes and Hansen won titles as freshmen…
That statement leaves ambiguity, but I believe they meant timewise. No other freshman has been under 51 or 1:50
Fair point on the freshman champs. I meant specifically in terms of times – no freshman has ever been 50.3/1:49.4 (nor even close, really). I updated the story to reflect that.
I agree with you. We cant always compare times from year to year. I think we would all agree Mark Spitz, Biondi, or Mary T etc are all in the top 10 or at least 20 of our sport…. their times do not come close to comparing with today’s athletes. We have to measure it by the current competition of their peers during their time. Take Babe Ruth for example…(extreme case I know)… do you really think he would even play in today’s major league?? Or that Wilt Chamberlain would be even an All-Star in today’s NBA??
So I agree and would argue that Cordes and Hansen had better freshman seasons than McHugh.
Wilt? Yes. He was a phenomenal all-around athlete (track and field in the gym) who would have only been greater with today’s training methods. You can’t teach height. And he had the speed and leaping ability.
How about we just take a step back Tea Rex and recognize where McHugh’s times place him in NCAA history before pulling the biased card… I seem to recall Hansen and Cordes being called phenoms and yet you still seem to have difficulty in recognizing the historical significance here with McHugh? Cordes was 51.32 as a freshman and McHugh was 50.30. The times just speak for themselves. 200 breast same thing. Perhaps you and 2 Cents should get together alone and engage in the “Who is better?” debate rather than just realize that US Men’s Breaststroke has never been this competitive nationally. I’m not even trying to defend McHugh here, I’m just more so amazed that you and 2 Cents… Read more »
So he had to race against fast people and swam fast?
So did a ton of swimmers at ncaas for men and women. (And at every fast meet around the world year round )
McHugh had a great performance, no question. Let me just needle Jared a little.