2024-25 Men’s NCAA Power Rankings: Final Edition

As in previous years, SwimSwam’s Power Rankings are somewhere between the CSCAA-style dual meet rankings and a pure prediction of NCAA finish order. SwimSwam’s rankings take into account how a team looks at the moment, while keeping the end of the season in mind through things like a team’s previous trajectory and NCAA scoring potential. These rankings are by nature subjective, and a jumping-off point for discussion. If you disagree with any team’s ranking, feel free to make your case in our comments section. 

Sophie Kaufman, Braden Keith, Spencer Penland, Robert Gibbs, Yanyan Li, and Anya Pelshaw contributed to this report. 

Our final edition of the men’s power rankings has arrived as we predict the final standings in the team race at the Men’s NCAA Championships next week.

Coming out of the conference meets in February, there hasn’t been much change amongst the top teams, with Tennessee moving past Arizona State into the top five being the only movement in the top 10. The Vols were dynamite at SECs, and their relays project to push them past the Sun Devils.

Outside of the top 10 there was plenty of shuffling, however, including Ohio State, Texas A&M and Alabama all moving up multiple spots in the top 15, while Florida State vaults up the rankings from 24th to 16th after a strong ACC performance.

Auburn and Virginia both fell out of the top 15 after some holes were maybe exposed a bit at their conference meets, while Arizona and SMU were two other teams that dropped multiple spots as FSU moved up.

Yale cracked the top 25 after previously going unranked, knocking out Army.

Previous Rankings: 

• Pre-Season
• Pre-Invite
• Post-Invite
• Pre-Conference

Honorable Mentions: Pitt Panthers, Minnesota Golden Gophers, Army Black Knights, Brown Bears, Pennsylvania Quakers

#25: SMU MUSTANGS -3 (PREVIOUS RANK: 22)

Jack Hoagland will be relied upon heavily for SMU after he was a bit off at ACCs compared to where he was last season at the ASUN Championships, which led to a 41-point NCAA performance. A 2024 Hoagland could put the Mustangs into 20th place or thereabouts, but if he’s off they could slide out of the top 25. -JS

#24: YALE BULLDOGS + (PREVIOUS RANK: HM)

Yale has supplanted their Ivy League rivals from Penn on this list, especially as the 100 breaststroke has gotten so fast, which may challenge Matt Fallon‘s ability to pick up a second scoring swim. Yale’s Noah Millard is seeded 6th in the 1650 free, and freshman Nicholas Finch is seeded 11th in the 100 fly. The Bulldogs are starting to build something special. -BK

#23: ARIZONA WILDCATS -4 (PREVIOUS RANK: 19)

The Wildcats will primarily be relying on relays to finish inside the top 20—their 800 free relay is 9th-fastest this season thanks to the duo of Ralph Daleiden and Tomas Lukminas going 1:31s at Big 12s, but the 400 free relay is 17th and breaking through into the points will be crucial. Daleiden and Lukminas are seeded to score, and their lone scorer from last year, diver Gage Dubois (13 points in 2024), is back. -JS

#22: UNC TAR HEELS +1 (PREVIOUS RANK: 23)

UNC has been one of the surprise teams this season, and though they’re only seeded for 30 swimming points, qualifying nine swimmers for the championships is the most in program history since at least 1996. Sebastian Lunak had a breakout ACC performance and is in the hunt for an ‘A’ final appearance in the 200 fly. -JS

#21: USC TROJANS – (PREVIOUS RANK: 21)

I don’t think we’ve seen the best yet from USC’s Chmielewski twins this season. -BK

#20: PURDUE BOILERMAKERS – (PREVIOUS RANK: 20)

The Boilermakers qualified five divers for NCAAs, returning 2024 scorers Jordan Rzepka and Max Miller to go along with a trio of freshmen who could do some damage in their nationals debut. Brady Samuels is their lone swimmer qualified, and he has an outside shot at scoring in the 100 fly. -JS

#19: LSU TIGERS -1 (PREVIOUS RANK: 18)

Jere Hribar got his feet wet last season and has really come into his own as a sophomore, seeded for 20 points at NCAAs with a chance to make the ‘A’ final in the 50 and 100 free (seeded 9th and 8th, respectively). Their other big scoring prospect is diver Carson Paul, who led the team with 18 last season. The Tigers have ‘A’ cuts in four relays but are only seeded to score in two, so adding a third, and getting points from Jovan Lekic (seeded for one), will be significant for them. They also got a boost when Stepan Goncharov was scratched into the meet. -JS

#18: VIRGINIA CAVALIERS -5 (PREVIOUS RANK: 13)

Virginia’s three scorers from last year are gone, and losing Noah Nichols midway through the season hurts their medley relays (though Matthew Heilman stepped up with a monster 51.0 split on the 400 medley at ACCs). However, there are some bright spots for the Cavaliers including freshmen David King (7th seed in 200 back) and Spencer Nicholas (9th seed in 100 fly). Jack Aikins is a bit of a darkhorse after he didn’t make any ‘A’ finals at ACCs. -JS

#17: AUBURN TIGERS -3 (PREVIOUS RANK: 14)

Auburn missed getting a few sprinters in for individual events on the bubble, but that means extra hands to focus on relays, so expect good performances from them there. -BK

#16: FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES +8 (PREVIOUS RANK: 24)

Florida State has had one of their best seasons ever, and is seeded to score the 11th-most swimming points. Michel Arkhangelskiy is a legitimate star that this team hasn’t had in a while. I don’t know if they can maintain their form for another meet, but they are the “Cinderella” team of this meet. -BK

#15: ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE +2 (PREVIOUS RANK: 17)

The only two individual scorers for Alabama last season were Charlie Hawke and Kaique Alves, and they figure to produce the lion’s share again this year. Hawke is seeded for 27 (4th in 200 free, 7th in 500 free), while Alves (14th in 200 free) and Leonardo Alcantara (16th in 1650 free) are also seeded in the points. The Crimson Tide are also loaded in the 800 free relay with Hawke leading off in 1:30.4 and both Alves and Toni Dragoja splitting 1:31s at SECs to finish in 6:06.77, ranking them 5th in the nation heading into NCAAs. -JS

#14: TEXAS A&M AGGIES +2 (PREVIOUS RANK: 16)

A&M doesn’t have as good of a diving crew as they have in years past. Though Jaxon Bowshire is a legitimate title contender on platform, he’s not nearly as good in the other events, and didn’t even dive the 3-meter at Zones. They have a bonafide star in Baylor Nelson, but there’s a lot of good talent behind him as well, like Connor Foote. This feels like an old-school A&M team, built on the strength of their relays, but Nelson is what sets it apart from the teams of the 2000s. -BK

#13: LOUISVILLE CARDINALS -2 (PREVIOUS RANK: 11)

Denis Petrashov hit a new level at ACCs and finds himself seeded for 25 points with top-eight seeds in both breaststroke events. Tommy Bried and Jake Eccleston also set new best times at the conference championships, putting them in the scoring position—but can they carry that form through to NCAAs? The Cardinals are only seeded for 28 relay points, which is significantly less than the teams ranked ahead of them here, so it will be tough to move up. -JS

#12: OHIO STATE BUCKEYES +3 (PREVIOUS RANK: 15)

It has been a while since the Ohio State men have hit their seed number at NCAAs (though, to be fair, some of that has been impacted by personal circumstances unrelated to the sport of swimming). -BK

#11: MICHIGAN WOLVERINES +1 (PREVIOUS RANK: 12)

The Wolverines find themselves seeded in the top 10 for psych sheet points despite only qualifying seven swimmers to the meet. Gal Cohen Groumi did everything for them last year, but he’s got support this year in Colin Geer, Tyler Ray and Lorne Wigginton. Geer and Ray only scored four apiece last year but are both seeded for double-digits, while Wigginton, a freshman, is a Canadian Olympian and should push for an ‘A’ final berth in the 400 IM. However, Michigan, on average, scores 40 fewer points than their seed over the last six years, so we’ll have to wait and see if they can buck the trend. -JS

#10: VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES – (PREVIOUS RANK: 10)

Virginia Tech has been relatively quiet this season but we’re not underestimating former NCAA champion Youssef Ramadan, who is only seeded for 2.5 points but scored 32 last year. Carles Coll Marti has been sensational this season, and that duo gives them a strong relay base. Their 12th in psych sheet scoring—moving up two spots is doable, but three is a tall order. -JS

#9: GEORGIA BULLDOGS – (PREVIOUS RANK: 9)

The Bulldogs have a formidable three-pronged attack with Luca Urlando, Jake Magahey and Tomas Koski, who are seeded to score 111 points on their own. Georgia’s 125 individual points on the psych sheets ranks tied for 5th among all teams at the meet, so improving their relays (seeded for just 40 points) will be key. Their 400 medley relay was DQed at SECs, so they should find some improvement there and push for bonus points -JS

#8: STANFORD CARDINAL – (PREVIOUS RANK: 8)

The bottom end of this top 10 is a lot of programs that don’t always improve from seed at the NCAA Championships. That leaves an opportunity for any of them (or the teams just outside) to sneak way up this ranking. -BK

#7: NC STATE WOLFPACK – (PREVIOUS RANK: 7)

NC State looks to be in no man’s land to an extent, with Tennessee and Arizona State out of reach and Georgia (likely) too far behind to catch them. The Wolfpack have depth with seven swimmers seeded to score, but no true superstars. They’ve got some talented names such as Oleksandr Zheltyakov, Daniel Diehl and Kaii Winkler who could all conceivably take a big step forward. -JS

#6: ARIZONA STATE SUN DEVILS -1 (PREVIOUS RANK: 5)

The defending champions look a lot different than they did last year, but boast elite relays and one of the best swimmers in the meet in Ilya Kharun. The Sun Devils have been ranked 5th for much of the season, but Tennessee really exploded at SECs and ASU just doesn’t have the same type of firepower outside of a few names. -JS

#5: TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS +1 (PREVIOUS RANK: 6)

Tennessee’s relays were electric at SECs, and despite not entering the 800 free relay, they’re still seeded for the 2nd-most relay points among all teams with 152. They’ve got the swimmer seeded to score the most points at the meet in Jordan Crooks, and a solid supporting cast that’s led by three more swimmers seeded for double-digit points. They figure to crack the top five after placing 6th last year. -JS

#4: FLORIDA GATORS – (PREVIOUS RANK: 4)

Florida was absolutely blistering at the SEC Championship meet. I don’t know if, as a whole, they can maintain that pace at NCAAs, but they have turned a three-team race into a four-team race for sure. The Gators do have some good divers this season too to boost their efforts versus Indiana and Texas, which also have deep diving cores. This would be the upset of the decade, and it’s completely feasible for the Gators. -BK

#3: CAL GOLDEN BEARS – (PREVIOUS RANK: 3)

Historically the team that outperforms their seed the most at NCAAs, Cal trails Florida by 128 points on the psych sheets, but six of seven writers have them ahead of the Gators in the team race. However, Indiana is a half-point behind the Bears in swimming and the Hoosiers have a windfall of diving points incoming, leaving Cal to 3rd place in everyone’s ballot (except one who has them 4th). The Bears have finished either 1st or 2nd at NCAAs every year since 2010. Barring an upset, that streak will end this season. -JS

#2: INDIANA HOOSIERS – (PREVIOUS RANK: 2)

Indiana has an all-around team with scoring threats everywhere, but the biggest advantage they have over their opponents is diving. The Hoosiers return the three divers who combined for 121 points last year, and with numerous additions in the pool this feels like the best team they’ve had in quite some time. They’ve got eight swimmers seeded for double-digit points to go along with the divers, but Texas looks too good for them to run down. -JS

#1: TEXAS LONGHORNS – (PREVIOUS RANK: 1)

With 330 individual psych sheet points alone, not including relays, Texas towers over the competition this year. Florida is the only other team seeded for more than 200 points individually, and Indiana (187.5) is the only other team besides the Gators who are seeded for half as many individual points as Texas (Cal is seeded for 160). They should get some diving points and the medley and 800 free relays are title threats. They’re a step below the likes of Florida and Tennessee in the sprints, but if a 4th-7th finishing relay is their weakest spot, that’s pretty good. -JS

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