2024-25 NCAA Digest: Swims You May Have Missed From The First Semester

Happy New Year!

Training trips and holiday training are already well underway for many NCAA programs, but before the calendar flips to 2025, we’re taking one more look back at the first term.

“Swims You May Have Missed” is a segment normally reserved for after a finals session of a national-level meet, but today, we’re borrowing it. With so many invites across all divisions of NCAA swimming happening around the same time, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and even easier for a fast swim to get lost in the shuffle of all the fast swims across the country—and even easier when two Division I and four Division II records go down in one weekend.

So, before we reset for the second term and the fast-approaching postseason, here are some swims you may have missed from the first three months of the 2024-25 NCAA season.

Bryn Greenwaldt, Augustana: 50 Freestyle, 22.11

Indy’s Kirabo Namutebi has already broken the Division II record in the women’s 50 freestyle once this season; she broke her record as she fired off a 22.03 at an Indy Quad meet. Namutebi ran away with the DII NCAA title in this event last year and is certainly the favorite again this season, but the race should be much closer. 2024 runner-up Bryn Greenwaldt made big strides at her mid-season invite, where she chopped .38 seconds off her lifetime best, hitting a 22.11. The Augustana swimmer now has the third-fastest swimmer in DII history per USA Swimming and has reached a new level in her junior season.

Davi Mourao, Drury/Jeremias Pock, Indy: 100/200 Breaststroke

It’s difficult to separate breaststrokers Davi Mourao and Jeremias Pock’s antics this season, so we’ll discuss them as a pair. Pock set the standard early in the men’s 100 breaststroke this season when he clocked 52.21 at his first NCAA meet. The swim stands as the fourth-fastest in Division II history. Mouraro is one of the three swimmers faster than him; he clocked a  51.88 to win the 2024 Division II title (#2 all-time).

Pock’s October effort still stands as the fastest DII time this season, but Mourao closed the gap at midseason, checking in with a 52.28 as he aims to defend his NCAA title in March.

Both swimmers have climbed up the ranks in the 200 breaststroke. Pock swam 1:52.87 at the Denison Invitational, which makes him the second-fastest performer in DII history. The DII record is 1:51.71, set by Anton Lovanov in 2015. Pock’s the faster performer in this event between him and Mourao. However, Mourao clocked a lifetime best 1:54.38 at the SMU Invite, improving from 1:54.75 and moving up the ranks to 5th fastest all-time.

Giulia Carvalho, Miami: 100 Butterfly

The University of Miami women have had their best season in the pool for quite some time—thanks to not just one but multiple swimmers who started the season strongly. Veteran Giulia Carvalho was an HM All-American at the 2024 NCAAs and became the first swimmer in school history to break 22 seconds in the 50 freestyle last season.

She had an excellent midseason meet, knocking a hundredth off her school record in the 50 freestyle (21.98) and breaking the 100 freestyle record too (47.78). Her freestyle times are impressive, but from a national ranking standpoint, her best event is the 100 butterfly. There, she ranks fifth in the NCAA this season with a lifetime-best 51.06 from the SMU invite. The swim was a .25-second drop for her. There’s a significant gap between her and the fourth-fastest swimmer in the NCAA this season (Emma Sticklen, 49.60), but it should be a confidence booster for Carvalho as she looks to move up from her 14th-place finish at the 2024 NCAA Championships.

Brayden Morford, Carnegie Mellon: 100 Butterfly

Brayden Morford has had an excellent start to his sophomore campaign. At the Tartans’ midseason invite, he swam three school records: 19.82 in the 50 freestyle, 46.96 in the 100 backstroke, and 46.44 in the 100 butterfly. He leads the division in three events (100 back, 100 fly, 200 IM), matching Tobe Obochi, whose last NCAA meet was MIT’s midseason invitational.

Morford’s 50 freestyle was his first sub-20-second effort—a notable achievement for any swimmer. But like with Carvalho, it’s his 100 butterfly that we think is really worth circling. Per SwimCloud, Morford’s 46.44 outing was a lifetime best by 2.98 seconds and rocketed him up the Division III rankings into a tie for second-fastest performer with Julien Camy. His swim scared the Division III record 46.28, which Jesse Ssengonzi swam at the 2024 NCAA Championships as he out-touched Camy. Not even a year later, Morford’s got the records in his sights.

Allison Greeneway, Emory: 200 IM

Allison Greeneway is part of a high-powered freshman class that has immediately impacted the Eagles roster. Greeneway and fellow freshman Elodie Mitchell both set program records at Emory’s midseason invite, with Greeneway taking down the 200 IM record for the second time this season.

She first took over the record in November, clocking a 2:01.23. Then, she sliced .44 seconds off that mark in December, clocking a 2:00.79. Greeneway arrived on campus with a lifetime best of 2:04.24 from February 2024; since starting at Emory, she’s lowered her best three times and dropped 3.45 seconds off her pre-college best. She’s also vaulted herself well into NCAA-scoring territory. A 2:00.79 would’ve easily qualified for the DIII NCAA ‘A’ final and taken third overall.

Nikoli Blackman, Tennessee: 200 Free

Something seems to have clicked for Nikoli Blackman in yards during his sophomore season at Tennessee. At the Volunteers’ midseason invitational, he swam lifetime bests in the 50/100/200 freestyle (19.15/42.24/1:32.12). All these swims are important markers for him as he gets more comfortable in yards. As his best times continue to drop, he further deepens Tennessee’s sprint group, which is the team’s greatest strength and contributes the bulk of the Vols’ NCAA points.

That’s why his 200 freestyle time is so relevant; the 800 freestyle relay was the weakest for Tennessee last season, and the team didn’t swim it at NCAAs. The Volunteers took sixth at the 2024 NCAA Championships, the team’s highest finish since 2001, but to keep rising and contend with the top five teams in the division, the Volunteers need five scoring relays.

Blackman dropped from a best of 1:34.62 to 1:32.13 at midseason. He didn’t swim on the 800 free relay at midseason—a relay that made a big jump and hit an NCAA ‘A’ cut of 6:12.33. But Blackman may have just earned his spot; the relay had two 1:34 splits on it. The relay’s made notable strides already this season but could go even further if the team decides to add Blackman and the improvements he’s made this season to the quartet.