2025 College Swimming Previews: Division I Mid-Major Men

2023-24 Retrospective

Before we talk about this upcoming season, let’s take a minute to reflect on where we came from. The 2023-24 season was a successful one for the men’s mid-major programs writ large: ten programs sent swimmers to the 2024 NCAA Championships and by season’s end, there were 29 new marks established on the mid-major all-time top 10.

Who Won Conference Championships Last Season?

The longest active mid-major conference title streak belongs to the Midshipmen—Navy has won the Men’s Patriot League crown for the past 20 seasons.

On the flip side, five conference titles changed hands last season. Wagner won its first NEC title in program history, and Marist claimed the MAAC championship for the first time in 16 seasons. SMU won the inaugural ASUN title and Hawaii won the MPSF conference before sending their 200 free relay to NCAAs.

• A-10: George Washington (4x)
• America East: Binghamton (1x)
• ASUN: SMU (1x)
• Big East: Georgetown (3x)
• CAA: UNC-Wilmington (3x)
• Horizon League: Oakland (11x)
• Ivy League: Harvard (7x)
• MAC: Miami (4x)
• MAAC: Marist (1x) first in 16 years
• MVC: inaugural season in 2024-25
• MPSF: Hawaii (1x)
• NEC: Wagner (1x), first in program history
• Patriot League: Navy (20x)
• Summit League: Denver (10x)
• WAC: UNLV (4x)

Which Mid-Major Swimmers Competed At 2024 NCAAs?

Half of the ten mid-major programs with swimmers at 2024 NCAAs earned points. Headed up by fifth years Jack Hoagland and Danny Kovac, SMU led the way for the mid-major programs with 59 points.

Breaststroke was the most successful discipline for the mid-majors. Brian Benzing finished 2nd in the men’s 100 breaststroke and in the 200 breast, Ivy League swimmers Matt Fallon and Jack Kelly made the championship final. Fallon took 2nd and Kelly, Brown’s first NCAA ‘A’ finalist since 1944, finished 8th.

Benzing is using his fifth year of eligibility at Indiana, so while he’s still active in the NCAA, he’s no longer a mid-major swimmer.

• SMU — 59 points
  • Lance Butler, 400 free relay
  • Colin Feehery, 800 free relay, 400 free relay
  • Cotton Fields, Junior: 200 IM, 400 IM, 200 fly
  • Jack Forrest, Sophomore: 800 free relay
  • Jack Hoagland, Fifth-Year: 500 free, 400 IM, 1650 free, 800 free relay (41 points)
  • Danny Kovac, Fifth-Year: 200 IM, 100 fly, 200 fly, 400 free relay (14 points)
  • Christopher Mykkanen, Fifth-Year: 800 free relay, 400 free relay
• Towson — 18 points
  • Brian Benzing, Senior: 200 IM, 100 breast, 200 breast (18 points)
• Penn — 17 points
  • Matt Fallon, Junior: 100 breast, 200 breast (17 points)
• Brown — 11 points
  • Jack Kelly, Junior: 200 IM, 100 breast, 200 breast (11 points)
• George Washington — 3 points
  • Djurdje Matic, Senior: 50 free, 100 fly (3 points)
• Army
  • Kohen Rankin, Sophomore: 100 breast, 200 breast
• Delaware
  • Toni Sabev, Junior: 100 breast, 200 breast
• Harvard
  • Gunner Grant, Senior: 200 IM, 100 back, 200 back
• Hawaii
  • Jakub Ksiazek, Fifth-Year: 200 free relay
  • Jordan Meacham, Junior: 200 free relay
  • Karol Ostrowski, Junior: 200 free relay
  • Edward Stoddard, Junior: 200 free relay
• SIU
  • Alex Santiago, Junior: 50 free, 100 free

2024-25 Look Ahead

Notable Incoming Recruits

For simplicity’s sake, we’re defining “notable” as a swimmer who appeared on our class of 2024 Re-Rank as a top 20 swimmer, an honorable mention, or a “Best of the Rest” recruit. However, with swimmers like Apostolos Siskos (Harvard) and Max Malakhovets (Penn), international recruits stand to make an immediate impact on their university programs as well.

Four of the top 20 recruits in the class—or twenty percent—committed to mid-major programs, which is a stark difference from their female counterparts, all of whom are headed to Power 5 programs.

• #4 Adriano Arioti — Harvard
  • 1:40.55 200 back/1:42.94 200 fly/1:43.58 200 IM
• #10 Johnny Crush — Army West Point
  • 45.56 100 back/1:42.94 200 back/19.99 50 free
• #13 Jake Wang — Yale
  • 52.36 100 breast/1:56.26 200 breast/19.93 50 free
• #16 Joshua Chen — Harvard
  • 52.59 100 breast/1:53.71 200 breast
• HM Marre Gattnar — Harvard
  • 19.53 50 free/43.06 100 free/1:35.60 200 free
• BOTR Evan Croley — Harvard
  • 19.89 50 free/43.26 100 free/1:37.59 200 free
• BOTR Dean Jones — Navy
  • 1:37.31 200 free/4:22.23 500 free /15:02.73 1650 free
• BOTR Daniel Verdolaga — Army West Point
  • 46.84 100 fly/1:49.77 200 fly
• BOTR Logan Noguchi — Princeton
  • 46.12 100 fly/1:45.32 200 fly/1:46.79 200 IM
• BOTR Jeffrey Hou — Penn
  • 47.45 100 fly/1:45.76 200 fly/53.21 100 breast
• BOTR Watson Nguyen — Penn
  • 53.31 100 breast/1:55.77 200 breast
• BOTR Jacob Turner — Dartmouth
  • 1:45.26 200 IM/3:47.0 8400 IM/1:44.97 200 back

Storylines to Follow

Men’s Missouri Valley Conference Inaugural Season — The MVC has sponsored women’s swimming since 1983, but this is the first year of MVC men’s swimming since 2003. Ball State and Miami-OH University join Evansville, UIC, Missouri State, Southern Illinois, and Valparaiso. The seven schools will vie for the first men’s conference title in over twenty years. It looks like Miami holds the upper hand on paper, but Missouri State and SIU aren’t too far behind.

Ivy League Influx — We ranked Harvard 3rd on our 2024 Men’s Division I recruiting class rankings. Adding Adriano Arioti, Joshua Chen, Marre Gattnar, Evan Crowley, and Siskos brings a lot of speed to campus. But Harvard isn’t the only Ivy League school that’s reloaded. 12 notable 2024 recruits are headed to mid-major programs this fall, and nine are joining the Ivy League.

Harvard wants to extend their conference title-winning streak to eight, but the other schools won’t make that easy. Yale’s picked up a ranked recruit of their own, breaststroker Jake Wang, and Penn’s brought three 53-low 100 breaststrokers including Jeffrey Hou and Watson Nguyen in to pad out a Fallon-led breaststroke crew. The versatile Logan Noguchi gives Princeton plenty of options as does Jacob Turner for Dartmouth.

All this incoming talent not only adds intrigue to the 2025 Men’s Ivy League Championships but also has the potential to increase the league’s presence at the national level.

Navy vs. Army — It’s one of the biggest rivalries in the U.S. university system. Navy has controlled the Patriot League for the past 20 seasons, using overwhelming depth, fast relays, and strong diving to propel their 20 straight conference titles. But in 2023, the streak nearly ended dramatically as the meet came down to the last relay. Navy won the relay, won the meet, and preserved the streak.

It wasn’t nearly as close in 2024; the Midshipmen sailed to the conference crown, helped by ranked recruit Ben Irwin, the 2024 Male Newcomer of the Meet. However, Army breaststroker Kohen Rankin was the conference’s only swimmer to qualify for NCAAs and was the first Black Knight to make the meet since 1987. Navy adds BOTR Dean Jones this season, but Army has responded with #10 recruit Johnny Crush and BOTR Daniel Verdolaga. Army’s additions project to bring them within reach of Navy, intensifying the Patriot League Championships once again.