2025 College Swimming Previews: Division I Mid-Major Women

2023-24 Retrospective

A lot has happened since March, so let’s take a quick look at the 2023-24 season in the mid-majors. At the national level, 17 programs sent swimmers to the 2024 NCAA Championships—more on them in a minute—with swimmers from four teams scoring points. 20 marks on the mid-major top-10 came from last season, courtesy of swimmers from 12 schools.

Who Won Conference Championships Last Season?

The U.S. Naval Academy women hold the longest conference title streak among the mid-major conference championships, having picked up their 12th consecutive win last season. However, Villanova, Oakland, Denver, and Arizona are right behind, each winning their conference for 11 straight seasons.

Meanwhile, the AAC, America East, and MAAC titles changed hands last year, with the Vermont women winning their first conference title in program history. Liberty and James Madison won the inaugural editions of the ASUN and Sun Belt conference championships.

• A-10: George Washington (3x)
• AAC: FIU (1x)
• America East: Vermont (1x), first in program history
• ASUN: Liberty (1x — first edition)
• Big East: Villanova (11x)
• CAA: UNC-Wilmington (2x)
• Horizon League: Oakland (11x)
• Ivy League: Princeton (2x)
• MAC: Akron (3x)
• MAAC: Niagara (1x)
• Mountain West: San Diego State (1x)
• MPSF: Hawaii (2x)
• MVC: Missouri State (7x)
• NEC: Central Connecticut State University (2x)
• Patriot League: Navy (12x)
• Summit League: Denver (11x)
• Sun Belt: James Madison (1x — first edition)
• WAC: Northern Arizona (11x)

Who Swam At The 2024 NCAA Championship?

17 mid-major women’s programs sent swimmers to 2024 NCAAs. SIU’s Celia Pulido was the revelation of the meet, just one season after former Saluki Ruard van Renen, also a backstroker, led the way for the mid-majors at the 2023 Men’s NCAAs. Pulido swam the fastest 100 backstroke in mid-major history (50.73) and the second-fastest 200 back (1:52.31) en route to 7th and 13th place finishes in those events, respectively.

Penn’s Anna Kalandadze earned 15 points via her 4th place in the mile (15:47.86), while Miami-Ohio and Akron were the other two programs to earn points. Nicole Maier scored all of Miami-Ohio’s points and transferred to use her fifth year at Florida. She’s one of a few mid-major NCAA qualifiers to transfer to a Power 5 school this season. Margaux McDonald has gone to Cal, Ava DeAngelis to Ohio State, and Victoria Raymond to Alabama.

• SIU — 16 points
  • Celia Pulido, Junior: 100 fly, 100 back, 200 back (36 points)
• Penn — 15 points
  • Anna Kalandadze, Senior: 500 free, 400 IM, 1650 free (15 points)
  • Anna Moehn, Sophomore: 500 free, 1650 free
• Miami-Ohio — 6 points
  • Nicole Maier, Senior: 500 free, 400 IM, 100 free (6 points)
• Akron — 5 points
  • Abigail Daniel, Junior: 200 IM, 100 fly, 200 fly (2 points)
  • Madelyn Gatrall, Senior: 100 back, 200 back, 100 free
  • Weronicka Gorecka, Fifth-Year: 200 free, 100 back, 200 back (3 points)
• Princeton
  • Eleanor Sun, Freshman: 200 IM, 400 IM, 200 fly, 400 free relay, 800 free relay
  • Dakota Tucker, Freshman: 200 IM, 400 IM, 200 breast
  • Sabrina Johnston, Sophomore: 50 free, 100 back, 100 free, 200 free relay, 400 free relay, 800 free relay, 200 medley relay, 400 medley relay
  • Margaux McDonald, Senior: 200 IM, 100 breast, 200 breast, 200 medley relay
  • Heidi Smithwick, Sophomore: 100 fly, 200 fly
  • Isabella Korbly, Junior: 200 free relay, 200 medley relay
  • Ela Noble, Junior: 200 free relay, 400 free relay, 200 medley relay
  • Dakota Tucker, Freshman: 800 free relay
• Nevada
  • Scarlett Ferris, Freshman: 100 back
  • Federica Kizek, Fifth-Year: 500 free, 400 IM, 1650 free
• Rice
  • Ella Dyson, Sophomore: 500 free, 1650 free
  • Arielle Hayon, Junior: 200 IM, 100 fly, 200 fly
• San Diego State
  • Alex Roberts, Senior: 100 fly, 100 back, 200 back
  • Christiana Williams, Senior: 100 breast, 200 breast
• UNLV
  • Blanka Boros, Senior: 100 fly, 200 fly
  • Ruby Howell, Senior: 200 IM, 200 breast
• George Washington
  • Ava DeAngelis, Junior: 100 breast, 200 breast
  • Ava Topolewski, Sophomore: 500 free, 1650 free, 200 fly
• Cal Baptist
  • Sofia Maksimova, Fifth-Year: 50 free, 100 fly, 100 free
• Liberty
  • Kamryn Cannings, Freshman: 100 fly, 200 fly
• FIU
  • Christie Chue, Junior: 200 IM, 100 breast, 200 breast
• Tulane
  • Victoria Raymond, Freshman: 100 fly, 200 back, 200 fly
• Harvard
  • Anya Mostek, Sophomore: 100 back, 200 back
• Ohio
  • Zita Szoke, Freshman: 50 free, 200 free, 100 free
• Fordham
  • Ainhoa Martin, Junior: 200 IM, 200 breast

2024-25 Look Ahead

Notable Incoming Recruits

Note: For the sake of this article, “notable” is defined as a swimmer who appeared on the 2024 Re-Rank as a ranked, honorable mention, or “Best of the Rest” recruit.

Update: An earlier version of this article listed HM Teia Salvino as a notable incoming recruit. However, SMU has transitioned to the ACC. 

A much smaller contingent of notable female recruits are headed to mid-major programs compared to their male counterparts. Just three girls from our 2024 Re-Rank are starting their college careers outside the Power 5.

All three are headed to the Ivy League. Interestingly, none of them are heading to Princeton, the two-time defending champions, and instead are arriving at Yale, Penn, and Harvard this fall.

• BOTR Devyn Sargent — Yale
  • 53.20 100 back/1:54.63 200 back/1:02.10 100 breast
• BOTR Kayla Fu — Penn
  • 22.56 50 free/49.03 100 free/52.86 100 fly
• BOTR Payton Foster — Harvard
  • 2:00.35 200 IM/4:12.94 400 IM/50.95 100 free

Of course, one of the most fun things to track is swimmers who really break out in college and weren’t on our radars so much as high schoolers (or are international students). In this category, some incoming names to keep an eye on are Canadian Lydia Hart to UNH, freestyler Allison Mann to SDSU, and Eunice Lee to Yale.

Storylines to Follow

What’s Next For Fordham? — Fordham had a chaotic start to the 2023-24 season. Long-time head coach Steve Potskian suddenly departed the program in August 2023. No head coach was appointed by the start of the season, though 2000 Olympic bronze medalist Tom Wilkens, who had a son on the team, helped out and was named the interim head coach in mid-October.

Just looking at the Rams results wouldn’t have clued you into the behind-the-scenes drama. After both the women’s and men’s teams started the year strong, the women went undefeated in duel meets for the season (9-0) and the men went 8-1. Junior Ainhoa Martin swept the women’s 200 breast, 200 IM, and 400 IM at the 2024 A-10 Championships, leading the women to a 3rd-place finish. She also qualified for NCAAs—becoming the program’s second NCAA swimmer.

Ahead of this season, Wilkens’ interim tag was removed and the school hired Harry Homans as a new Assistant Coach. After rising out of chaos to new heights last season, what will the team do when they can start their season on solid ground?

Rewriting The Mid-Major All-Time Rankings — By the end of the 2023-24 season, four events had three swimmers establish new marks on the mid-major top ten rankings: the 50 free, 100 back, 100 fly, and 200 fly.

The highest new marks among these events came in the 100 back and 100 fly. As mentioned earlier, Pulido’s 50.73 is the new mid-major record in the 100 backstroke and she also recorded the #2 time in the 200 back. Behind her in the 100, Nevada freshman Scarlett Ferris dropped the #2 time, a 51.49, at her conference championships. San Diego State’s Alex Roberts is back for her fifth-year after logging the 8th fastest 100 backstroke (51.95) in mid-major history.

In the 100 butterfly, Kamryn Cannings, Abby Daniel, and Arielle Hayon recorded top-five marks. Cannings leads the way with a 51.26 from her freshman campaign at Liberty, but current seniors Daniel (51.31) and Hayon (51.38) are less than .12 seconds behind her. They are all chasing Samantha Corea’s mid-major record of 50.86.

All six of these women return to their mid-major programs this season, bringing the potential for more mid-major records to fall this season. What makes tracking this story isn’t just that there’s one or two swimmers moving up the all-time rankings–it’s that they are all doing so at the same time, signaling a larger trend in women’s mid-major swimming.

Hawaii Building Consistency — Hawaii’s women’s and men’s programs are both worth paying attention to. Two years ago, their women’s team, led by graduate transfer and individual NCAA qualifier Laticia-Leigh Transom, qualified for their first relay for NCAA since 2005. Last year, it was the men’s turn, and their 200 freestyle relay just missed scoring at 2024 NCAAs with a 17th-place finish. Last season was also the first time since 2020 the programs have swept the MPSF Championships, with the women successfully defending their title.

Now, they aim to build on these successes from previous seasons and become a constant presence at the conference and national level. This will be the big test for alum Steve Allnutt, who has taken over the program Mike Stephens. The women’s team also gets a boost from 2024 NCAA qualifier Catherine Belyakov, a breaststroke/IMer using her fifth year with the Rainbow Wahine after spending undergrad at Duke.