2026 College Swimming Previews: #9 Michigan Women Poised to Continue Rising in the Ranks

It’s that time of the year again. SwimSwam will be previewing the top 12 men’s and women’s teams (and then some) from the 2025 NCAA Championships. Follow along with the College Swimming Preview Channel. Want to read even more? Check out the latest edition of the SwimSwam magazine. 

#9 Michigan Wolverines

Key Losses: Lindsay Flynn (16 NCAA points), Claire Newman (NCAA qualifier, 2 NCAA relays), Casey Chung (NCAA qualifier, 2 NCAA relays)

Key Additions: Bella Sims (Florida transfer – back/free/IM), Nina Jazy (Germany – sprint free), BOTR Lila Higgo (FL – sprint free/back), BOTR Montserrat Spielmann (TX – fly/free), Cecilia Howard (WA – breast/IM)

GRADING CRITERIA

Over the years, we’ve gone back and forth on how to project points, ranging from largely subjective rankings to more data-based grading criteria based on ‘projected returning points.’ We like being as objective as possible, but we’re going to stick with the approach we’ve adopted post-Covid. The “stars” will rely heavily on what swimmers actually did last year, but we’ll also give credit to returning swimmers or freshmen who have posted times that would have scored last year.

Since we only profile the top 12 teams in this format, our grades are designed with that range in mind. In the grand scheme of college swimming and compared to all other college programs, top 12 NCAA programs would pretty much all grade well across the board. But in the interest of making these previews informative, our grading scale is tough – designed to show the tiers between the good stroke groups, the great ones, and the 2015 Texas fly group types.

• 5 star (★★★★★) – a rare, elite NCAA group projected to score 25+ points per event
• 4 star (★★★★) – a very, very good NCAA group projected to score 15-24 points per event
• 3 star (★★★) – a good NCAA group projected to score 5-14 points per event
• 2 star (★★) – a solid NCAA group projected to score 1-4 points per event
• 1 star (★) –  an NCAA group that is projected to score no points per event, though that doesn’t mean it’s without potential scorers – they’ll just need to leapfrog some swimmers ahead of them to do it

We’ll grade each event discipline: sprint free (which we define to include all the relay-distance freestyle events, so 50, 100 and 200), distance free, IM, breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly and diving. Use these grades as a jumping-off point for discussion, rather than a reason to be angry.

Also, keep in mind that we are publishing many of these previews before teams have posted finalized rosters. We’re making our assessments based on the best information we have available at the time of publication, but we reserve the right to make changes after publication based on any new information that may emerge regarding rosters. If that does happen, we’ll make certain to note the change.

2024-2025 LOOKBACK

Michigan had another successful season of improvement in head coach Matt Bowe and staff’s 2nd season at the helm. The Wolverines cracked the top 10 at NCAAs, finishing 9th with a score of 196, nearly 50 points ahead of their 2024 score (147.5).

Highlighting their NCAAs was a trio of top 5 finishes in the free relays, including 4th place finishes in the 200 and 400 free relays. Their highest finish of the meet came in the 200 free, where sophomore Stephanie Balduccini came in 3rd. Sophomore Hannah Bellard was another top swimmers, taking 5th in the 200 fly. Moreover, Balduccini and senior Lindsay Flynn were both ‘A’ finalists in the 100 free, taking 6th and 7th respectively.

Moving into how they fared within the conference, Michigan continued to move in the right direction. Despite facing the additions of USC and UCLA to the Big Ten, Michigan managed to repeat their 3rd place finish at Big Tens from 2024, only scoring 57.5 fewer points than they did in 2024.

SPRINT FREE: ★★★★

The Wolverines lose some of their top contributors from last year in Lindsay Flynn and Claire Newman, however, they’ve should have enough talent coming in to offset those losses. Flynn was excellent in her final season at Michigan last year, taking 13th in the 50 free (21.71) and 7th in the 100 free (47.21) at NCAAs. Newman didn’t make finals at NCAAs, but she was a qualifier. She clocked season bests of 21.99 in the 50 and 48.03 in the 100.

Despite the losses, Michigan sees their top 50 freestyler from last year, Brady Kendall, return for her senior season. Kendall was phenomenal at NCAAs last season, winning the ‘B’ final of the 50 free with her career best time of 21.53. While she didn’t race it individually at NCAAs, Kendall was very good in the 100 free as well, swimming a 48.20, which is also her career best. It’s worth noting Kendall split 47.57 on the 2nd leg of Michigan’s 400 free relay at NCAAs last season.

The biggest star of this sprint group is rising junior Stephanie Balduccini, who was Michigan’s leading 100 and 200 freestyler last year. We’ll start with her best event, the 200 free. Balduccini built on her massive success from her freshman campaign, winning the Big Ten title in the 200 free, then going on to take 3rd in the event at NCAAs. She clocked a new career best of 1:40.89 at NCAAs, which makes her the 2nd fastest Wolverine in history. More importantly, only 1 of the swimmers that finished ahead of her last year will be returning this season. That being said, Balduccini is absolute a top contender to win the NCAA title in the 200 free.

Moving into the 100 free, Balduccini led the Wolverines with a 47.08 last season. She swam that time to finish 6th in the event at NCAAs, though her career best is 47.04, which she swam at the 2024 NCAAs. Balduccini also raced the 50 free at NCAAs last season, coming in 21st with her career best 21.97.

Christey Liang is another returning swimmer who, as of now, is a great depth swimmer, however, she’s close to NCAA scoring times. Liang popped career bests of 48.28 in the 100 free and 1:44.34 in the 200 free at Big Tens last season. Moreover, Liang anchored Michigan’s 800 free relay in 1:42.98 at Big Tens last year. It took a 1:44.18 to qualify for finals in the 200 free at NCAAs last season, so it seems very much within the realm of possibility that Liang could be an individual scorer in her senior season.

Michigan is also bringing in an elite international sprinter in Germany’s Nina Jazy. A World Championships qualifier for Germany over the summer, Jazy should be a huge asset to the Wolverines in the 50 and 100 free. She holds LCM career bests of 24.91 in the 50 free and 54.71 in the 100 free. We’ll have to see how she adapts to yards swimming, but her meters times are very promising, giving her the potential upside of being an individual NCAA scoring swimmer as a freshman.

Lila Higgo is another great sprint recruit joining the Wolverines this fall. Higgo comes to Ann Arbor with a personal best of 22.63 in the 50 free and 49.25 in the 100 free. At the very least she should add some really nice depth in the sprint free events for Michigan at Big Tens, and she has the upside of being a potential NCAA qualifier if she has a great freshman season.

Incoming freshman Montserrat Spielmann comes to Ann Arbor with a career best of 1:46.34 in the 200 free. The dilemma with Spielmann is that she’s a terrific flyer too, so it seems that she and the coaching staff will have to choose between the 200 free and the 100 fly on that day of the championship meets.

Then there’s Bella Sims, who most likely won’t compete in sprint free events individually, but is elite in them nonetheless. Sims is a 46.53 100 freestyler, which she swam leading off Florida’s 400 free relay at NCAAs last year. That time would have been good for 3rd in the 100 free at NCAAs last year, though she didn’t race it individually. She’s even better in the 200 free, where she’s been 1:40.78 individually. She won the event at the 2024 NCAA Championships as a freshman, but didn’t compete in it this past year. Though she didn’t race the 200 free individually this past season, she reminded everyone just how good she is in the event by throwing down a 1:39.55 split on Florida’s 800 free relay at the SEC Championships. That swim marked the 3rd fastest relay split in history.

We’ve rated this sprint group at 4 stars. Balduccini is a top contender in the 200 and 100, while Kendall is an ‘A’ final caliber 50 freestyler. This Michigan coaching staff has proven very effective over their first couple seasons in developing sprinters, so it feels reasonably to project continued improvement out of Liang and a good freshman season out of Jazy, which would stand a very good chance of giving the Wolverines 2 scoring swimmers in each of the sprint free events.

DISTANCE FREE: ★★★★

The Michigan distance crew is a tricky one to grade for this season. Firstly, they return all of their key contributors from last season, which is great because those 3 swimmers put up excellent season bests in the 500 and 1650 and they were all underclassmen. The element that makes it tricky is that the Wolverines didn’t score any points between the 500 and 1650 at NCAAs last season, despite their season bests indicating that they should have scored around 30 points combined in those events.

Hannah Bellard and Rebecca Diaconescu exploded in the 500 last season, clocking season and career bests of 4:34.77 and 4:35.03 respectively in the 500 at Michigan’s mid-season meet, the Georgia Tech Invite. Of note, Bellard was just a sophomore and Diaconescu a freshman. Had they been able to duplicate those performances at NCAAs, they would have finished 6th and 7th, however, neither finished in the top 16 in prelims. The good news is that it only took a 4:37.01 in prelims to qualify for the ‘A’ final last year, so we know both women have the ability to make it in, they just have to be on top of their game in prelims.

Meanwhile, Diaconescu was Michigan’s leading miler last season, setting her season and career best at the Georgia Tech Invite with a 15:56.12. That time would have been good for 13th at NCAAs, but Diaconescu wound up 25th with a 16:09.95. Teammate Marian Ploeger, also a freshman last year, was the #2 miler on the team, coming in with a season best of 16:02.29, which she swam at the Big Ten Championships. Ploeger wound up finishing 1 place ahead of Diaconescu at NCAAs, taking 24th with a 16:08.59. On the positive side, both women were freshmen last season, so they may take another step forward this season now that they have a full college season under their belts.

Another element of this Wolverine distance squad that’s hard to project is if Bella Sims will be part of it. Sims is the 4th fastest 500 freestylers in history, holding a career best of 4:28.64. Moreover, she was the 2024 NCAA champion in the 500 as a freshman with a 4:32.47. Last year, she clocked a season best of 4:31.06 in the 500 at mid-season, but was off in prelims at NCAAs, and wound up 17th with a 4:38.98, missing out on the opportunity to defend her title. Where this gets tricky is that Sims is also an elite 200 IM’er, which is an event in which Michigan isn’t as deep at the NCAA level. Even though Sims is an NCAA champion in the 500, it’s possible they decide to use her in the IM instead, since they already have 2 ‘A’ final caliber 500 freestylers in Bellard and Diaconescu.

Montserrat Spielmann is an incoming freshman who could turn into a contributor in the 500. Speilmann is primarily a flyer, though she brings a 4:44.87 500 to Ann Arbor. Add into that Madison Smith, a rising junior who went 4:42.92, and Ploeger, who went 4:43.12 last season, and Michigan has some really excellent depth in the 500.

We rated this crew at 4 stars, since they have 2 ‘A’ final caliber swimmers in the 500, a miler who was fast enough to score last year, and another miler who was close to a scoring time last year. On potential, this is a 4 star group, but if Sims does end up swimming the 500 and everyone else is firing on all cylinders at NCAAs, this group actually has 5-star potential.

BACKSTROKE: ★★★★

This is where the biggest benefit of adding Bella Sims will be felt for Michigan. We’ve given this backstroke squad a 4-star rating based solely on Sims. Last year, Sims had a massive breakthrough in back, taking 2nd in both the 100 and 200 back at NCAAs. She’s now a historically great backstroker, ranking as the 3rd fastest 100 backstroker in history (48.97) and the 2nd fastest 200 backstroker (1:47.11). Given that, we can reasonably project 30+ points from Sims in the backstroke events this year.

Michigan loses their top backstroker from last year in Casey Chung, who was using her 5th year of eligibility granted due the COVID-19 pandemic. Chung had a career year in her final stint with the Wolverines, clocking career bests in the 50 back (23.77), 100 back (51.42), and 200 back (1:53.87). She was an NCAA qualifier last year, where she came in 27th in the 100 back with a 51.74.

While another year with Chung would have given Michigan some excellent depth in the back events, they still look to be in good shape without her. Lexi Greenhawt and Lily Cleason each posted their career bests in the 100 back as sophomores last season. Greenhawt went 52.45, while Cleason was 52.91. Cleason was also the 2nd fastest 200 backstroker on the roster last year with her season and career best of 1:54.65.

On top of that, Michigan adds some really nice depth in backstroke with these freshman class. Bolles School Sharks’ Lila Higgo is a very promising sprint backstroke prospect, joining the Wolverines with a personal best of 52.74 in the 100 back. Over the summer, she was in great form with her LCM sprint backstroke as well, clocking a new personal best of 28.91 in the LCM 50 back.

Ariana Zhao and Anna Hulan are another couple of freshmen who should add nicely to the depth here. Zhao comes in with a 53.61 100 back and a 1:57.81 200 back, while Hulan is 54.25 in the 100 and 1:58.34 in the 200.

BREASTSTROKE: ★★★

Michigan is heading into this season with considerably more depth in the breaststroke events, which has been the thinnest area on the roster over the past couple years. Letitia Sim is back to lead this breast crew, once again bringing NCAA scoring times to the table. At last year’s NCAAs, Sim took 11th in the 200 breast (2:07.70) and 13th in the 100 breast (58.56). She holds career bests of 58.34 in the 100 and 2:07.28 in the 200, both of which will reliably score at NCAAs.

Sim has been steady throughout her career with Michigan, qualifying for the ‘B’ final at NCAAs in each of her 3 seasons at Michigan, including winning the ‘B’ final at the 2023 NCAAs.

While Sim had to carry this breast group on her own at the NCAA level last season, this time around it looks like Michigan could have multiple NCAA qualifiers in breaststroke. Bellevue Club’s Cecilia Howard is a particularly promising incoming freshman, coming to Ann Arbor already under 1:00 in the 100 breast. Howard holds a career best of 59.92 in the 100 breast and, although she’s not quite as strong in the 200 breast (2:14.98), she’s still quite solid there.

Another freshman, Rose Bowl Aquatics’ Natalie Walklett, comes in with a very promising 2:13.51 200 breast career best. She’s only been 1:02.10 in the 100 breast, however, that time would have been 4th on Michigan’s roster last season.

Fox Chapel Killer Whales’ Sarah Pasquella is yet another freshman who could be big for Michigan in at least the 100 breast. Pasquella comes in with a 1:01.80 career best in the 100 breast. She comes in with a 2:15.87 in the 200 breast, though she’s also a strong 100 freestyler, so she may not wind up swimming the 200 breast.

Outside of that, rising senior Devon Kitchel could continue contributing in the breaststroke events. Kitchel was Michigan’s 2nd fastest breaststroker last season, clocking a career best of 59.82 in the 100 at the Big Ten Championships. She was 2:12.42 in the 200 breast last season, but holds a career best of 2:11.25 from the 2024 Big Tens. Kitchel is strong across all 4 strokes, so it’s not necessarily a given that she’ll race the breast events again this season, however, she’s been excelling most in breaststroke lately, so it seems likely she’ll race breast again this year.

BUTTERFLY: ★★★

Hannah Bellard led this fly group last year as a sophomore, securing a 5th place finish in the 200 fly at NCAAs with her career best of 1:51.89. She was the only Michigan flyer to score points at NCAAs last year, earning 14 points for the team with that 5th place finish. Bellard also swam the 100 fly at NCAAs last year, though she finished 32nd with a personal best of 52.12.

When it comes to the 100 fly, Michigan has developed fantastic depth for Big Tens, and some swims on the cusp of being able to score at NCAAs. Brady Kendall was the leading 100 flyer last season, clocking her career best of 51.60 at the Big Ten Championships. Lexi Greenhawt, a rising junior, was right behind Kendall last year as a sophomore, clocking a career best of 51.65. They were both NCAA qualifiers, however, it took a 51.35 to qualify for finals last year, leaving the pair a few tenths-of-a-second off scoring times. That being said, with just a little improvement, they could both be scoring swimmers this year.

Ella Jo Piersma was swam her career best of 52.19 at Big Tens last year, finishing the season as Michigan’s 5th fastest 100 flyer. Of note, Piersma was Michigan’s 2nd fastest 200 flyer last season, swimming a 1:56.38.

In terms of incoming swimmers, Montserrat Spielmann looks like a very promising fly recruit for Michigan. Speilmann joins the Wolverines with career bests of 52.70 in the 100 fly and 1:57.00 in the 200 fly. That means Spielmann comes in not only close to what it typically takes to qualify for NCAAs in the fly events, but just 1.35 seconds off what it took to make finals in the 100 fly last and just 2.84 seconds off what it took to make finals in the 200 fly.

Ariana Zhao is another fly recruit who could be big for Michigan as a freshman. Zhao comes in with a personal best of 53.58 in the 100 fly and 2:00.28 in the 200 fly.

IM: ★★½

This is another tricky area to project for Michigan and, once again, it’s because we don’t yet know what Bella Sims will swim. Sims is an exceptional IM’er, holding a career best of 1:51.86 in the 200 IM. She didn’t race the event at NCAAs last season, however, that time would have been good for 4th in finals last year. Of note, 2 of the 3 swimmers who went faster than 1:51.86 at NCAAs last season have since graduated.

It would seem it’s possible Sims competes in the 200 IM at NCAAs this year, but it’s very far from a guarantee. Sims is an NCAA champion in the 500 free, however, she’s been pretty up-and-down in the event of late, not even qualifying for finals at NCAAs last season. Given Michigan already has some elite 500 freestylers on the roster, it may seem like a better option for Sims to race the 200 IM at NCAAs this time around.

It’s worth mentioning that Sims is also the 5th fastest 400 IM’er in history, holding a career best of 3:56.59. That being said, as things stand right now it seems highly unlikely we would see her racing the 400 IM in a championship meet, since she’s more likely to compete in the 100 back or even the 200 free on that day.

If Sims was swimming both IM events at championship meets, it would lift this IM group up to 4 stars unquestionably, but right now it seems more likely she doesn’t swim either.

Looking past Sims, Michigan has some solid top-end IM speed and they’ve built out depth in the 200 IM. Letitia Sim was an NCAA ‘B’ finalist in the 200 IM last year, taking 14th with a 1:55.34. That swim came after she clocked her career best of 1:54.64 at the Big Ten Championships.

Behind Sim, Stephanie Balduccini was the 2nd fastest 200 IM’er on the roster last season, swimming her career best of 1:55.69 at the Big Ten Championships. Balduccini didn’t wind up racing the event at NCAAs last year, but her 1:55.69 would have been good for 18th in prelims.

Devon Kitchel was strong for Michigan as well, swimming her season best of 1:56.81 at Big Tens. She missed out on qualifying for NCAAs, however, Kitchel has a career best of 1:55.60, which she swam at the 2024 NCAAs.

In terms of incoming freshman, Cecilia Howard could be a great addition in the 200 IM. Howard joins the Wolverines with a personal best of 1:59.76, which is very promising for a rising freshman.

As for the 400 IM, Michigan is much thinner there. Only 3 Wolverines swam the event once last season, led by Hannah Bellard, who posted her career best of 4:07.87. Bellard’s time is on the fringes of what it takes to score at NCAAs, but she didn’t race the event at NCAAs last season, instead opting for the 100 fly.

Marian Ploeger was solid as a freshman last year, getting down to 4:15.43, which she swam at the Big Ten Championships.

DIVING: ★

Michigan only had 4 women’s divers on the roster last season, and 2 of them graduated. The good news is that the Wolverines get Kiarra Milligan back for her senior season, Milligan had a huge season as a junior last year, qualifying for the ‘B’ final in 3-meter, where she wound up finishing 16th overall. Milligan was also 24th in prelims of 1-meter.

Milligan is entering her final season with Michigan, where she’ll be looking to build upon the success of last year. The Wolverines have remade their diving program over the summer, bringing in Brandon Loschiavo as the new head diving coach. It was recently announced that former NCAA champion Lyle Yost will be the assistant diving coach this season. Yost spent last year as an assistant coach at Ohio State, where a total of 6 men’s and women’s divers qualified for NCAAs.

Given the coaching changes, there’s a good bit of reason for optimism this Michigan diving squad could take a step forward this season.

RELAYS: ★★★★★

Note that the grading system doesn’t align perfectly for relays as double points.

Relay grading system:

• 5 star (★★★★★) – 31+ points per relay event
• 4 star (★★★★) – 22-30 relay points per event
• 3 star (★★★) – 12-21 relay points per event
• 2 star (★★) – 5-11 relay points per event
• 1 star (★) – 0-4 relay points per event

Michigan was elite in the free relays last year, finishing in the top 5 in all 3. They weren’t quite on the same level, but still very solid, in the medley relays, where they came in 9th in the 200 and 13th in the 400. The Wolverines will face a decent amount of shakeups on their relays from last season, yet they should actually wind up scoring more points overall from their relays.

Here is a breakdown of the relay finishes and lineups from last year:

Let’s start with the 800 free relay since it’s probably the most straight-forward. The Wolverines came in 5th last year and they don’t lose any swimmers from it, yet they’ve managed to definitively improve in the off-season. That’s because Bella Sims has joined Michigan, and with it she brings her 1:40.78 200 free. On top of her elite individual 200 free time, Sims posted a historic relay split with a 1:39.55 at the SEC Championships last season.

Let’s not forget that Stephanie Balduccini went 1:40.89 in the 200 free to finish 3rd at NCAAs last season. Given that, Michigan is the only team in the NCAA who will come into this season with 2 swimmers who have been 1:40-point individually in the 200 free. The huge benefit to that is that Michigan isn’t just top heavy in the 200 free, they have the depth to really compete for the NCAA title this year. Last year, Christey Liang anchored the 800 free relay in 1:42.98 at Big Tens, while Hannah Bellard clocked a 1:43.42 and Malia Amuan was 1:43.54. When we put all that together, it would seem that Michigan should be well under 6:50 in the 800 free relay this year.

The other free relays face the same pair of losses: Lindsay Flynn and Claire Newman. Those are significant losses, as Flynn was a 100 free ‘A’ finalist last year and both she and Newman were critical pieces to Michigan’s 4th place finishes in the 200 and 400 free relays. Flynn in particular will be hard to replace, since she managed to split 21.03 on the anchor leg of the 200 medley relay at Big Tens last year, and she clocked a 46.50 on the 400 free relay at Big Tens.

Luckily, Sims provides a great replacement for Flynn. Sims may not be quite as fast as Flynn in the 50 free, holding a career best of 21.88, however, she’s a clear improvement in the 100 free, having been 46.53 individually. That makes Sims Michigan’s fastest 100 freestyler, at least going into this season.

Sims will take care of replacing Flynn, and Newman’s replacement should come in the form of Nina Jazy, the incoming freshman from Germany. Jazy’s 24.91 LCM 50 free would seemingly indicate that she should be 21-something in the yards 50 free, so it seems very likely she’ll find her way onto the 200 free relay. Similarly, Jazy’s 54.71 LCM 100 free looks very promising, and it seems quite likely she’ll be one of Michigan’s top 4 100 freestylers. In the event that Jazy takes longer to transition into yards racing than we’re anticipating, Liang could make a very good 400 free relay swimmer as well. Liang was 48.28 individually last year, so she should be able to give the Wolverines a sub-48 relay split if called upon.

Regardless of who the replacement legs winding up being, as we enter the season it seems like Michigan’s 200 free and 400 free relays should be at least as good as they were last year, when they both finished 4th at NCAAs.

The medley relays weren’t quite on the same level as the free relays last season, however, there’s a lot of reason for optimism heading into this year. We’ll start with the 400 medley, the relay with the most room for improvement. The bulk of Michigan’s improvement in the off-season comes from, once again, the addition of Sims. A 48.97 100 backstroker, Sims represents a massive upgrade over the backstroker from last season, Casey Chung, who held a career best of 51.42. Michigan managed to go 3:29.06 at their best last season, and Sims alone represents a 2.5-second improvement.

Flynn will have to be replaced on the anchor leg, however, that’s an easy replacement, as Balduccini was already a slightly faster 100 freestyler than Flynn. It’s very possible we’ll see an improvement on the fly leg as well, since Brady Kendall and Lexi Greenhawt have both been steadily improving throughout their time as Wolverines. Meanwhile, Letitia Sim should be the breaststroker once again, and she’s proven to be as reliable as they come over the course of her career.

The 200 medley may be a little trickier. It would seem this is the relay that Bella Sims is most likely to not participate in. She’ll definitely be on the 800 free relay, and the 200 medley is right before that on the opening night of NCAAs/conference championships. Still, they should be able to make it work without her. Chung went her career best of 23.77 leading the relay off at NCAAs last year. Lexi Greenhawt looks to be the most likely answer there, having swam her career best 50 back of 24.12 at the OSU Last Chance meet in March. If not Greenhawt, then incoming freshman Lila Higgo could be an option. Higgo hasn’t gone as fast as Greenhawt in the yards 50 back, however, she did swim a very impressive 28.91 LCM 50 back over the summer.

Sim and Kendall should be back to give Michigan very competitive breast and fly legs, which means a lot of this 200 medley relay’s success will probably come down to the freestyler. This is where Michigan will need Nina Jazy to come up big as a relay swimmer for them. Replacing Flynn’s consistent 21-lows is now easy task, but Jazy has accumulated a lot of experience competing in relays on the international stage.

With a good performance, the 200 medley relay should be able to be right around what it was last year, and that was good enough for a 9th place finish.

Michigan looks like they’ll be one of the best relay teams in the NCAA this season, with the 200 free, 400 free, 800 free, and 400 medley relays looking like they should all be elite. At least one of those relays, the 800 free, should be a true top contender to win the NCAA title.

Total Stars: 26.5/40

2025-26 OUTLOOK

Even taking a few important losses into account, it’s hard not to look at this Michigan team as significantly improved over last year’s 9th place team. Of course, Bella Sims is a game changer for anyone. She represents the potential for 50+ points individually at NCAAs, not to mention what a massive relay asset she is.

Nina Jazy is the other newcomer to the team who would seem most likely to make an impact at the NCAA level, but that’s more theoretical for now, until we get to see her racing yards. Still, her LCM personal bests are very promising and she comes to Ann Arbor with a ton of experience racing in high level international meets.

When we take into account that some of Michigan’s top swimmers from last year, like Stephanie Balduccini and Hannah Bellard, were only sophomores, there’s a lot of reason to be optimistic that they’ll continue to improve within this program. Similarly, swimmers like Letitia Sim and Brady Kendall are coming back for their senior seasons, and they’ll want to put an exclamation point on the endings of their already great careers with the Wolverines. Add in a small handful of other swimmers who could be NCAA scoring caliber with reasonable improvement this season, and Michigan should be able to blow away their 196 points from NCAAs last year, which would rocket them up the standings, maybe even enough to challenge for a top 5 finish.

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