The Division I transfer portal has not had many additions to it over the last week after a rush of top transfers entered the portal at the conclusion of the 2026 Men’s NCAA Championships. The biggest names to enter the portal in the last week are Canadian Trials finalist Laila Oravsky on the women’s side and NCAA relay swimmer James Allison on the men’s side.
Oravsky just finished her freshman season at Indiana and had originally committed to Florida before switching her commitment to the Hoosiers. She swam in prelims at the 2026 Women’s Big Ten Championships with her highest finish coming in the 1650 free (23rd).
Allison finished his freshman season at Pitt and arrived after spending a year at Auburn where he did not compete in any meets with the program. Allison swam on Pitt’s 400 free and 800 free relays at the 2026 NCAA Championships. The 400 free relay finished 10th while the 800 free relay was 14th.
The Ohio State men had the 2nd most names in the portal during our last update and Cooper Burt has also joined the group of Buckeyes in the portal to bring the total to seven. Burt swam in prelims at the 2026 Men’s Big Ten Championships but was not on Ohio State’s scoring roster.
The NCAA transfer portal is open until April 24th on the women’s side and May 1st on the men’s side. If a swimmer or diver wants to enter the portal after the deadline, one of these exceptions must apply:
- If a program is cut
- Graduate transfers
- If a head coaching change is made (the portal reopens for 15 days, starting five days after the new head coach is announced) – New timeline for 2026
Are the Portal entries private or public. Also what happens to a swimmer that enters the portal, basically asking to leave, but does not end up anywhere else? Are they welcomed back?
Is entering the portal basically saying “goodbye” to your current team?
That’s a lot of transfers from OSU. Is there a coaching problem?
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Not all of those swimmers swam for the osu varsity team. The coaches honored those freshman commitments and gave them the opportunity to train to attempt to make the 30 person roster instead of telling them “tough luck you no longer have a roster spot.”
Well this is false, they were told that they were going to be on this “RTC”. Which wha was told to them was basically same training and coaching as the varsity team but it was a complete lie because no coaches contacted them after the were cut
This is not true. They were promised spots on the regular team and were cut after they were there and enrolled in school. They received no training except doing laps on their own. They were promised many things and nothing was delivered. Ohio state doesnt even have a club team coach they could train with like other schools. Its really a shame what is happening to kids like this. One kid wasnt even given a chance to swim in one meet. Coaches shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this.
No honoring of roster spot. Promised to train with team not honored..promised a spot not honored promised club training no club team there.
It’s all true.
The coach is cutting some kids after one season not even giving them a chance to develop. One kid last season was recruited enrolled in school and was cut immediately wasn’t even allowed to swim in one meet. For parents of new recruits coming in know your kid can be cut at anytime and probably will be unless they are super elite and can score already.
9 Ohio state swimmers in the portal. By my count there were 9 freshmen in this years class. 7 are in the portal. At what point does the blame fall on the osu coaches and administration? There is no development on this team. Top Ohio talent always go somewhere else. Austin Carpenter, Jude Banks, Jake Lloyd, Jason Zhao, Brady Campbell; the list goes on and. Recruits take note.
Another reference point – all eight male swimmers from the HS class of ’23 either quit or transferred. From what the kids relayed, the coaching is fairly minimal and development is “crush the kid and maybe he’ll get fast”.
Unfortunately not every swimmer is going to be great. OSU faced some coaching changes the year prior, which is probably why the recruiting turnaround wasn’t great. The coaching is just fine if you look at how the kids develop and turnout by their older years. Just because an athlete isn’t thriving, doesn’t make their opinion true. Some athletes just don’t have it like others do.
More so the fact that the coach’s pay no attention to you unless you’re at the top of the food chain so therefore the kids that are brought in don’t have opportunity to perform and are then just cut and down a year at a university and have to find somewhere else. This isn’t a swimmer problem, it’s a coaching one.
I think the point being made is they aren’t given “later years” as you put it. They don’t have the opportunity for “older years” as you put it. They weren’t given the opportunity to “develop” as you put it. No opportunity to “thrive” as you put it. And they will bring in a whole new class this fall to do it all over again. Rinse. Repeat. You are making an assumption these kids left because they weren’t good enough. Big assumption.
When a swimmer posts his best times in November( the 1st meet of the season) and never improves after 5 months of training, the fault is not with the swimmer but with the program.
James Allison just posted on his instagram that he’s transferred has transferred to University of Southern California! Sounds like he is living the dream. No fuss, no complaining and living his best life.
My point is they are getting cut too fast. Not even given a real chance especially the kid who was promised everything and was cut before season even began. Its ridiculous and then had to swim on his own and wait for portal to open up. No training for a year.
OSU has a great staff, and given the current roster limits, the kids have to perform.
interesting given that everybody has left and they get almost none of the standout recruits from their own state…
There is only one male left from the HS class of 23′ and it’s a diver. They came in a group of 10. Unfortunately it’s so cut throat and no one is safe.
yes recruits take not especially kids coming in that cant score yet at conference.
Where do you find out all the portal entries?
I heard Laila is moving to a school in Europe
Big part why Whitlock to IU was so expected was bc of their relationship. Whitlock seemed to move on to Liberty pretty quick, wonder if that played a part
How does bro know ts 😭
Whitlock is not liked at IU