2026 Women’s NCAAs: How Did Our Top 20 Recruits Perform As Freshmen?

We’ve already done a deep dive into our recruiting archives, looking at how the top 20 recruits from the high school class of 2022 did after four NCAA seasons. Now it’s time to look back at a more recent recruit ranking: the current year’s freshmen:

Relevant links:

• Way-Too-Early Sophomore Ranks, Class of 2025 Girls
• Junior Ranks, Class of 2025 Girls
• Senior Re-Ranks, Class of 2025 Girls

Naturally, this analysis has a far smaller sample size than the lookback of how the class of 2022 fared over their entire career, so it’s much more difficult to read too much into these numbers. Still, it’s useful to look at which first-year NCAA swimmers had the best performances relative to their recruiting ranks.

As always, our notes on this data:

• The data included is only individual scoring at NCAAs. That’s not an exact measure of an athlete’s contribution to a program: many of these swimmers (and others not listed) were relay scorers at NCAAs, scored significant points at conference meets and provided great leadership and culture-building for their programs. This data isn’t a perfect analysis of the best recruits – it’s merely a quick look at the data we can compile.
• A college swimming career includes four years of eligibility, and sometimes more. Revisiting scoring after one year is an incomplete analysis of a swimmer’s career – this is not the final word on any of these prospects, and we will revisit this data over the next three seasons to get a more complete evaluation.

The ranks listed below are from our re-rank last summer – they are not the current ranks of NCAA athletes. We also do not rank international athletes as recruits, as it’s hard to predict if and when they’ll come to the U.S., and which class to include them in.

TOP 20 RANKED RECRUITS

HM=Honorable mention

The Hits:

• This high school class had plenty of high-quality performances in their NCAA Championship debuts. Although only 12 of our top 20/HM recruits scored at NCAAs compared to 14 last year, that group of 12 combined to score a whopping 287 points, meaning those dozen women averaged nearly 24 points apiece. Last season, the 14 freshmen who scored combined for 208.5 points, or just under 15 per swimmer.
• Throughout their high school careers, the top three recruits in this class were pretty clear-cut; the only question was which order to rank them. We landed on Alex Shackell, who initially committed to Cal but later changed to Indiana, as the #1 in this class, with Cal’s Teagan O’Dell and Claire Weinstein close behind. All three performed well at their first NCAA meet, but it was Weinstein who emerged as the top scorer.
• Weinstein, who largely flew under the radar during her freshman year in Berkeley, made an immediate impression in her NCAA debut, taking the fastest-seeded heat of the 1650 free by storm on the opening night of racing before settling for 2nd behind Texas’ Jillian Cox with a new personal best of 15:36.52. Two nights later, Weinstein came through and won the national title in the 500 free, holding Cox at bay down the stretch for a comfortable victory in a time of 4:30.09. Weinstein also made the 200 free final, placing 8th to finish with 48 points. She also contributed on Cal’s top-four-finishing 400 and 800 free relays.
• Weinstein’s teammate O’Dell was close behind with 46 points, making the final of all three of her events and finishing no lower than 6th. O’Dell was the runner-up in the 200 IM, placed 3rd with a new best time in the 400 IM (3:59.43), and also placed 6th in the 200 back while swimming on four of Cal’s relays.
• Shackell trailed Weinstein and O’Dell with 33 points, but it’s important to note that she only raced two individual events in order to be able to represent Indiana on all five relays. Shackell set season-best times en route to placing 2nd in the 200 fly (1:50.40) and 3rd in the 100 fly (49.82), and delivered key splits for the Hoosier relays that produced three top-five finishes and wound up no lower than 9th across the five team events.
• Nearly overtaking Weinstein and O’Dell and emerging as the top scorer from this class as an Honorable Mention recruit was Shackell’s Indiana teammate Liberty Clark, whose record-breaking freshman campaign in Bloomington concluded with a bang in Atlanta. Clark became the third-fastest performer ever and just the fifth woman in history to break 1:40 in the 200 free on the opening night in the 800 free relay (1:39.70), and then the following day in the individual final, she broke 1:40 again (1:39.88) to place 2nd to Virginia’s Anna Moesch (1:39.23). Clark also placed 4th in the 100 free (46.11) and 6th in the 50 free (21.25), setting new best times and Indiana program records in all three of her individual events. She was also clutch on Indiana’s relays, throwing down a notable 45.67 anchor leg on the 400 medley relay to go along with her 1:39 lead-off on the 800 free relay. Clark dropped more than a second in the 50 free, more than two in the 100 free, and more than six in the 200 free over the course of the season, having joined Indiana with respective bests of 22.30/48.48/1:45.76.
• Similar to Clark, Georgia’s Kennedi Dobson was on fire throughout her freshman year, resetting her best times on numerous occasions to culminate with a standout NCAA performance. Although our 10th-ranked recruit didn’t quite lower her PBs set earlier in the season, Dobson placed 3rd in the 500 free, 6th in the 1650 free and 13th in the 200 free for 33 points while contributing on two of UGA’s relays.
• Virginia’s Madi Mintenko, ranked 4th coming out of high school, met expectations with a strong freshman year in Charlottesville, finishing her debut NCAAs with 27.5 individual points and a pair of relay titles. Mintenko placed 5th in the 200 free, 8th in the 500 free and 14th in the 100 free, setting a new best time in the latter, while splitting 46.73 on Virginia’s record-setting 400 free relay and also clocking 1:41.43 on the second leg of the victorious 800 free relay.
• Our fifth and sixth-ranked recruits, Cal’s Annie Jia and Florida’s Grace Rabb, both hit double-digit points after making one final apiece at NCAAs, with Jia placing 5th in the 100 fly and Rabb taking 6th in the 200 breast.
• The other double-digit scorer in the ranked section is Virginia’s Sophia Umstead, an Honorable Mention recruit who was coming off a breakout ACC Championship meet where she went three-for-three with best times in the 200 breast, 200 IM and 400 IM. Although she was slightly off her PBs at NCAAs, Umstead scored 14 points after placing 9th in the 200 breast and 12th in the 200 IM.
• Stanford’s Annam Olasewere and Addie Robillard, along with Cal’s Ella Cosgrove, also put up points, with Olasewere notably scoring in the 50 and 100 free (12th in both) and contributing key legs on three Cardinal relays that finished 2nd.

The Misses:

With three more seasons of eligibility, there are no real misses, but we’re simply looking at swimmers who may not have performed as expected as freshmen.

• Our top-ranked recruit who didn’t score at NCAAs was Texas’ Haley McDonald, who entered the transfer portal shortly after the meet wrapped up last month. McDonald had a solid season, including setting a best time in one of her primary events, the 400 IM, in November (4:07.55), and then after recording a pair of top-eight finishes at SECs, she only mustered two 39th-place finishes at NCAAs in the 200 back and 400 IM.
• Only two of our ranked recruits who competed this season didn’t suit up at NCAAs, those being Princeton’s Chloe Kim and Virginia’s Raya Mellott. Kim had three top-eight finishes at the Ivy League Championships, including a runner-up showing in the 400 IM, but didn’t quite make the NCAA cut in the event, while Mellott was unable to crack Virginia’s ACC roster.
• NC State’s Lily King, ranked eighth coming out of high school, was consistently producing 22-second swims in the 50 free and 48-point clockings in the 100 free throughout the season, and got down to 1:45 in the 200 free at ACCs, but it wasn’t quite enough to get over the cutline. King, along with HM recruit Amelia Mason of Tennessee, still swam at NCAAs on the 800 free relay, with Mason notably splitting 1:44.61—well under her flat start season-best of 1:45.78—to help the Lady Vols to an 8th-place finish.
• Florida recruits Lilla Bognar and Lynsey Bowen did not compete this season. Bognar recently shared on Instagram that she’s been dealing with health issues that have kept her out of competition for the last 16 months. Bowen withdrew from Florida to start her own nail business.

UNRANKED RECRUITS

And of course, we’ll include which unranked recruits earned NCAA invites and scored points this season – both domestic up-and-comers and international pickups.

DOMESTIC:

• Georgia’s Clark Neace, featured in the “Best of the Rest” section of our 2025 class re-rank, had a breakout swim in the 1650 free at the UGA Fall Invite in November, dropping more than 42 seconds off her best time to clock 16:00.95 and land an NCAA invite. After placing 5th at SECs in 16:09.39, she took 14th at NCAAs in a time of 16:07.60, scoring three points for the Bulldogs. She also set a new best time of 4:41.72 in the 500 free to place 27th.
• Another BOTR recruit, Wisconsin breaststroker Brooke Corrigan came into college owning best times of 1:00.3/2:11.6 in the 100 and 200 breast, and blew those away over the course of the season. Corrigan’s progression culminated at Big Tens, placing 2nd in the 200 breast (2:07.29) and 4th in the 100 breast (59.22) after setting a PB of 59.01 in the prelims. She also dropped two seconds off her best time in the 200 IM (1:59.61). At NCAAs, she snagged a point after taking 16th in the 200 breast (2:08.35), and ended up four-tenths outside the scoring cut-off in the 100 breast (59.38 for 23rd). She also split 27.21/58.85 on the breast leg for the Badgers’ 400 medley relays that placed 12th.

INTERNATIONAL:

*Gorbenko is officially a sophomore at Louisville, and Rogers is listed as a junior at Arkansas. For the purposes of this article, they’re included in this class as it’s her first year competing in the NCAA.

• A world and European champion coming in, Anastasia Gorbenko was predicted by many to win at least one individual title in her NCAA Championship debut, and although she didn’t quite get there, she certainly pulled her weight in terms of scoring. Officially a sophomore at Louisville (but in her first year eligible to compete), Gorbenko was 3rd in the 200 breast and 4th in both the 100 breast and 200 IM to score 45.5 points while contributing key legs on four of the Cardinals’ relays.
• Virginia’s Sara Curtis seamlessly stepped in and served as the Cavaliers’ top drop-dead freestyle sprinter with the graduation of Gretchen Walsh. Curtis was electric on four of UVA’s winning relays, including leading off the medley relays with new backstroke PBs (22.73/49.47), and also set new best times in the 50 free (20.74) and 100 free (45.77) to place 2nd and 3rd, respectively. The Italian native also took 13th in the 100 fly to finish with 37 points.
• Texas had an elite international freshmen duo in Eva Okaro and Nikolett Padar, who combined for 45 points while contributing a total of six relay legs. Okaro, a British native, set a new best time and Texas record of 21.05 in the NCAA final to place 4th, and also placed 9th in the 100 free (46.98) to score a total of 24 points. A Hungarian, Padar was 3rd in the 200 free (1:40.78) and 12th in the 500 free (4:37.90), and most impressively, led off the Longhorns’ runner-up 800 free relay in 1:40.30, which ranks her #6 all-time in the 200 free. In the 400 free relay, Okaro led off in 46.55 and Padar split 46.54 as Texas placed 3rd. Okaro also anchored the 200 medley relay (20.78), 400 medley relay (46.00), and led off the 200 free relay (21.66).
• Along with Weinstein, the other freshman swimmer to win an individual title was Eneli Jefimova, the Estonian breaststroke star out of NC State. After edging out Gorbenko for the ACC title in the 100 breast in February, Jefimova got the job done again at NCAAs, setting a new best time of 56.30 in the final to top Tennessee’s McKenzie Siroky and Florida’s Anita Bottazzo, who tied for 2nd in 57.00. Jefimova added more than three seconds in the prelims of the 200 breast to miss the final, but she did produce some sizzling breaststroke splits (25.81/56.69) for the Wolfpack medley relays.
• Louisville’s Thilda Haell, a Swedish native, was the surprise runner-up in the 1650 free at the ACC Championships in a time of 15:50.88, earning her the #7 seed for NCAAs. She backed up that ranking by placing 7th in the mile (15:51.82) while hitting a new PB of 4:37.70 in the 500 free to take 10th in her NCAA debut, scoring a total of 19 points.
• Tennessee’s Mizuki Hirai came into college with lofty expectations as a multi-time World Junior Record holder and Olympic finalist, and although she’s seemingly still adjusting to yards after only joining the Lady Vols in January, she still had a positive NCAA debut. At the SEC Championships, Hirai proved she was a reliable relay contributor while producing a runner-up finish in the 100 fly (50.46) and a 6th-place finish in the 100 back (51.82) individually. At NCAAs, she took 6th in the 100 fly (50.56) to score 13 points, and improved in the 100 back (51.47) despite missing the points in 21st.
• Wisconsin’s Lucie Delmas, who initially committed to Indiana alongside twin sister Justine before deferring and ultimately flipping to the Badgers, set a new best time of 1:54.07 at the Big Ten Championships to qualify for NCAAs, and then got down to 1:53.89 in the NCAA prelims to place 11th and score six points.
• The biggest surprise freshman scorer, Indiana State’s Grace Cummings was an automatic qualifier after claiming the Missouri Valley Conference title in the 1650 free in February in a time of 16:17.25. The British native followed up by clocking 16:08.21 out of the early heats at NCAAs, earning her 15th place and scoring two points.

DIVING:

• A multi-time European champion, Desharn Bent-Ashmeil showed impressive form in her NCAA Championship debut for Tennessee. The British native scored 31 points, third-most for the Lady Vols, after placing 2nd on 3-meter and 5th on 1-meter.
• Stanford’s Ellie Cole, an Australian Olympian, won the platform title by a whopping 56.35 points to score 20 in the team race for the Cardinal. Cole went undefeated in the 10-meter event throughout the season, including winning the ACC title in February.
• Arkansas’ Lotti Hubert and Auburn’s Juliette Landi each recorded one 10th-place finish to score seven points apiece for their teams.

ARCHIVES: REVISITING RECRUIT RANKS