2026 America East Champion Joey Stauss has announced he will transfer from Maine to Alabama for the upcoming 2026-2027 season. Stauss just finished his sophomore season at Maine and has two years of eligibility remaining.
Stauss arrived at Maine in fall 2024 and had a strong freshman season. He finished 2nd in the 200 IM in a 1:49.11 and was 3rd in the 100 fly at the 2025 America East Championships with a 47.21. He was Maine’s highest individual scorer with 42 points.
He continued his momentum into his sophomore season and swam to two conference titles back in February. He won the 100 fly in a 46.64 and the 200 fly in a 1:46.53. He also was 2nd in the 200 IM with a 1:47.84. All three of those swims were lifetime bests. In addition to his individual swims, he also swam lifetime bests leading off Maine’s relays as he swam a 20.52 50 free and a 1:37.54 200 free. Although he won conference titles, Stauss was just off the NCAA automatic qualifier time in the 100 fly as that sat at a 46.11.
Stauss’ Best SCY Times:
- 100 fly: 46.64
- 200 fly: 1:46.53
- 200 IM: 1:47.84
The Alabama men finished 6th out of 11 teams at the 2026 SEC Championships with 642.5 points, finishing just behind 5th place Auburn (652 points). Tommy Hagar led Alabama with 65 individual points including a 3rd place finish in the 200 back.
Based on his best times, Stauss is just off what it took to make it back at the conference level as it took a 46.48 100 fly and a 1:44.80 200 fly. Alabama had one ‘A’ and one ‘C’ finalist in the 100 fly and one ‘B’ finalist in the 200 fly. Sean Niewold was 7th in the 100 fly with a 45.13.
Alabama’s men’s sprint development has been poor since Coley left. I’m interested to see whether this transfer will help.