Ranking the 2024 Men’s NCAA Recruiting Classes: #13-16

We’re continuing with our rankings of the Division I NCAA men’s recruiting classes for the 2024-25 season. As always, we’re ranking in reverse order from #16 to #1. And with our honorable mentions already out, it’s time to get started with the ranked teams.

See Also:

• Men’s 2024 Recruiting Class Rankings: Honorable Mentions
• Individual Recruit Rankings: Boys Final Rankings

A few important notes on our rankings:

• The rankings listed are based on our Class of 2024 Re-Rank. “HM” refers to our honorable mentions and “BOTR” refers to our Best of the Rest section for top-tier recruits.
• Like most of our rankings, these placements are subjective. We base our team ranks on a number of factors: prospects’ incoming times are by far the main factor, but we also consider potential upside in the class, class size, relay impact, and team needs. Greater weight is placed on known success in short course yards, so foreign swimmers are slightly devalued based on the difficulty in converting long course times to short course production.
• Transfers are included, though they are weighed less than recruits who arrive with four seasons of eligibility.
• For the full list of all verbally committed athletes, click here. A big thank you to SwimSwam’s own Anne Lepesant for compiling that index – without it, rankings like these would be far less comprehensive.
• Some teams had not released a finalized 2024-25 team roster at the time these articles were published, meaning it’s possible we missed some names. Let us know in the comments below.

#16 Minnesota Golden Gophers

• Top-tier additions: #7 Jacob Johnson (PA – fly/free), Joey Tepper (Tennessee transfer – free/IM)
• The “Rest”: Luke Brennan (NJ – free), Jayden Edmonson (MN – fly), Daniel Eichel (Israel – sprint free/fly), Braylon Goodno (WI – diving), Jaden Heinlein (IL – back/IM), Luke Mychalowych (MI – breast), Joe Polyak (IA – breast/IM), Owen Von Weihe (NC – breast/IM)

Even though Minnesota graduated their star Max McHugh at the end of the 2023 season, the Golden Gophers scored more points at the 2024 NCAA Championships than they did the year before with Yutong Wang earning points on the boards and Bar Soloveychik scoring in the 500/1650 freestyle. Minnesota is aiming to build on their season—where they also came close to qualifying for the 800 free relay to NCAAs—with a recruiting class headlined by #7 Jacob Johnson.

After not appearing in our rankings as a sophomore or junior, Johnson burst onto the scene thanks to huge improvements in butterfly. He now owns a  45.65/1:42.29 butterfly slash line, which would’ve ranked 2nd and 1st on Minnesota’s 2023-24 roster. His 200 fly time is the fastest in the class and though he’s currently highly specialized in butterfly, that will bring a lot of value to a Minnesota squad aiming to keep building after they did not take the step back at the NCAA level many expected following McHugh’s graduation.

Minnesota has also secured Joey Tepper for his fifth year of eligibility. A transfer from Tennessee, Tepper will add depth to Minnesota’s distance group, as will incoming freshman Luke Brennan. Tepper qualified for 2024 NCAAs but did not swim his best in Indianapolis and didn’t score. Still, he’s another likely NCAA qualifier for the Golden Gophers and could improve through more training with Soloveychik.

Junior Pan Pac finalist Joe Polyak has dropped time in many events during his senior year and now has times that would’ve scored at 2024 Big Tens in the 200 IM (1:46.08), 400 IM (3:50.11), 100 breast (53.42), and 200 breast (1:57.90). He’s really good in long course and raced at the Junior Pan Pac Championships, including a 1:00.85 in the 100 meter breaststroke and a 4th place finish in the 200 IM. He’s hitting a huge improvement curve heading to Minneapolis.

Breaststrokers Luke Mychalowych and Owen Von Weihe will join a solid breaststroke group, building off the strength of Max McHugh, while Jayden Edmonson, Daniel Eichel, Jaden Heinlein add their strengths to a well-rounded recruiting class.

#15 U.S. Military Academy Black Knights

• Top-tier additions: #10 Johnny Crush (KY – back/free/fly), BOTR Daniel Verdolaga (CA – fly)
• The “Rest”: Jack Bigham (NJ – breast), Luke Huffman (TX – IM), Ramon Jiang (CA – free/back/fly), Doyee Kim (NJ – breast), Jack McDaniel (OH – diving), Brock McDonald (AL – free), Alek McGlaughlin (PA – diving), Max Peterson (NJ – free), Eddie Wang (NC – free), Kai Williams (MD – diving)

When Johnny Crush committed to Army West Point over a year ago he was already set to be one of the most impactful recruits the Black Knights have gotten. Since then, he’s only continued to improve and is our #10 recruit in his class. Crush arrives at Army with times faster than the school record in the 100 free, 200 free, 100 back, and 200 back.

The 2023 Patriot League Championship title came down to the final relay between Navy and Army, as the Black Knights aimed to snap their rivals’ incredible title streak (it’s now up to 20 straight conference titles). Navy retained the title in 2023 and the gap between the two schools went out again as Navy won in 2024, but Crush should help reduce that gap dramatically. Not only will he be a huge relay piece for Army, but his personal bests would win the 100 free (42.70), 200 free (1:34.99), and 100 back (45.56) at the 2024 Patriot League Champs, and he would’ve been second in the 200 backstroke (1:42.94). He has NCAA ‘B’ cut times in those events already and could join breaststroker Kohen Rankin, who was the Academy’s first swimmer to qualify for NCAAs since 1987, at the big show.

Crush is a game-changing recruit for Army all on his own, but he’s not alone. Army also snagged BOTR Daniel Verdolaga, a fly/IMer from California who would have made the conference ‘A’ final in two events for Army. Jack Bigham and Doyee Kim add depth to Army’s breaststroke group, Verdolaga’s club teammate Ramon Jiang is another versatile pickup, and they’ve padded their diving core with three recruits.

This class won’t make an immediate impact on the national scene the way that some Power Four classes will. But they will make an immediate impact at the school and conference level, maybe from the early season meets. Army has been building for the last couple of seasons and this group will be key to breaking through to the next level, which is why they’ve earned a spot on the ranked list.

#14 Texas A&M Aggies

• Top-tier additions: #17 Jacob Wimberly (TX – free/IM/back), BOTR Chase Swearingen (OH – fly), Travis Gulledge (TX – breast)
• The “Rest”: Josh Brooks (TX – free), Niko Jankovic (Croatia – free/IM), Ryan Rautenbach (TX – back), Ben Sytsma (MI – free/fly), Seth Tolentino (FL – IM/free)

This is a year of transition for Texas A&M swimming and diving. They are becoming a combined program under their new Director of Swimming and Diving Blaire Anderson and a new look coaching staff that includes Wes Foltz, Duncan Sherrard, Allyson Sweeney, and Jamie Lew. Also arriving on campus is a freshman class highlighted by #17 Jacob Wimberly, BOTR Chase Swearingen, and Travis Gulledge.

Wimberly fell down our class rankings in the re-rank as he did not put up lifetime bests this season, but he’s a versatile swimmer whose times still hold up compared with the rest of his class and in the value he’ll bring to the Aggies. His 1:34.00 200 free flat start would’ve been third on the 2023-24 roster, making him valuable for the relays as the 800 free relay was the Aggies’ weakest last season.

Swearingen would’ve been top five on last season’s roster in the 100 fly (46.85) and could develop in several avenues in college. Recently, the Aggies’ strength has largely been IM/200 breast though sprinter Connor Foote had a big year last season. With the new coaching staff it will be interesting to see if those areas remain the team’s strengths, but with additions like Wimberly, Swearingen, Ben Sytsma, and Josh Brooks, they’re looking to add conference and NCAA points in other areas too. Meanwhile, they’ve added Gulledge (52.51/1:59.44) to their breaststroke ranks as they look to continue capitalizing on their strengths.

At the time of writing, Texas A&M had not published their 2024-25 roster but it likely includes new divers to continue their strong diving tradition—perhaps their strongest discipline.

#13 USC Trojans

• Top-tier additions: 2023 HM Diggory Dillingham (OR – sprint free), BOTR Diego Balbi (FL – fly), BOTR Pierce O’Grady (CA – free/fly), Luke Maurer (Stanford transfer – sprint free/IM)
• The “Rest”: Cole Ballard (CA – free), Andrew Brown (CA – sprint free), Junhao Chan (Singapore – breast), Nasim Elkassem (MD – back/free), Anthony Fitzgerald (Wheaton (D3) transfer – breast/IM), William Miller (WA – free/fly), Pierce O’Grady (CA – free/fly), Thomas Olsen (OR – free), Oliver Sogaard-Andersen (Denmark – sprint free/fly), Nathan Wu (CA – breast/IM)

USC is looking to claw its way back into relevance on the conference and national level. With the dissolution of the PAC-12, they’re going to continue that quest in the Big Ten, beginning this fall. If you want to build a national contender, you need to build up your relays. USC struggled with that last season, only qualifying for the 400 medley relay through having a ‘B’ cut and at least four swimmers qualified individually.

That’s not going to help any team up the standings and USC has brought in a solid group of recruits aimed at correcting this weakness. 2023 honorable mention Diggory Dillingham will suit up for USC after taking a gap year, they’ve added a member of Denmark’s 4×100 freestyle national record-holding squad Oliver Sogaard-Andersen, along with sprinter and Stanford transfer Luke Maurer. Those three will immediately impact the USC relays—Maurer and Dillingham’s personal bests in the 50 free would’ve been 2nd and 3rd on last year’s roster, while Maurer would’ve been the fastest 100 freestyler.

BOTR recruits Diego Balbi and Pierce O’Grady could also score conference points for the Trojans in their freshman season. While Chris O’Grady, Pierce’s older brother, is a breaststroke/IM specialist, the younger O’Grady is a freestyle/butterflier and he and Balbi could be solid training partners.

In addition to Sogaard-Andersen, the Trojans have also added other international recruits including Sanberk Yigit Oktar, a Turkish national record holder who has won the 200 IM at the 2022 LEN European Championships and the World Junior Championships. Singaporean breaststroker Junhao Chan arriving on campus this fall. USC is no stranger to international recruits and had 2023 Worlds 200 fly medallist Krzysztof Chmielewski join them last fall. It’s been hit-and-miss for them with their international recruits, and they need all three arriving this year to be a hit.

They’ve got a large recruiting class that includes another breaststroker Nathan Wu, distance swimmers Cole Ballard and Thomas Olsen, and D3 transfer Anthony Fitzgerald. While the relays should be an area of focus given they score double points, USC needs depth in many different disciplines, which is reflected in this class that they’re hoping can immediately start putting points on the board.