2025 College Swimming Previews: #4 Tennessee Women Remain Dangerous With High-End Talent

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 2024 NCAA Championships. Follow along with the College Swimming Preview Channel. Want to read even more? Check out the latest edition of the SwimSwam magazine. 

#4 TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS

Key Losses: Aly Breslin (6 NCAA points), Tanesha Lucoe (6 NCAA points), Elle Caldow (NCAA qualifier)

Key Additions: #6 Jillian Crooks (Cayman Islands – back/sprint free), #18 Emily Brown (OH – IM/fly/mid-d free), Ella Jansen (Canada – free/IM), McKenzie Siroky (Deferred 2023/MI – breast), BOTR Emily Armen (NC – sprint free), BOTR Lexi Stephens (VA – back), BOTR Hannah Marinovich (CA – breast)

Returning Fifth Years: Mona McSharry (34 NCAA points, 4 NCAA relays), Jordan Aurnou-Rhees, Berit Quass

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.

2023-2024 LOOKBACK

Last season marked a massive breakthrough for the Tennessee women, recording their highest finish at the NCAA Championships in more than a decade.

The Lady Vols’ recent NCAA performances had fallen short of expectations prior to 2024. In 2020, Tennessee boasted arguably its best roster in recent memory, rolling to the SEC title before NCAA was canceled—the Vols were 2nd in the scored psych sheets for what it’s worth.

They were then 10th in both 2021 and 2022, the latter coming after winning the SEC title and ranking 4th on the scored psych sheets, and then moved up to 8th in 2023.

But everything came together last season. Locked in a tight battle with Stanford for 4th throughout the meet, Tennessee did just enough to get the job done on the final day, with the team’s relays ultimately being a key difference-maker in placing inside the top four for the first time since 2013.

In her junior year, Josephine Fuller came into her own and led the team in scoring at NCAAs, placing 3rd in the 200 IM and 5th in both backstrokes for 44 points. She also contributed on four relays, all of which finished 5th or better.

Irish Olympic medalist Mona McSharry put up 34 points after runner-up finishes in both breaststrokes, and in her freshman year, Emelie Fast followed suit by placing 7th in the 200 breast and 9th in the 100 breast.

Another bright spot in 2023-24 was Camille Spink, who thrived as a freshman by winning SEC titles in the 50 and 100 free and placing 2nd in the 200 free. At her debut NCAAs, she was 10th in the 100 free and qualified for the ‘A’ final of the 200 free before being disqualified for a false start.

Florida dominated SECs, but Tennessee was the clear runner-up with 1,190 points, 239.5 more than they had in 2023.

A major driving force for the Lady Vols’ success at NCAAs was the relays, where they ranked 3rd overall with 148 points, trailing only Virginia (190) and Florida (150). The relays were exceptional across the board, highlighted by the runner-up 800 free relay.

SPRINT FREESTYLE: ★★★★

Tennessee’s sprint free crew is led by rising sophomore Camille Spink, who is poised to take the next step after earning two second swim at her debut NCAAs.

After winning SEC titles in the 50 and 100 free last year, Spink has what it takes to be an ‘A’ finalist in all three distances as a sophomore. Despite making the top eight of the 200 free and the top 16 in the 100 free at NCAAs, Spink had her fastest swims of the year at SECs: 21.74 in the 50, 46.69 in the 100 and 1:42.37 in the 200 (with a 1:41.56 relay leg).

The only event of the three in which Spink didn’t have a time last year that would’ve made the ‘A’ final was the 50 free, where she was just .03 shy of the 21.71 cutoff. Three of the 2024 ‘A’ finalists have graduated, so there’s room for her to slot in.

Their other sprint freestyle scorer last season was Brooklyn Douthwright, who placed 9th in the 200 free in 1:42.75 after she led off the team’s 800 free relay in 1:42.45—just off her 1:42.41 lifetime best from 2023.

Douthwright also gave the Vols a second sub-48 swimmer in the 100 free, having gone 47.75 leading off the 400 free relay at NCAAs after clocking 48.00 individually to place 25th.

Mona McSharry (21.97) was Tennessee’s other sub-22 50 freestyler alongside Spink, putting her a few one-hundredths outside of scoring. She was 21.99 at NCAAs to finish 22nd.

Their other NCAA entrant in one of these events is Julia Mrozinski, who was 26th in the 200 free (1:44.61).

The sprint free group will get a big boost with the addition of Jillian Crooks, who comes in with best times of 21.95/47.30/1:45.13. That makes her a bonafide scorer in the 100 free, right in the thick of the battle in the 50, and there’s potential in the 200 if she opts to go that route (she could focus on the 100 back instead).

Emily Armen (22.2/49.0/1:47.7), Emily Brown (22.8/49.5/1:45.8) and McKenzie Siroky (23.0) also bring in some potential and depth as first-year swimmers.

Rising senior Josephine Fuller won’t race sprint free individually, but gives the team a clutch relay option, having split 47.71 on the 400 free relay and 1:42.48 on the 800 free relay.

The same goes for Canadian freshman Ella Jansen—most likely. Jansen is incredibly versatile, and although she swam on Canada’s 4×200 free relay at the Olympics, she’ll more likely race the 400 IM than the 200 free on Day 3 of NCAAs. She could try the Ellen Walshe double and do both, but that doesn’t seem like the smartest move given the proximity and difficulty of the events.

But for what it’s worth, Jansen has times in the 100 free (55.39 LCM) and 200 free (1:53.35 SCM) that convert to 48.45/1:42.11 in yards, the latter fast enough not only to make the ‘A’ final but finish 4th overall.

With Spink scoring in multiple ‘A’ finals, Douthwright pushing for multiple second swims, along with the addition of Crooks, Tennessee’s sprint free group checks in with four stars.

DISTANCE FREESTYLE: ★★★

The Vols will lose their lone distance scorer from last season, Aly Breslin, who placed 11th in the 1650 free in 15:56.89 after setting a lifetime best en route to a 6th-place showing in 2023.

With Breslin graduating, Tennessee’s top returning miler is Kate McCarville, who set a season-best of 16:09.57 at NCAAs en route to 25th, about seven seconds shy of scoring.

In the 500 free, Julia Mrozinski put up a season-best of 4:38.18 at SECs to place 4th, but added at NCAAs and was 39th. Her time from the conference championships would’ve been enough for a spot in the ‘B’ final. She was notably 9th in both 2022 and 2023, winning the consols.

McCarville (4:39.96) also broke 4:40 last year, but like Mrozinski, swam her fastest time in the event at SECs.

The addition of Ella Jansen should give Tennessee a clear-cut scorer in the 500, as her times in the 400 free (4:07.18 LCM/4:01.87 SCM) put her in the 4:36 conversion range, good for a spot in the ‘A’ final.

Fellow freshman Emily Brown holds a 500 best of 4:45.47, but she’ll likely focus on IM and fly.

Other notable returning members of the roster Julia Burroughs (4:43.3 in the 500) and Lauren Wetherell (16:24 in the mile) give the team some depth.

Could Jansen possibly swim the mile? Based on recent performances in meters, she’s best at the 200/400 free and 400 IM. But given the scheduling conflict with the 200 free and 400 IM, taking on the 1650 could be in the cards. Her best time in the 800 free in SCM is a blistering 8:16.36 (9:27 conversion for the 1000), and she’s been 16:49 in the LCM 1500, converting to 16:29. That’s well shy of scoring range, and while we don’t prognosticate her swimming the 1650, she could probably drop a big swim if she trains for it.

BACKSTROKE: ★★★★

Backstroke will always be an area of strength for Tennessee as long as they’ve got Josephine Fuller in the fold, as she enters her senior year coming off setting lifetime bests across the board at NCAAs.

Fuller set a PB of 50.22 in the 100 back leading off the 400 medley relay, and was 1:49.57 in the prelims of the 200 back. In the individual finals, she went 50.56/1:50.49 for a pair of 5th-place finishes.

All of the swimmers who finished ahead of Fuller will be back this season, and there’s also the readdition of Claire Curzan to the NCAA backstroke field, so while Fuller doesn’t have a clear path to either title, she’s certainly a favorite for two more top-five finishes.

Regan Rathwell comes into her junior year coming off a breakout summer that saw her qualify for the Canadian Olympic team in the 200 back.

After initially touching in a time of 1:51.09, Rathwell was disqualified in the 200 back prelims at NCAAs for having her toes over the gutter after the start. Her time would’ve comfortably slotted into the ‘A’ final and been a sizeable lifetime best (her PB stands at 1:52.96 from the UT Last Chance Invite a few weeks earlier).

Rathwell did set an official best time at NCAAs in the 100 back, clocking 52.03 to finish half a second outside the scoring threshold.

The Vols do lose their #3 backstroker from last year, Elle Caldow, but bring in reinforcements with Jillian Crooks, Lexi Stephens and Emily Brown.

Crooks can walk in and be a scorer right away in the 100 back with her PB of 51.54, which is .01 under the 16th-place cut-off last year.

Stephens is more of a pure backstroker with 52.4/1:54.9 best times (Crooks is also 1:54.3 in the 200), and Brown is an IMer who could end up focusing on the 200 back (1:55.92). Jansen has conversions that come in at 53.6/1:54.8 in yards.

BREASTSTROKE: ★★★★★

If backstroke was an area of strength last year, breaststroke is the next tier above that for Tennessee.

Mona McSharry is still in pursuit of that elusive individual NCAA title, but she came close last year, placing 2nd in both the 100 and 200 breast after hitting career-best form in the postseason.

McSharry swept the SEC titles in the breast events, establishing a new PB in the 200 (2:03.84), and then had the two fastest swims of her career in the 100 at NCAAs, clocking 56.64 in the final to place 2nd to Virginia’s Jasmine Nocentini (56.09). McSharry was also the runner-up in the 200 breast, finishing two seconds back of UVA’s Alex Walsh (2:02.07).

In her eight career breaststroke events at NCAAs, McSharry has finished 4th or better in seven of them, but has yet to grab the title. This might be the year, with Nocentini notably graduating to open up the 100 breast field.

Last season McSharry was joined by Swedish freshman Emelie Fast, who was 9th at NCAAs in the 100 breast (58.08) and 7th in the 200 breast (2:06.79), saving her fastest swims of the year for the NCAA final.

McSharry and Fast combined for 55 points in the breast events, and bolstering the group this season is the addition of McKenzie Siroky, who deferred her enrollment for a year but heads to Knoxville with a wave of momentum after the U.S. Olympic Trials.

After initially planning to play ice hockey in the NCAA, Siroky changed her mind and opted to pursue swimming and has not looked back. In June, she set three consecutive best times in the 100 breast prelims, semi and the final at the Olympic Trials, ultimately placing 7th overall in 1:07.71.

She set her SCY personal best in December 2023 in 58.81, a time she’ll likely be able to go well below this season after her long course success. She’s already fast enough to score, and pushing into the NCAA ‘A’ final (58.15 cut-off) looks to be well within reach.

Siroky is certainly more geared towards the sprints, but also has a 2:15.19 best in the 200 breast.

The Vols also bring in BOTR recruit Hannah Marinovich, who owns lifetime bests of 1:00.7/2:13.7. Marinovich is being a bit overshadowed by Siroky here, but there’s no doubt she’s a valued addition who can make an impact down the road.

BUTTERFLY: ★★

Tennessee has 2024 NCAA scorer Sara Stotler returning for her senior year to lead the fly group, coming off a 15th-place finish in the 200 fly after posting a pair of 1:54-lows.

Stotler was also the team’s fastest swimmer in the 100 fly (52.16), a clear area of weakness for the team on the 400 medley relay—they had the slowest fly split among the top 14 teams despite finishing 3rd.

Incoming recruit Emily Brown has potential to challenge for points in the 200 fly with her lifetime best of 1:55.50, while Josephine Fuller (1:54.73) and Brooklyn Douthwright (1:56.89) also had competitive times last year in the event but don’t figure to focus on it.

The 200 fly is also an event we could see Ella Jansen tackle, and she could do some damage. With a long course best of 2:10-flat (and 2:07.9 in SCM), Jansen has a conversion of 1:54.59, under the scoring threshold. Given the events she’ll have to choose from on the last day of NCAAs, this could be on Jansen’s schedule.

In the 100 fly, Douthwright (53.35) was the second-fastest on the team in 2023-24 behind Stotler, but Brown (52.69) and Jillian Crooks (53.35) come in to add some more strength. Jansen has also been 58.7 in LC which converts to 51.6.

Stotler is the only scorer in a fly event on paper entering the season, keeping this at a two-star group even with the potential from Jansen.

IM: ★★★½

Josephine Fuller took a big leap forward last season in the 200 IM, setting consecutive best times in the SEC final (1:52.58) and the NCAA final (1:52.04), placing 3rd in both.

Fuller was Tennessee’s lone NCAA scorer in a medley event last season, but that should change with the addition of Ella Jansen.

Jansen represented Canada in the 400 IM at the Paris Olympics, and her lifetime best of 4:29 in SCM converts to 4:03.05, three seconds under the ‘A’ final threshold at NCAAs.

Jansen could realistically fight for a top-five finish in the 400, and although she could score in the 200 IM as well, she’ll likely race the 500 free instead.

Brooklyn Douthwright was as fast as 1:56.04 in the 200 IM last season, within six-tenths of the scoring cut-off, but finished 34th at NCAAs in 1:57.43. Sara Stotler (1:56.97) was 29th at NCAAs, and Emelie Fast was a DFS after going 1:57.44 earlier in the season.

Incoming freshman Emily Brown owns a PB of 1:56.49 in the 200 IM, bringing plenty of ability to the table with the chance to challenge for points from the jump.

In the 400 IM, Brown comes in with a best of 4:13.55, more than four seconds clear of Tennessee’s top performer last season, Molly Blanchard (4:17.55).

Brown still has five seconds to drop to be in NCAA scoring contention in the 400, however, so it will likely be only Jansen pushing for points there.

DIVING: ★

Tennessee had two divers qualify for NCAAs last year and lose the lone scorer, Tanesha Lucoe, to graduation.

Rising sophomore Lynae Shorter was 36th on 1-meter and 45th on 3-meter as a freshman, so there’s room for her to push for higher finishes moving forward.

The Lady Vols add two divers to the roster this season in first-years Ava Boyer and Virginia Tiberti, bringing some potential. Tiberti was a member of the Italian Junior National Team, while Boyer has experience at the U.S. National Championships.

In addition to losing Lucoe, Tennessee also sees their #2 scoring diver at SECs, Elle Renner, move on, which leaves Short as the only diver on the roster who scored at the 2024 conference championships.

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

The Vols are in an enviable position in the relays as they return 19 of their 20 legs from last season’s group that scored 148 points, third most in the nation.

Tennessee’s best finish was the runner-up showing in the 800 free relay, which featured Douthwright, Spink, Mrozinski and Fuller. Given they add Jansen to the mix, this could be a national title-winning team.

With the addition of Crooks, the sprint relays could be even better as well, as she could take over the anchor leg of the 200 medley relay, where Amber Myers was 22.0—though Myers was 21.5 multiple times last season including on the NCAA 200 free relay.

The lone relay leg they lose is the 200 free relay anchor from Jasmine Rumley, which Crooks can fill in seamlessly.

Tennessee’s 2024 NCAA Relay Results

With Spink, McSharry and Fuller contributing on four of the relays, Douthwright being a stable presence on freestyle, and the addition of Crooks, and maybe Jansen, Tennessee’s relays will be elite again.

The one weak area last year was fly on the medley relays, though Stotler was solid. If Jansen can end up being a better option on fly in the 400 medley relay, that’s a bonus.

Total Stars: 26.5/40

2024-25 OUTLOOK

With the big stars in McSharry and Fuller coming back, and last year’s freshman revelations Spink and Fast having one year under their belt, the outlook for Tennessee is a positive one.

There are only 12 NCAA points and one relay leg walking out the door, and coming in is a very well-rounded freshman class that figures to make an impact from the jump. Crooks and Siroky can be scorers right away, and Jansen is a real Swiss Army knife who can be relied upon in any area throughout the season.

Last year’s top three will be hard to overtake, and #5 Stanford is set for a standout season, so it’s possible Tennessee falls in the standings despite scoring more points than they did last year.

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