2024-25 NCAA Digest: Standouts and Surprises As We Prepare For Mid-Season Invites

Welcome back for another edition of the NCAA digest and happy (now one day later) Moby Dick publication day to all who celebrate. It has been a damp and drizzly November but rather than taking to the sea as soon as I can, I’m taking heart from the fact that we’re just one week away from the heart of mid-season invitationals.

Up until this point, teams have had varied schedules. Some have raced a lot, while others have maybe had two official NCAA competitions. That’s made it a challenge to compare where teams are at relative to each other. But mid-season invites will give us our first look at how these teams stack up against each other in a post-season format.

• Related: Which Teams Are Going to Which Midseason Invite?

We’re mixing things up this week in honor of the rapidly approaching invites. Even though these invites don’t happen by conference, instead of the usual structure, we’re going around the NCAA by Power 4 conference, DI mid-major, DII, and DIII to talk (rapid fire) about what’s been happening so far and what—or who—to look out for in the coming week. Obviously, in this format, there are a lot of notable times or swimmers we don’t have room for, so let us know in the comments what your standouts and surprises have been so far.

ACC

Standout: Maybe this one’s a gimme, but Gretchen Walsh has been on fire this season. She broke world and American records in SCM to kick off the season, then followed up at the Cavaliers’ SCY dual with UNC by putting up the fastest dual meet swim in multiple events. Virginia is headed to a relatively small Tennessee Invite, but the sprinting there—both from Walsh and the Tennessee men—is simply not to be missed. Remember, she popped off at this meet last year.

Surprise: As evidenced by the way they moved up the rankings in the most recent round of SwimSwam Power Rankings, Louisville—the men and the women—have surprised many this season. Perhaps the biggest marker for them this season was their upset sweep of Tennessee. Their returners have been solid and additions like Mia Cheatwood, Gregg Enoch, and Jake Eccleston have added a new spark.

You Might Have Missed: This past weekend, Sam Hoover dropped a 47.20 100 IM at the NC State vs. Georgia two-day Swimpalooza. It was a big weekend for the NC State men and women (Taylor Driscoll and Erika Pelaez were standouts for the women) but that swim flew a little under the radar. Per our records, it’s the fifth-fastest 100 IM all-time and is the third entry onto that list this season after Ilya Kharun (46.91) and Hubert Kos (47.33) added their names to the list.

Big 12

Standout: Another obvious choice — the standout of the conference has been Ilya Kharun. He seems to post a top time every time he dives in. He was always going to be an important part of the Sun Devils postseason plans and he’s more than stepped up. He currently leads the NCAA in the 50 free (18.59), 100 free (41.56), 100 fly (43.95), and 200 fly (1:38.74) and was a part of four of ASU’s five NCAA-leading relays.

Surprise: Multiple Big-12 women have swum lifetime bests in the 100 or 200 breaststroke this season. Emma Gehlert clocked 1:00.64 in the 100 breaststroke, Jasmine Anderson swam 1:01.38, and Eleni Gehlert dropped more than a second in the 200 breaststroke, to name a few. While it’s early—and Joleigh Crye is the only sub-1:00 swimmer in the conference this season, this could turn out to be one of the more competitive disciplines at the 2025 conference championships.

You Might Have Missed: Way back in early October, BYU’s Tanner Edwards took down the program record in the men’s 50 butterfly. It was surprising to see the record that Jordan Tiffany established (21.68) go down so soon and by so much—Edwards chopped .25 seconds off the mark, swimming 21.43.

Big Ten

Standout: Miranda Grana has been huge for the Indiana Hoosiers so far this season. After transferring from Texas A&M, the sophomore has already swum a lifetime best in the 200 backstroke (1:50.50) and been faster than she was at 2024 NCAAs in the 100 backstroke (51.04).

Surprise: Generally, Wisconsin. The women have been clicking well and look strong across a wide range of disciplines as Phoebe Bacon, Maddie Waggoner, Maggie Wanezek, Hailey Tierney, and more have looked strong. As for the men, they beat a ranked Minnesota team to hand them their first loss of the season. Chris Morris broke the pool record in the 200 freestyle (1:33.65) at that meet as well.

You Might Have Missed: Jacob Johnson has already broken the 200 butterfly program record twice, lowering it all the way to 1:41.70. That and YuTong Wang’s school record on the board has been the headline of Minnesota’s season but they’ve also got a strong distance group, bolstered by adding Joey Tepper, that’s worth keeping an eye on.

SEC

Standout: Texas has been lights out this season. Emma Sticklen, Hubert Kos, Rex Maurer, Jillian Cox—they’ve all produced huge swims already this season. Sticklen in particular stands out; she has gone lifetime bests in the 100/200 fly, swimming school records in both events and an SEC record in the latter. She now owns the most sub-1:50 200 fly performances in history, getting under the barrier again with a 1:49.99 at the Indiana vs. Texas meet.

Surprise: Jere Hribar has been leading the charge for the LSU men all season. It started with perhaps his most surprising effort of all—an 18.30 relay split in October and has continued from there. It’s clear that he’s much more comfortable in yards during his sophomore campaign. Last weekend, he swam season bests of 19.24/42.08 in the 50/100 free. This time last year, he was 19.94/44.03.

You Might Have Missed: The Auburn women’s relays look strong this year. It’s taken them longer to rebuild than the men’s side but it looks like they may have figured something out this season. Building around relays goes a long way at a championship meet and the Auburn women’s relays have learned how to get their hands on the wall first. International freshman Lora Komoroczy has been a highlight as well.

DI Mid-Major

Standout: Last year, SIU’s Celia Pulido burst onto the national scene, finaling in both the 100 and 200 backstroke at NCAAs (and she leads the mid-majors in both already this season). It’s still early, but it looks like this year, their big breakout is junior Olivia Herron. She’s already taken down the MVC conference record in the 200 breaststroke, swimming 2:11.13 on October 25th. At the same meet, she also swam lifetime bests in the 100 breast (1:01.00), 100 fly (57.92), and 400 IM (4:17.17). Keep an eye on her this week at SIU’s Invite.

Surprise: It’s not a surprise that the Princeton freshmen are a good recruiting class that add immediate value to the Tigers’ roster. But it’s a surprise how quickly they followed through on that potential. The Ivy League season is just kicking off in earnest but the Princeton men have already broken two school records. Romanian freshman Patrick Dinu broke the 100 freestyle school record with a 42.51. Junior Mitchell Schott took down the other school record on the day, swimming 1:32.78 to outpace his own 200 freestyle program record. Logan Noguchi had a solid debut for the Tigers as well, teaming with Dinu on the back half of the 400 free relay and splitting 43.48 as the quartet combined for a 2:52.84.

You Might Have Missed: Johnny Crush was the big recruit for the Army men this season and he’s been as advertised. But flying under the radar a bit has been his classmate Daniel Verdolaga, who’s been having a strong first season for the Black Knights. He’s already climbing the program ranks in the 100 fly and swam a lifetime best in the 200 fly (1:47.17). At Army’s most recent meet against St. Bonaventure, Verdolaga teamed with Crush, Kohen Rankin, and Thomas Hadjj to take down Harvard’s 400 medley pool record that had been on their board since 2001, breaking the 3:15.20 mark with a 3:14.07. This digest is about looking back as we get ready for mid-season invites but with Navy swimming so well this fall as well, it’s never to early to start thinking about next month’s Star Meet.

Division II

Standout: This has to be Kirabo Namutebi, who has already broken her own DII record in the 50 freestyle this season. The sophomore swam a 22.03 at a tri-meet against DI opponents Eastern Illinois and Butler, helping the Greyhounds sweep the meet. Namuetbi broke her own record of 22.08, which she swam to win the 2024 DII NCAA title in the event.

Surprise: Yes, Florida sent a split squad to face the University of Tampa, but the Spartans took full advantage. The reigning men’s DII champions upset the Gators and the women’s team won their meet as well. The results don’t say much about a full-powered Florida team but they do say a lot about Tampa’s mindset about this season—they’re here to defend their title and they look strong.

You Might Have Missed: It was early in the season, so you may have missed Germany’s Jeremias Pock making an impression in his NCAA debut. The breaststroker dropped a 52.21 100 breast at the Dan Ross Intercollegiate Meet, which would’ve finished second at 2024 NCAAs. Since then, Pock’s earned Division II ‘B’ cuts in multiple events and fired off a 50 breast PB (24.50) on the first 50 of his most recent dual meet.

Division III

Standout: Maybe it’s recency bias, but Crow Thorsen’s antics at the Emory Invite this past weekend are too hard to ignore. There were plenty of Division III leading times swum this weekend at the Emory Invite and the D3 Shootout including by Thorsen’s teammates Liyang Sun and Henri Bonnault, who tied in the 100 breast at 53.77. For his part, Thorsen improved on his NCAA-leading times by swimming 3:53.55 in the 400 IM (about two seconds off his 2024 NCAA title-winning time) and a lifetime best 4:25.68 in the 500 free. He was 6th in that event at NCAAs last year.

Surprise: Rivals Denison and Kenyon see a lot of each other; the schools are in the same state and they are in the same conference. At their dual meet last weekend, it wasn’t a surprise to see the Kenyon women beat Denison, but it was a surprise to see the Denison men upset the higher-ranked Kenyon team. Key to their victory was freshman Nich Hensel, who went four-for-four in event wins and led off the 200 free relay in a lifetime best 20.54.

You Might Have Missed: The NYU and MIT women have both pulled upsets over Division I teams this season. NYU was led by last season’s DIII swimmer of the year Kaley McIntyre. Caitlin Marshall and Anna Li also looked strong to start the Violets’ season. Up in Cambridge, the MIT women took down Northeastern during a tri-meet with Harvard. They’re loaded up with Alex Turvey, Ella Roberson, Kate Augustyn, and Sara Bernard leading the way and a deep backstroke group as they look to push further up the NCAA standings in March.