2026 W. NCAA Champs: Day 2 (Ups/Downs?) – Texas to Battle Stanford for 2nd, UVA Way Out Front

2026 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships

• Wednesday, March 18 – Saturday, March 21, 2026
• McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta, GA
• Defending Champions: Virginia (5x)
• Championship Central
• Preview Index
• Psych Sheet
• Live Stream
• Live Results
• Live Recaps
  • Prelims: Day 1 | Day 2
  • Finals: Day 1

For those unfamiliar with swimming terminology, the concept of “Ups” and “Downs” is a good way to track which teams performed best during prelims. In prelims at the NCAA Championships swimmers qualify for just one finals: the top eight finishers make the Championship/’A” final (Ups) and places nine through 16 used to make the Consolation/‘B’ final (Downs), but now those results are scored from prelims, but for the purposes of this article we will still refer to them as a down.

With that in mind, we track “Ups” and “Downs” after each prelims session as a way to follow the team race. 

Team Scores Thru Day 1

1. Virginia – 100
2. Texas – 89
3. Stanford / Louisville – 59
5. Michigan – 56
6. Tennessee – 52
7. California – 49
8. Indiana – 46
9. Ohio St – 39
10. Georgia – 34
11. Florida – 31
12. NC State – 28
13. Southern California – 24
14. Alabama – 22
15. Wisconsin – 16
16. Nebraska – 15
17. LSU – 14
18. Pittsburgh – 10
19. Penn / Minnesota / Arizona St – 6
22. UCLA / South Carolina – 4
24. Duke / Indiana State / Notre Dame – 2

Virginia as expected led the way with a triple digit score of 100, thanks to their double relay wins, which net them 80 points alone. Texas, on the backs of some relay improvements and Jillian Cox defending her title and top seed in the 1650 currently sit in 2nd at 89 points, 12 more than they were expected to have scored based on the psych sheet alone. Behind them are a pair of ACC rivals as Louisville and Stanford are locked together at an equal 59 points.

Ups and Downs

We have included relays in the table above for the sake of having the most data, but the results from this morning’s 200 free relay are not set in stone.

Virginia continued to show why they have on five straight NCAA championships as they lead both in the number of A-finalists returning tonight as well as in the number of scorers this morning (9th-16th). The Cavaliers had six swimmers earn a second swim, placing at least one swimmer in each final.

Stanford, Tennessee and California all advanced four swimmers into the final, and likely will have a fifth, as their 200 free relays are all seeded to score A-final points. The three schools currently sit t-3rd, 6th and 7th, but after tonight will be looking to make some moves on Texas, Louisville and Michigan. All three schools will have likely four scored swims today, but Texas had just three swimmers make the A-final while the Wolverines and Cardinals advanced just two, with their 200 free relays also slated to score in the A-final.

Scores including this morning’s B-Finals (no diving or 200 Free relays

1. Virginia – 121
2. Texas – 101
3. Michigan – 76
4. Stanford – 74
5. Louisville – 64
6. Tennessee – 61
7. California – 52
8. Indiana – 47
9. Ohio State – 39
10. Georgia – 38
11. North Carolina State – 34 / Southern California – 34
13. Florida – 31
14. Alabama – 29
15. Wisconsin – 16
16. Nebraska – 15
17. Louisiana State – 14
18. Duke – 11 / Pittsburgh – 11
20. Akron – 9
21. Arizona State – 6 / Minnesota – 6 / Pennsylvania – 6 / Virginia Tech – 6
25. Arizona – 5
26. South Carolina – 4 / UCLA – 4
28. Fresno State – 2 / Indiana State – 2 / North Carolina – 2 / Notre Dame – 2
32. UC San Diego – 1

Projected Scores after tonight (not including diving)

* Schools that placed 9-16th in this morning can not move down in their points but can move up if a team in the final heat tonight either DQs or swims times equal to or slower than Texas’s time of 1:26.42 from this morning.

Without diving taken into consideration, Virginia, which has no divers, is projected to extend their lead and sit at 250 points this evening. Stanford which currently ranks 4th after this morning is projected to have a good night and jump ahead of Texas into the presumptive runner-up spot, with the Longhorns sitting 2 points back 167 to 165.

Both Tennessee and Indiana, currently outside of the top 5 are not expected to remain so for long as reflective of their strong swims this morning the Lady Vols and Hoosiers are project to sit 4th and 5th after tonight with 149 and 135 points respectively.