ASU Men, Virginia Women Move To #1 In CSCAA December Polls

The University of Virginia women have reclaimed the top spot and the Arizona State men move to #1 for the first time as the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) released its dual meet rankings for the month of December Thursday.

The #1 ranking on both the men’s and women’s side has changed hands in three straight months, as the Texas Longhorns claimed the top spot on both sides in November, while the UVA women and Cal men were ranked first in October.

The CSCAA does not factor in how a team might fare in a championship meet format, exclusively looking at dual meet strength, and uses head-to-head results as a top consideration.

The Sun Devils jump up from fifth to first on the men’s side after a very impressive showing at the Wolfpack Invite in mid-November, led by sophomore Leon Marchand who holds the top time in the nation in the 200 fly, 200 IM and 400 IM. ASU also ranks inside the top three in all five men’s relays, including first in the 200 free relay.

For the women, Virginia reclaims the top spot after a dominant performance at the Tennessee Invitational, as Gretchen Walsh, Alex Walsh and Kate Douglass combined for seven individual victories at the event.

WOMEN’S RANKINGS

Also receiving votes: Virginia Tech (19), UCLA (8), Florida State (7)

The biggest change inside the top 10 on the women’s side came from USC, which fell five spots down to 10th, having finished second to Alabama at the Art Adamson Invite.

The Georgia women moved up two spots to crack the top 10 in ninth, while the Cal women gained three spots to take over 11th. The Bears also saw the biggest increase in terms of points (tallied based on committee votes), scoring 51 more than November.

MEN’S RANKINGS

Also receiving votes: North Carolina (8); Princeton (5); Louisiana State (4); Harvard (2); Army / West Point (1)

For the men, Texas and Cal slide down into second and third, respectively, though the Bears did outscore the Longhorns at the Minnesota Invite two weeks ago.

The Tennessee men had a strong performance at their home invite to jump up four spots into sixth, while Georgia notably falls six spots down to 10th.

Auburn and Arizona had the biggest increase from November in terms of points, as the Tigers jump up six spots and the Wildcats moved up eight.

THE COMMITTEES

Each Division I committee includes representatives from each Power Five conference, along with seven at-large voters from mid-major programs. You can find the full lists below:

Women’s Poll Committee

• Ashley Dell, Illinois-Chicago
• Naya Higashijima, Southern Methodist (Chair)
• Andrew Hodgson, Northwestern
• Lars Jorgensen, Kentucky
• Jeana Kempe, Illinois
• Nathan Lavery, Drexel
• Chris Lindauer, Notre Dame
• Ben Loorz, UNLV
• Bret Lundgaard, Princeton
• Lea Maurer, Southern California
• Alice McCall, TCU
• Jaclyn Rosen, UCSB
• Jos Smith, Utah
• Milana Socha, Dartmouth
• Albert Subirats, Virginia Tech
• Roman Willets, Alabama
• SwimSwam
• Swimming World

Men’s Poll Committee

• Jim Bolster, Columbia
• Abby Brethauer, Princeton
• Jason Calanog, Texas A&M
• Jerry Champer, Georgia
• Alicia Hicken-Franklin, Denver
• Mike Joyce, Minnesota
• Jessica Livsey, Old Dominion
• Laura McGlaughlin, Villanova
• Trevor Maida, Wisconsin
• Samantha Pitter, Pittsburgh
• Bill Roberts, Navy (Chair)
• Dan Schemmel, Stanford
• Shari Skabelund, BYU
• Rachel Stratton-Mills, Arizona State
• Neal Studd, Florida State
• Dr. Rick West, West Virginia
• SwimSwam
• Swimming World

You can find the full CSCAA release here.