First Annual SwimSwam NCAA Division I Men’s Preseason Picks

by Robert Gibbs 70

October 11th, 2017 College, News

In our addition to our new power rankings format, we’re trying out something else new this year: NCAA pre-season predictions.

Followers of sports like baseball or football will be familiar with writers from major sports publications making their preseason predictions about Most Valuable Players, World Series or Super Bowl champions, and the like.  We know swimming fans enjoy making their predictions about upcoming events, or even whole seasons, just as much as any other fans out there, so we decided to share own predictions about the upcoming NCAA season with our readers.

We’re not quite still in the college swimming preseason as some teams have started competition, but even some of the major Division I squads haven’t yet had their first official meet, so we figured it’s still early enough to call these “preseason” picks.

We polled our staff, did our research, and came up with our six-months-out best guesses as to who would be standing atop the awards podium for each event at the 2018 NCAA Division I championships, and without any further ado, below are our choices by writer:

Braden Lauren Jared James Hannah Morgan Karl Robert Top Pick
800 Free Relay NC State NC State Texas Florida NC State NC State NC State NC State NC State
200 Free Relay Cal Cal Cal Cal Cal NC State NC State Cal Cal
500 Free Townley Haas (Texas) Fynn Minuth (South Carolina) Felix Auboeck (Michigan) Felix Auboeck (Michigan) Townley Haas (Texas) Felix Auboeck (Michigan) Felix Auboeck (Michigan) Townley Haas (Texas) Auboeck
200 IM Mark Szaranek (Florida) Mark Szaranek (Florida) Andreas Vazaios (NC State) Mark Szaranek (Florida) Mark Szaranek (Florida) Mark Szaranek (Florida) Jan Switkowski (Florida) Mark Szaranek (Florida) Szaranek
50 Free Caeleb
Dressel (Florida)
Caeleb
Dressel (Florida)
Caeleb Dressel (Florida) Caeleb Dressel (Florida) Caeleb Dressel (Florida) Caeleb Dressel (Florida) Caeleb
Dressel (Florida)
Caeleb Dressel (Florida) Dressel
400 Medley Relay Texas Texas USC Cal Cal Cal Cal Cal Cal
400 IM Andrew Seliskar (Cal) Abrahm DeVine (Stanford) Andrew Seliskar (Cal) Abrahm DeVine (Stanford) Abrahm DeVine (Stanford) Abrahm DeVine (Stanford) Andrew Seliskar (Cal) Andrew Seliskar (Cal) Seliskar/
DeVine
100 Fly Caeleb Dressel (Florida) Caeleb Dressel (Florida) Caeleb Dressel (Florida) Caeleb Dressel (Florida) Caeleb Dressel (Florida) Caeleb Dressel (Florida) Caeleb Dressel (Florida) Joseph Schooling (Texas) Dressel
200 Free Townley Haas (Texas) Blake Pieroni (Indiana) Townley Haas (Texas) Townley Haas (Texas) Townley Haas
(Texas)
Townley Haas
(Texas)
Dean Farris (Harvard) Townley Haas (Texas) Haas
100 Breast Ian Finnerty (Indiana) Connor
Hoppe
(Cal)
Jacob Montague (Michigan) Connor Hoppe (Cal) Carsten Vissering (USC) Connor Hoppe (Cal) Connor Hoppe
(Cal)
Carsten Vissering (USC) Hoppe
100 Back John Shebat (Texas) John Shebat (Texas) John Shebat (Texas) Justin Ress (NC State) John Shebat (Texas) John Shebat (Texas) John
Shebat
(Texas)
John Shebat (Texas) Shebat
200 Medley Relay Cal NC State NC State Cal Cal Cal Cal Cal Cal
1650 Free Felix
Auboeck (Michigan)
Akaram
Mahmoud (South Carolina)
Felix
Auboeck (Michigan)
Felix
Auboeck (Michigan)
Akaram
Mahmoud (South Carolina)
Felix
Auboeck (Michigan)
Akaram
Mahmoud (South Carolina)
Felix
Auobeck (Michigan)
Auboeck
200 Back Patrick Mulcare (USC) John Shebat (Texas) John Shebat (Texas) John Shebat (Texas) Patrick Mulcare (USC) John Shebat (Texas) John
Shebat (Texas)
John Shebat (Texas) Shebat
100 Free Caeleb Dressel (Florida) Caeleb Dressel (Florida) Caeleb Dressel (Florida) Caeleb Dressel (Florida) Caeleb Dressel (Florida) Caeleb Dressel (Florida) Caeleb Dressel (Florida) Caeleb Dressel (Florida) Dressel
200 Breast Carlos Claverie (Louisville) Mauro Castillo Luna (Texas A&M) Mauro Castillo Luna (Texas A&M) Jonathan Tybur (Texas A&M) Carlos Claverie (Louisville) Carlos Claverie (Louisville) Conner McHugh (Minnesota) Andrew Seliskar (Cal) Claverie
200 Fly Zheng Quah (Cal) Zheng Quah (Cal) Zheng Quah (Cal) Joseph Schooling (Texas) Zheng Quah (Cal) Joseph Schooling (Texas) Zheng
Quah (Cal)
Joseph Schooling (Texas) Quah
400 Free Relay Cal Florida NC State NC State Florida NC State NC State Texas NC State

 

If our collective crystal ball is correct, here will be some of the highlights of the 2018 Men’s NCAA championships:

  • Florida’s Caeleb Dressel will complete his four-year sweep of the 50 free, and he’ll earn wins in the 100 free and the 100 fly once again.  Dressel’s wins in the 50 and 100 free were our only unanimous picks.
  • John Shebat of Texas and Felix Auboeck of Michigan will be our other multiple-event winners, with Shebat sweeping the backstrokes and Auboeck the distance events.
  • Another Gator, Mark Szaranek will win the 200 IM outright after tying with Will Licon last year.
  • The 400 IM is a bit murkier; Gunnar Bentz of Georiga and Abrahm DeVine of Stanford were tied among our picks until Bentz broke his collarbone last week.  While he may recover and swim at NCAAs, we decided to err on the side of caution: two of the Bentz votes went to Seliskar and one went to DeVine, meaning those two swimmers are now tied.
  • With Licon gone from the breaststroke events as well, both of those races look wide open, with Connor Hoppe (Cal) and Carlos Claverie (Louisville) earning the most votes among our writers.
  • Texas’s Townley Haas will win his third-straight title in the 200 free, remaining undefeated in the event in which he is the fastest man ever.
  • Joseph Schooling‘s quest to reclaim his 200 fly title will prove unsuccessful, as five of our eight writers think Cal’s Zheng Quah will take that race after an impressive showing in limited college swimming last season.
  • The five relay titles will be split between NC State and Cal, as the Longhorns’ lack of a top-notch breaststroker dooms their medley relay chances, and Cal reclaims the 200 free relay title behind the likes of freshman Ryan Hoffer.

Now, again, the above descriptions are only best guesses as the season gets going.  Surely some swimmers will emerge, others may take some steps back, and other picks in March are going to look a lot different than they do now.  In the meantime, leave a comment and let us know what you think is going to happen.

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Bay City Tex
6 years ago

Would love to see team predictions, also. Cal and NC State loom big according to these predictions.
I still believe Horns 4-peat this season. Might take diving to push Horns over the top this year.

Admin
Reply to  Bay City Tex
6 years ago

Bay City Tex – while not intended truly as a ‘prediction,’ in essence that’s what our pre-season power rankings are: https://swimswam.com/2017-2018-mens-ncaa-power-rankings-first-edition/

We had Texas and Cal 1 and 2 across-the-board. The unanimity shouldn’t mislead though – it should be a much closer meet than it was last year.

VFL
6 years ago

PJ Stevens 100BR champ from Tennessee

ARSWIM
6 years ago

The fact they put NC State for the 200 medley made my day hahaha i love how wrong these things end up being.

KNOW IT ALL
6 years ago

Haas wins 100 free. Stirring up trouble…just to piss some people off here 😉

iLikePsych
Reply to  KNOW IT ALL
6 years ago

Maybe if it were a 100 meter pool

Swimmer
Reply to  iLikePsych
6 years ago

100 meters pool and no blocks, just a push off

Dcrabbe6
6 years ago

Plz tell me not picking litherland or bentz was a joke

Dcrabbe6
Reply to  Dcrabbe6
6 years ago

Talking about 4 im ofc

iLikePsych
Reply to  Dcrabbe6
6 years ago

Bentz has a broken collarbone, and Litherland is much better at the 400 IM LCM; see that he placed 7th last year at NCAAs in between two very strong summers (2nd to Kalisz both times)

Reply to  Dcrabbe6
6 years ago

A number of us had Bentz picked in various events before the collarbone. Hard to judge where he’ll be at now.

Caeleb Dressel
6 years ago

Would love to see Dressel lead off the 800 free relay. 1:29?

Team USA
6 years ago

Luke Kaliszak will win the 100 back

JP input is too short
Reply to  Team USA
6 years ago

That….. is not the craziest thing ever suggested.

Swimfan
Reply to  Team USA
6 years ago

Hopefully he doesn’t go pass 15m off the start

#STATEment
6 years ago

When everyone hypes up Texas for being a 200 freestyle factory yet they aren’t favorites to win the 800 free relay. LOL

coachymccoachface
Reply to  #STATEment
6 years ago

Are you bragging about predictions?

JP input is too short
Reply to  #STATEment
6 years ago

They are a 200 freestyle factory. 6 years in a row in the top 8 of the 800 free relay.
800 free relay:
2017 – 2nd
2016 – 1st
2015 – 8th
2014 – 5th
2013 – 5th
2012 – 1st
until they got 9th in 2011
The only teams with longer streaks are Cal and Texas.
Plus Texas won in 2010 and 2009 too…

Sean Justice
Reply to  JP input is too short
6 years ago

You need to include Florida in that streak. I looked back to 2011 and believe that is extends longer than that.

j pine
Reply to  #STATEment
6 years ago

Well, every Olympic year (at least 2012,2016) they won the 800 Free relay

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