Thanks to user swimy22 for inspiring this article with their comment.
Only two women’s NCAA Division I Swimming & Diving teams have won a national championship in every (current) swimming event in program history. The Stanford women have won every race (and the diving sweep too), while the Florida women have won every swimming event and all-but-one diving event.
The Stanford women finished their swimming sweep in 1993 when Lea Loveless (now USC head coach Lea Maurer) won the title in the 200 backstroke. They completed the diving trifecta in 2007 when Cassidy Krug won the women’s 1-meter diving event.
The Florida Gators took considerably-longer to complete their sweep. Florida got within one event by 1989 (thanks in part to powerhouse teams in the first few years of NCAA women’s swimming that included sisters Amy and Tracy Caulkins), but it wasn’t until their NCAA Championship run in 2010 that they added the 200 free relay to their register.
The Florida women still have yet to win a platform title.
Several other programs are creeping closer to this honor. The Georgia women have won everything but the 400 IM and platform diving (though their last ‘new’ event wins in swimming came in 2006). Texas has won everything but the 200 free, surprisingly, in spite of having names like Karlee Bispo, Madisyn Cox, Kim Linehan, Tiffany Cohen, and Whitney Hedgepeth in those events.
They added the 200 fly this year when Emma Sticklen won, and have all of the diving titles, so they’d just need that 200 free to join Stanford in the all-events sweep.
Arizona is just a few events shy thanks to a deep run of success in the 1990s and 2000s, including only one swimming event (200 fly).
The team that’s running up the table to join them is Virginia. They have no diving titles, but are just two swimming events away from a clean sweep in the lanes: they’ve never won the 200 back or the 100 breast.
See the table below for the top teams in NCAA history and their event breakdown.
The NCAA sponsored its first women’s swimming & diving championship in 1982. The men’s championships have been running for much longer, since the 1920s.
All-Time Event Titles
| Stanford | Florida | Georgia | Cal | Texas | Arizona | USC | Auburn | Virginia | |
| 50 free | 1984 | 1988 | 2000* | 1985 | 1988 | 1995 | XXX | 2011 | 2021 |
| 100 free | 1986 | 1982 | 2000* | 2009 | 1989 | 2008 | XXX | 2011 | 2022 |
| 200 free | 1982 | 1988 | 2000* | 1986 | XXX | 1995 | 1983 | 2004* | 2021 |
| 500 free | 1982 | 1986 | 2006 | XXX | 1985 | 2005 | 1996 | 2007 | 2015 |
| 1650 free | 1982 | 1986 | 1989 | XXX | 1985 | 1997 | 2013 | 2006 | 2001 |
| 100 back | 1992 | 1989 | 2000* | 1999 | 1985 | 2005 | XXX | 2006 | 2023 |
| 200 back | 1993 | 1989 | 1999 | 2001 | 1985 | 2000* | 1996 | 2004* | XXX |
| 100 breast | 1991 | 1982 | 1998 | 2006 | 1985 | 2010 | 2008 | XXX | XXX |
| 200 breast | 1984 | 1982 | 1998 | 1988 | 1985 | 2001 | 1994 | XXX | 2022 |
| 100 fly | 1986 | 1982 | 1996 | 1985 | 1983 | 1991 | 2018 | 1997 | 2022 |
| 200 fly | 1990 | 1982 | 2003 | 1983 | 2023 | XXX | 2011 | XXX | 2022 |
| 200 IM | 1986 | 1982 | 2000* | 2012 | 1985 | 2007 | 1994 | 2001 | 2021 |
| 400 IM | 1989 | 1982 | XXX | XXX | 1986 | 2006 | 1994 | 2001 | 2022 |
| 1-meter diving | 2007 | 1982 | 2014 | XXX | 1997 | 2013 | 2002 | 1993 | XXX |
| 3-meter diving | 1992 | 1982 | 2014 | XXX | 1989 | XXX | 2005 | XXX | XXX |
| Platform diving | 1992 | XXX | XXX | XXX | 1997 | 2023 | 2002 | XXX | XXX |
| 200 free relay | 1982 | 2010 | 1995 | 2011 | 1984 | 1996 | XXX | XXX | 2022 |
| 400 free relay | 1982 | 1984 | 2002 | 2007 | 1983 | 1998 | 2016 | 2003 | 2022 |
| 800 free relay | 1982 | 1984 | 2001 | 2004* | 1987 | 1998 | 1994 | 2003 | 2021 |
| 200 medley relay | 1983 | 1982 | 2005 | 2000* | 1985 | 2007 | XXX | 1994 | 2022 |
| 400 medley relay | 1987 | 1982 | 2005 | 2007 | 1984 | 2006 | XXX | 2003 | 2022 |
Note: we’ve included the 2000 and 2004 short course meters titles in this list, though they technically aren’t current events.
Has there ever been a swimmer who lost their american record and then got it back?
Townley Haas is the first swimmer to come to mind. There’s likely many others.
Katie Ledecky and Ella Eastin both rebroke the 400 IM AR after the other broke it (Ledecky-Eastin-Ledecky-Eastin in chronological order)
Fascinating list…just blown away the list is only Stanford alone because Texas has never had an NCAA women’s champion in the 200 free.
After so many greats for the Longhorns over so many decades it is simply mind boggling that the one event they’ve never had a winner in is the plain old 200 yard free. Go figure.
Yeah when I started, I expected the list to be Texas, Florida, and Stanford.
I was very surprised when Texas didn’t make it. Had to check a dozen times.
While the Texas women may not have won the 200 free in NCAA competition, Jill Sterkel won the 200 free at the 1981 AIAW (Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women) national swimming championships. This is before the NCAA sponsored women’s sports.
For the men, after Will Licon won the 400IM in 2015, I think Eddie Reese had coached a swimmer to win every single event. Texas has won all the diving events, too.
Stanford men seem to have won everything except the platform.
Alexis Wenger (100 Breast) and Courtney Bartholomew (200 Back) were oh so close for UVA. In fact, before the last three years UVA had a little bit of a curse; a handful of close 2nd place finishes for the women (relay and individual).
Braden, how about for each event and among these schools, how many titles they have won over those years and which years did they win?
That’s it, next year Alex Walsh has to swim the 100 breast, 200 back, and 1m diving.
Seriously though, she could be a title contender in two of the three (at least).
You think she’s going 1:47 200 back?
I think so if she seriously trained for it. her PBs coming into college were 1:45.02 in the 200 free, 2:05.87 in the 200 breast, 1:51.42 in the 200 back, and 1:53.69 in the 200 IM.
Breast was her strongest stroke coming in so she dropped the least time there (not counting backstroke), “only” 2.9 seconds, but in free and IM she’s dropped around 3.5 seconds in each and who knows how much in the 200 fly given that her best before college was a 2:08 in middle school.
I might be biased by how Rowdy is always talking about how strong Alex’s middle 100 in the 200 IM is though
No but she could score at least 400+ in diving haha
Nerding out, love these articles