The second round of CSCAA Polls are in, ranking the top-25 men’s and women’s teams in the NCAA. The first round of polls, released at the beginning of the month, were the pre-season rankings prior to any meaningful dual meets. Now a few weeks into the season, we have a better idea of how teams are shaping up as the season progresses. Rankings are compiled by CSCAA-member coaches.
On the men’s side, the pre-season rankings saw Cal atop the heap with 268 points, followed by three-time defending NCAA champs Texas with 244 and Stanford with 241. Now a few weeks into the season, it is the Indiana Hoosiers who have moved into the #1 slot, compiling 298 points.
This comes on the heels of their tri-meet with Florida and Texas, where they defeated both teams handily. The Gators were handed a 242-187 defeat, while the Longhorns suffered a similar fate by a score of 264-165.
Blake Pieroni has had a tremendous start to the year, sweeping the 100 and 200 free on both days of the meet, including defeating two-time NCAA champ Caeleb Dressel in the 100 on day 2. Along with all of their individual success, they were lights out on relays, going 4-for-4 against two of the most dangerous teams in the country.
After leading the pre-season rankings, the Cal men now sit 2nd with 285, and Florida has moved up from 4th to 3rd with 271. The Golden Bears haven’t had any real tests yet, handily defeating Pacific and Utah on the 13th and 14th of October. A few of them competed at the USA Swimming College Challenge meet this past weekend racing for the Pac-12, with nation leading times coming from Andrew Seliskar, Justin Lynch and Zheng Wen Quah.
Texas falls to 5th, just behind Stanford, and NC State is one point back of the Longhorns in 6th. Utah, Purdue, Georgia Tech and Virginia move into the top-25 after being left out of the pre-season ranks, while Arizona, Wisconsin, Harvard and Minnesota are bumped out.
MEN
| Rank | Previous | Team | Points |
| 1 | 6 | Indiana | 298 |
| 2 | 1 | California | 285 |
| 3 | 4 | Florida | 271 |
| 4 | 3 | Stanford | 253 |
| 5 | 2 | Texas | 251 |
| 6 | 5 | NC State | 250 |
| 7 | 12 | Michigan | 234 |
| 8 | 8 | Arizona State | 203 |
| 9 | 10 | Auburn | 202 |
| 10 | 11 | Southern California | 189 |
| 11 | 15 | Texas A&M | 180 |
| 12 | 8 | Georgia | 179 |
| 13 | 7 | Louisville | 153 |
| 14 | 17 | Notre Dame | 151 |
| 15 | 18 | Tennessee | 127 |
| 16 | 13 | Alabama | 105 |
| 17 | 14 | Ohio State | 98 |
| 18 | 23 | Missouri | 91 |
| 19 | 19 | Virginia Tech | 83 |
| 20 | 16 | South Carolina | 76 |
| 21 | 20 | Florida State | 59 |
| 22 | Utah | 40 | |
| 23 | 30 | Purdue | 37 |
| 24 | Georgia Tech | 31 | |
| 25 | Virginia | 24 |
On the women’s side it’s no surprise as Stanford retains their #1 position. They opened their season with a win against Utah, and had several top performances at the College Challenge, leading the Pac-12 to the win.
Katie Ledecky swept the 200/500/1000 freestyles, taking over the top time in the country in each, while Ella Eastin did the same in the 200/400 IM and 200 fly (tying with Cal’s Kathleen Baker in the 200 IM). They also received strong performances from the likes of Janet Hu, Katie Drabot and freshman Brooke Forde. Currently dealing with a minor injury, Simone Manuel should be back in action for them sooner rather than later.
The Texas women moved up a spot to #2 after defeating both Indiana and Florida over the weekend. Remedy Rule, Claire Adams and Olivia Anderson have all had strong starts for them. Michigan and USC both saw big jumps up to 3rd and 4th, with Cal falling from 2nd to 7th. The Wolverines had some strong performances at the SMU Classic, led by Siobhan Haughey, and Louise Hansson and freshman Maggie Aroesty have impressed early for USC.
Purdue, Virginia Tech and South Carolina move into the top-25 after missing in the pre-season, while Florida State, UCLA and Ohio State are knocked out.
WOMEN
| Rank | Previous | Team | Points |
| 1 | 1 | Stanford | 325 |
| 2 | 3 | Texas | 301 |
| 3 | 6 | Michigan | 299 |
| 4 | 7 | Southern California | 281 |
| 5 | 5 | Texas A&M | 272 |
| 6 | 4 | Georgia | 267 |
| 7 | 2 | California | 254 |
| 8 | 10 | Indiana | 229 |
| 9 | 15 | Auburn | 209 |
| 10 | 25 | Notre Dame | 202 |
| 11 | 9 | Lousville | 199 |
| 12 | 14 | Tennessee | 180 |
| 13 | 8 | NC State | 164 |
| 14 | 13 | Virginia | 158 |
| 15 | 15 | Kentucky | 108 |
| 16 | 31 | Purdue | 104 |
| 17 | 17 | Minnesota | 101 |
| 18 | 12 | Wisconsin | 99 |
| 19 | 22 | North Carolina | 97 |
| 20 | 18 | Florida | 92 |
| 21 | 26 | Virginia Tech | 90 |
| 22 | 32 | South Carolina | 44 |
| 23 | 20 | Duke | 39 |
| 24 | 24 | Arizona | 36 |
| 25 | 11 | Missouri | 22 |
Check out the full rankings here.
I don’t think these rankings mean anything. Texas should be on top anyways if we were going off of who is actually going to win it this year.
TX seemed to be swimming many of their swimmers in “off” events…they definitely weren’t showing what they had.
Indiana Men will move into the top 5 this year! Their relays are tough!!! I think Ian finnerty and vini Lanza are going to have breakout years this year! Blake will continue to be Blake!
Go HOOSIERS!!
I agree. They will be VERY competitive. Maybe even top 4.
NC STATE women trounce Duke and Penn State with five top swimmers out of the line up and drops 5 spots? Notre Dame moves up 15 spots?
Not sure how one can rank teams when some of these teams have not even swum a dual meet yet?
It’s all done by the current college coaches…
I still don’t understand how dual meets mean anything. If you swim fast, you could be in good shape or not working hard. If you swim slow, you could be in bad shape or working hard.
one dual meet may not mean much, but it is good for tracking in season performance to see if swimmers need to work harder or work less. it also is more about placement than times, as it can help show competitiveness and the ability to “get up and race”
I thought Olivia Anderson swam for Georgia?
Both teams have swimmers named Olivia Anderson.
There are two.
There are two of them (at least).
I suspect Indiana will have a top 6 finish
I suspect that we are comparing apples to oranges in a lot of cases. I’m not really sure how they do these polls, but comparing teams that have a lot of suited and at least rested a little times (The Pac 12 swimmers in the challenge and the women at the SMU invite for instance) and times from innocuous dual meets that most teams swim in season, skews the results toward the teams in those rested, suited meets a bunch. I’m pretty sure there will be a much more reliable comparison once the mid-season rest meets start in December for most teams.
They finished 7th last year I’m not basing what I think they will get off of this poll.
=== CT SWIM FAN wrote – “comparing teams that have a lot of suited and at least rested a little times (The Pac 12 swimmers in the challenge and the women at the SMU invite for instance) and times from innocuous dual meets that most teams swim in season, skews the results toward the teams in those rested, suited meets a bunch” ===
Agree with that, but otoh I’m not sure if the suited times from the College Challenge & SMU Classic factored into this poll as much as one might have thought…
Take a look at the current Top 20 times below, for the Pac-12 women who had competed in either or both of these 2 suited meets.… Read more »