Indiana Men Overtake Cal, Stanford Women Remain Atop CSCAA Polls

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 SeliskarJustin 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 HuKatie 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 RuleClaire 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.

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Steve Swims
6 years ago

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.

NM Coach
Reply to  Steve Swims
6 years ago

TX seemed to be swimming many of their swimmers in “off” events…they definitely weren’t showing what they had.

NM Coach
6 years ago

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!!

Swimmer1
Reply to  NM Coach
6 years ago

I agree. They will be VERY competitive. Maybe even top 4.

ACC fan
6 years ago

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?

Korn
6 years ago

Not sure how one can rank teams when some of these teams have not even swum a dual meet yet?

KNOW IT ALL
Reply to  Korn
6 years ago

It’s all done by the current college coaches…

50free
6 years ago

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.

Paul
Reply to  50free
6 years ago

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”

Troy
6 years ago

I thought Olivia Anderson swam for Georgia?

Admin
Reply to  Troy
6 years ago

Both teams have swimmers named Olivia Anderson.

dmswim
Reply to  Troy
6 years ago

There are two.

Marley09
Reply to  Troy
6 years ago

There are two of them (at least).

Uberfan
6 years ago

I suspect Indiana will have a top 6 finish

ct swim fan
Reply to  Uberfan
6 years ago

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.

Uberfan
Reply to  ct swim fan
6 years ago

They finished 7th last year I’m not basing what I think they will get off of this poll.

Pac-12 Fan
Reply to  ct swim fan
6 years ago

=== 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 »

About James Sutherland

James Sutherland

James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism. Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …

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