Courtesy: CSCAA
January 23, 2026 – The College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) has released the January edition of the Division III Top 25 dual meet poll. The Kenyon women and Denison men claim the top spots of their respective polls.
The committee, consisting of Division III coaches, assesses and ranks the nation’s top 25 dual meet teams. Their evaluation takes into account head-to-head dual meet outcomes, performances since the last rankings, season-long performances, dual meet records, roster changes (such as injuries), and data from the SwimCloud Simulator. It’s important to note that the poll’s objective is not to predict the top finishers in a championship meet format.
Denison (400) holds the top position in the Division III Men’s January Poll. Emory (374) climbed one spot to second, followed by NYU (367) in third. Chicago (362) remained steady in fourth, while Kenyon (337) rounded out the top five. Notable movements in the rankings include Johns Hopkins (288), which surged six spots to 14th; TCNJ (271), which jumped three positions into the top 10 at ninth; and Connecticut College (210), which rose eight spots to 13th. Bates (66) entered the top 25 at 22nd. Twenty-eight teams received votes in the January poll.
On the women’s side, Kenyon (363) moves up two spots to open up 2026 on top of the Division III poll. Emory (357) edges out NYU (356) to claim second and third. Denison (334) and MIT (315) hold their positions in the top five, coming in fourth and fifth, respectively. Johns Hopkins (180) made the most significant move up in the poll, jumping five spots to 14th, while Trinity (TX) (86) also made a climb up three spots to 21st. Washington and Lee (11) entered the top 25 at 25th. A total of 26 teams received votes in the December poll.
*Dual meet records are sourced from each institution’s website.
You can find a complete list of the rankings at: https://cscaa.org/top-25/
Remaining Poll Release Dates:
Friday, February 6, 2026
Friday, March 6, 2026
Each committee includes representatives from the four Division III regions. The women’s and men’s committee chairs are Jake Taber (Hope) and Sean Tedesco (USMMA), respectively.
DIVISION III MEN
| Rk | Prv | Team | Pts | Record |
| 1 | 1 | Denison | 400 | 5-2 |
| 2 | 3 | Emory | 374 | 1-2 |
| 3 | 2 | NYU | 367 | 6-1 |
| 4 | 4 | Chicago | 362 | 6-1 |
| 5 | 6 | Kenyon | 337 | 3-7 |
| 6 | 7 | MIT | 313 | 3-2 |
| 7 | 5 | Carnegie Mellon | 311 | 4-1 |
| 8 | 14 | Johns Hopkins | 288 | 7-2 |
| 9 | 13 | TCNJ | 271 | 4-3 |
| 10 | 10 | Calvin | 249 | 1-4 |
| 11 | 9 | Pomona-Pitzer | 239 | 9-1 |
| 12 | 8 | WashU | 221 | 3-2 |
| 13 | 21 | Conn College | 210 | 6-0 |
| 14 | 18 | Williams | 184 | 6-1 |
| 14 | 15 | SUNY Geneseo | 184 | 9-0 |
| 16 | 11 | Case Western Reserve | 154 | 3-2 |
| 17 | 16 | Salisbury | 150 | 4-2 |
| 18 | 12 | Tufts | 123 | 4-1 |
| 19 | 19 | UC Santa Cruz | 119 | 3-1 |
| 20 | 17 | Hope | 98 | 0-0 |
| 21 | 22 | Claremont-Mudd-Scripps | 68 | 4-2 |
| 22 | NR | Bates | 66 | 4-1 |
| 23 | 23 | John Carroll | 39 | 1-3 |
| 24 | 25 | Trinity (TX) | 36 | 3-3 |
| 25 | 24 | RIT | 29 | 4-1 |
Also Receiving Votes: Grinnell (5), Ithaca (2), Amherst (1)
DIVISION III WOMEN
| Rk | Prv | Team | Pts | Record |
| 1 | 3 | Kenyon | 363 | 5-5 |
| 2 | 1 | Emory | 357 | 2-1 |
| 3 | 2 | NYU | 356 | 6-1 |
| 4 | 4 | Denison | 334 | 3-3 |
| 5 | 5 | MIT | 315 | 3-3 |
| 6 | 7 | Pomona-Pitzer | 290 | 11-0 |
| 7 | 6 | Chicago | 286 | 5-2 |
| 8 | 8 | Williams | 276 | 7-0 |
| 9 | 9 | Tufts | 256 | 4-1 |
| 10 | 10 | Hope | 236 | 0-0 |
| 11 | 11 | WashU | 229 | 3-2 |
| 12 | 12 | Carnegie Mellon | 211 | 3-1 |
| 13 | 15 | Swarthmore | 196 | 7-0 |
| 14 | 19 | Johns Hopkins | 180 | 6-3 |
| 15 | 13 | Claremont-Mudd-Scripps | 163 | 6-4 |
| 16 | 16 | Colby | 148 | 6-0 |
| 17 | 18 | Gettysburg | 130 | 6-3 |
| 18 | 14 | Calvin | 121 | 2-3 |
| 19 | 20 | Amherst | 96 | 3-2 |
| 20 | 21 | SUNY Geneseo | 92 | 9-0 |
| 21 | 24 | Trinity U | 86 | 3-2 |
| 22 | 23 | Middlebury | 52 | 3-2 |
| 23 | 22 | Salisbury | 43 | 4-2 |
| 24 | 17 | Case Western Reserve | 41 | 4-2 |
| 25 | NR | Washington & Lee | 11 | 5-2 |
Also Receiving Votes: Hamilton (11)
Division III Women’s Poll Committee
Chris Brown (Scranton), Greg Brown (Gettysburg), Brad Burnham (Bowdoin), Jay Daniels (Puget Sound), Meg French (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), John Geissinger (Hamilton), Alex Henderson (Washington and Lee), Tom Jansen (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps), Shannon O’Brien (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Cathleen Pruden (Trinity University (TX)), Annie Ryder (University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire), Chris Swenson (Kean), Jake Taber (Hope), Jason Weber (Chicago), Mark Yankovich (Widener)
Division III Men’s Poll Committee
Justin Anderson (Mary Washington), Phil Baretela (Rochester Institute of Technology), Andy Brabson (Caltech), Peter Casares (Bates), Keith Crawford (Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology), Sam Davy (Swarthmore College), Paul Dotterweich (SUNY Geneseo), Dave Dow (The College of New Jersey), Mabel Fowler (Trinity University (TX)), James Halliburton (Washington University in St. Louis), Rob Harrington (Wooster), Leo Litovsky (Skidmore), Connor Rumpit (New York University), Brent Summers (Willamette University), Sean Tedesco (U.S. Merchant Marine Academy), Jason Weber (Chicago).
Ithaca men easily handled RIT in an away dual meet…. yet the “engineers”still ranked above?
I don’t know if I’d say *easily* when the Ithaca men won by 20 and had 78% season bests and 18% lifetime bests, but setting that aside, given a virtually identical scoreline against their one common opponent Hamilton, it does seem like Ithaca should be ranked higher than RIT.
I would guess that RIT is getting boosted for wins over Geneseo (#20) and Trinity (#21) earlier in the year.
Gotta be said that RIT has a coach on the committee and Ithaca doesn’t. When I was on the committee, coaches were basically given a “these are your 25 teams, and these are the blocks of 5 you should have each team in” primer from the committee lead, which made it… Read more »
Geneseo did not lose to RIT.
Hmmm you’re right. The RIT website says they were “1st/3” but when you dig into the Geneseo site, it’s clear that’s wrong.
So I don’t have a good explanation then.
1/31/2026:
#14 Geneseo 158
Ithaca 142
Time for some rank reordering
Love that the Denison men are on top