Men’s NCAAs Team Scores- Conference Breakdown

2022 NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• March 23-26, 2022
• McAuley Aquatic Center, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia (Eastern Daylight Time)
• Prelims 10AM /Finals 6PM
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Live Results
• Official Psych Sheets
• Virtual Championship Program
• SwimSwam Pick Em’s Contest

This past weekend, the Cal Golden Bears won their 7th NCAA team title, and 5th under current head coach Dave Durden, with 487.5 points. The win also continued an unbelievable streak of top 2 finishes for the Golden Bears, who have finished the season as either NCAA champs or runner-up every year since 2010. They took the title back from the Texas Longhorns, who won the 2021 title and finished runner-up this season with 436.5 points. While many of the headlines leading up to, and during, the meet were centered around the top two teams, there is plenty of intrigue further down the standings, specifically when looking through a conference-centric lens. 

Scores by conference

Pac 12

The Pac 12 had arguably the most impressive showing as a conference, as 3 of the top 7 teams hailed from the west coast. Behind the Bears, the Arizona State Sun Devils capped off their breakout season with a 6th place finish with 236 points, more points than the Sun Devil program has scored at this meet combined between 2010 and 2021. The result also marked the highest program finish for the program since 1982, when the Sun Devils also finished 6th. 

The Stanford Cardinal also had a strong showing and have made significant progress under 3rd-year head coach Dan Schemmel, finishing 5 points behind Arizona State in 7th. That is the highest finish for Stanford since 2018, where the Cardinal also finished in 7th. 

Big 10

The Big 10 was led by the Indiana Hoosiers, who finished 5th with 265, their 6th straight top 10 finish. The Hoosiers were 100 points clear of Ohio State, who finished 9th for their third straight top 10 finish. 

Another notable result from the Big 10 has been the decline of the Michigan Wolverines, who finished 22nd with just 36 points, their lowest NCAA finish since 1986 when they finished 25th. Less than a decade ago, the Maize and Blue won the NCAA team title at the 2013 Championships with 480 points, but were just the 5th-highest scoring team in their own conference this season. That included finishes behind both Purdue and Minnesota, programs that Michigan has historically significantly outperformed.  

Big 12

Much has been made about the Texas Longhorns’ ability to swim through their conference meet and focus on NCAAs, and their Big 12 dominance is as evident as ever, as they were the only team from their conference to score at NCAAs. Texas will soon head to the much-stronger SEC, which will throw an interesting wrinkle in their time-tested strategy of being able to have NCAAs be their sole focus. 

SEC

The SEC had the most programs score points at these championships, with 9 programs, including 7 of the top 25, finishing in the final rankings. The SEC was led by Florida, which was led by senior Olympians Kieran Smith and Bobby Finke, as well as their winning 200 medley and 200 free relays. The Georgia Bulldogs were the 2nd-highest finishing SEC program with 194 points, good for 8th. 

LSU was perhaps the most impressive SEC program relative to expectations, as sprinter Brooks Curry and diver Juan Hernandez helped carry the Tigers to a 15th place team finish, their best since finishing 14th in 1997. 

ACC

Following just behind the SEC was the ACC, which had 8 programs score points this week and finished the season with 6 teams in the top 25. The ACC has experienced a surge in swimming performance in recent seasons. Braden Holloway has established the NC State Wolfpack as a perennial top-four contender, while his former assistant Todd Desorbo now has the Virginia men back on the rise with their 3rd-straight top 10 finish. 

Virginia Tech and Louisville both had strong seasons as well, giving the ACC 4 of the top 12 programs in the nation. Virginia Tech earned their second straight 11th place finish, their best-ever NCAA finish. Louisville, which was on a streak of 3-straight top 10 finishers, slipped to 12th, 22.5 points out of another top 10 finish. The NCAA Championship hosts, Georgia Tech, had an impressive showing by fifth year seniors Caio Pumputis and Christian Ferraro to finish in 21st, their second straight 21st-place finish and highest since 2009. 

Ivy League

The Ivy League had a very strong meet, with Harvard, Columbia, Penn and Princeton all recording top 30 team finishes. The highest Ivy League finish in recent history was Harvard’s 8th place finish in 2019, while Columbia’s 24th place finish was their highest since 1983, when they finished tied for 18th led by distance star Tony Corbisiero. Penn’s 22.5 points was their most points scored since 2016, where the Quakers finished 24th behind Chris Swanson’s 1650 NCAA title, and have now scored at 6 of the last 8 NCAA Championships. Princeton’s 30th place finish was their best since finishing 23rd in 2012. 

Mid-Major

SMU and Towson were the only mid-major programs to score points this season. Towson has now scored at 4 of the last five NCAA championships, while SMU’s 4 points is their highest point total since 2013.