The NCAA Transfer Portal for NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming & Diving is open for business. Starting today, and for the next 45 days, NCAA Division I swimmers who want to transfer next season are eligible to put their name into the portal that can be viewed by coaches across the country.
Swimmers do not have to transfer once they’ve entered the portal, and we have seen several high profile cases in swimming where they do not.
NCAA Swimming & Diving Transfer Portal Dates
- Women – March 11 to April 24
- Men – March 18 to May 2
The Transfer Portal and the wild new west of NIL have led to a dramatic increase in transfers across collegiate sports.
While overall transfer portal entries for swimming & diving have not exploded the way they have in football and men’s basketball, where teams have had to rebuild entire rosters in an offseason, the attention on transfers and the transfer portal nationally have focused eyes upon it. In the 2024 offseason, only 170 women’s D1 swimmers & divers entered the transfer portal and wound up at another school. 52 of those were graduate transfers (which were higher during the era of the ‘5th year’). That was fewer than either of the two seasons before.
The men’s side was flat in 2024, the last season for which data is readily available. 81 undergrads and 31 graduates wound up transferring that year, the same total number (71/41) as 2023.
Swimmers or divers who wish to be eligible to compete in NCAA Division I athletics next season must be in the portal by the date it closes, but do not have to decide on their transfer by then.
The three main exceptions to the window are:
- If a program is cut (lots of Cal Baptist swimmers are already in)
- Graduate transfers can generally enter whenever they want
- If a head coaching change is made (the portal reopens for 15 days, starting five days after the new head coach is announced) – New timeline for 2026
These rules apply only to the NCAA Division I Transfer Portal.
Good luck to anyone hoping to transfer to get a better NIL deal. You can upgrade to a cup of coffee to go along with that 10 cent paycheck.
I have word on 1 POTENTIAL huge transfer but apparently contingent on NCs
we’re mostly anonymous on here. throw the name out. don’t tease us
😂
so do I!!!! Who do you got?
ACC freestyler
Just say it bro
Oh boy I wonder who it could possibly be
Georgia can take L. Ficken back.
If I am not mistaken, she was at Auburn, not UGA
What a terrible thing to say
i HOPE this rumor is not referring to Claire
She’s not a freestyler and in what world would she leave UVA lol
Probably referring to Weinstein. Curzan ain’t leaving UVA
C. Claire is not leaving the University of Virginia. Nor is S. Curtis, C. Gormsen, B. Hartmann, M. Mintenko, A. Moesch. I doubt N. Jazy or M. Nwakalor would leave especially since B. Greenwaldt is a grad student.
Bruh.
None of the top freestylers are leaving the University of Virginia.
Oh this is interesting … most of the ACC sprinters have had pretty great years, it’s hard to see any of those really big names unhappy.
I guess Weinstein might be the biggest-name ACC freestyler who hasn’t necessarily lived up to potential, but she hasn’t had a bad year, none of the Sandpiper girls have had amazing freshman years, and Cal in general has a ton of momentum. Depending on her priorities, I could see Texas, Michigan, or maybe even UVA looking like attractive opportunities – and I’m certain all of those coaches would be thrilled to have her.
I’ll be surprised if she leaves Cal, at least this year. Seeing her Pro Series Interview from January, she seems like she she’s liking it there. We’ll see after next week though
C. Weinstein to Stanford University. It looks better on the resume.
Weinstein or Williamson??
I’m not buying what you’re selling. Try the SEC instead.
We can expect another article on March 18.
Any guesses on transfers?
Depending on how NCs goes, wouldn’t be entirely shocked to see Williamson in
you dang Texas fans…
Says you lol
Or maybe Williamson goes somewhere else, who knows
*insert SMU joke here*
12 swimmers on the roster with 2 graduating, it’s been hovering around that number for 3 seasons now. Used to be over 30 when Steve was the coach.
A. Bottazzo to Virginia. Florida is a sinking ship.
I would love that but floridas been working for her I thought?
It’s not the athlete but the program that is the problem. If B. Sims can depart Gainesville, FL; anyone can.
She’s not going anywhere. You just want her because you don’t have an impact breaststroker for your relays. Florida was projected to finish well outside of the top 10 this year with graduation losses and transfers, but they’re actually doing fantastic. They could definitely use a sprint freestyler though.
Uhnnn besides the Olympian Emma Weber (IDK is 57.7 impact?) they’re bringing in the double European Junior Champ Smilte Plytnykaite from Lithuania for the fall.
A. Canny, Z. Skirboll, E. Weber gone. Anyone else with potential currently on the roster is swimming the 200 BR not the 100 BR.
Smilte looks more like a project to me, which ended up to be the case with Lana Pudar in the butterfly events. T. DeSorbo needs to bring in someone proven in the women’s sprint breaststroke events (50/100 BR).
Fantastic is not finishing out of the Top 10 at the 2026 NCAA DI Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships.
L. Nesty and E. Gemmell to Florida. Lillie to save her father (the women’s program is a sinking ship). Erin to train with her idol.
so Bottazzo leaves UF because it’s a “sinking ship” but Nesty and Gemmell go to Florida?
In the case of Lillie, family comes first.
Bottazzo is swimming well at Florida.
And yes I know you hate Texas I doubt those two are transferring
A. Bottazzo is not winning any team titles at Florida let alone sniffing the NCAA title with the Gators.
I’m pretty sure Anthony wanted his daughter to go swim somewhere else so I don’t think that’s happening
Anthony needs Lillie to bail water. The ship is taking on too much water.
Lillie Nesty has improved significantly while at Texas. Sorry that doesn’t fit your narrative.
I’ll be curious if Raya Mellot stays at UVA. Big name out of high school, didn’t have a stellar season, and moved across the country.
Big name after her junior season not senior season in high school.
Can you all remember that most swimmers read these comments? These are young kids who have dedicated their lives to this sport. You have no idea what she or anyone else may be going thru.
I agree with you. Going into the portal is often a hard and stressful time for athletes, having negative comments made about them isn’t appropriate or helpful. These aren’t professional athletes looking to make a lot of money, they’re just kids looking for a place to reach their potential before they hang up their goggles. Different programs work for different people, and most of them leave with gratitude and respect for the people who have worked with them.
And for those that will read this article and scream “what about the non-D1 athletes? Why does SwimSwam only care about D1?” – there are no specific windows to enter the portal for D2 and D3, thus why this article is specific to D1.
Either way lol
Any update on swimmers who have entered the portal ?
Working on tracking down a list. No big names yet that I’ve been told of.
it could also be interesting to track any notable mid major or d2/3 names. 2 of uvas transfers last season came from that pool
One is likely the favorite at D3 nationals next week too.
I know every other team started in September, but I guess March is a great time for Desorbo to kick off his recruiting season for women.
A J. Nocentini redux is the top priority. The University of Virginia women’s swimming program needs sprint breaststrokers for next season.
It would be interesting to see an article on what schools have done the best with transfers over the last few years. Certain schools like South Carolina did well with a few transfers (Gormley, Agliano, Kolesar, Curry etc…) during Poppell’s term…and which coaches have struggled to keep swimmers in their programs. Probably help some of the portal swimmers make good decisions.
Some of the second part is baked into Swimulator data. I’ll ruminate and see if there’s a good way to present any of it.
Got the list so far. No headlines. Lots of back-of-the-roster swimmers from Power 4s. A few mid-major A-finalists. Kamila Swidnicka, a Polish swimmer who would have been a big add for Akron, is in. Julia Strojnowska from Auburn, a Canadian Junior National Teamer.
Auburn seems to have trouble keeping swimmers right now…that’s a big loss from one of their top recruits two years ago.
Look at their coach and that answers any questions as to why they can’t hold onto any of them
What’s wrong either Wochomurka?
I was thinking the same thing!
with not either
Wow I wonder who swimPhan is
They only have one in the portal right now, last year they made cuts just like every other program. Your comment doesn’t make sense
Yeah I’ve heard from people there’s a ton of pressure on their swimmers to drop time.
Ex: for the men, if you don’t have an NCAA A cut, you’re out.
There are no NCAA A cuts anymore…and if this were true, I’m not sure they’d have more than 1-2 swimmers left on the roster, so….?
Time wise and scoring not really a big loss for Auburn, she didn’t even qualify for NCAAs