Ranking the 2024 Men’s Recruiting Classes: #1-4

At last, here we are: we’ve reached the top four men’s NCAA Division I recruiting classes for the class of 2024. Two strong transfer classes are exerting their influence and pushing their programs up the standings, but those schools also have solid crews of freshmen starting this fall too.

If you missed any of our earlier rankings, you can check them out below.

See Also:

• Men’s 2024 Recruiting Classes Rankings: #5-8
• Men’s 2024 Recruiting Class Rankings: #9-12
• Men’s 2024 Recruiting Class Rankings: #13-16
• Men’s 2024 Recruiting Class Rankings: Honorable Mentions
• Individual Recruit Rankings: Boys Final Rankings

First, some important notes:

• The rankings listed are based on our Class of 2024 Re-Rank. “HM” refers to our honorable mentions and “BOTR” refers to our Best of the Rest section for top-tier recruits.
• Like most of our rankings, these placements are subjective. We base our team ranks on several factors: prospects’ incoming times are by far the main factor, but we also consider potential upside in the class, class size, relay impact, and team needs. Greater weight is placed on known success in short course yards, so foreign swimmers are slightly devalued based on the difficulty in converting long course times to short course production.
• Transfers are included, though they are weighed less than recruits who arrive with four seasons of eligibility.
• For the full list of all verbally committed athletes, click here. A big thank you to SwimSwam’s own Anne Lepesant for compiling that index – without it, rankings like these would be far less comprehensive.
• Some teams had not released a finalized 2024-25 team roster at the time these articles were published, meaning it’s possible we missed some names. Let us know in the comments below.

#4 Virginia Cavaliers

• Top-Tier additions:#6 Spencer Nicholas (TN – fly/back/sprint free), #8 David King (VA – back/free/IM), BOTR Dillon Wright (NC – free/IM)
• “The Rest”: Harry Belcher (VA – IM/free), Mitch Brown (MI – diving), Liam Miller (VA – diving), Nick Wanzer (VA – diving)

This is the smallest recruiting class we’ve got in our top four, and Virginia’s star-studded recruiting class is still a year away from setting foot on campus, but this group kickstarts the Cavaliers’ momentum. Adding Spencer Nicholas and David King, two top 10 recruits, goes a long way toward filling in the gaps and helping the Cavaliers reverse course after dropping to 17th at 2024 NCAAs.

Nicholas earned his #6 ranking by being an all-around strong sprinter. He holds lifetime bests of 19.66/43.37 in the 50/100 freestyle, which makes his arrival on campus timely as Virginia graduated their top 50 freestylers from last season, Matt Brownstead and August Lamb. But what makes him stand out is his 45.08 100 butterfly, which is the best in his class and .06 seconds outside of NCAA scoring range in an event Virginia earned zero points in last season. It also likely gives the team a 44-point fly leg on their 400 medley relay, which they’ve been without the last few seasons. Nicholas’ lifetime bests make him a key piece for Virginia in his individual and relay events.

King brings another “best in class” event to the Virginia roster with a 1:40.52 200 backstroke, an NCAA qualification-worthy time. That would’ve topped the 2023-24 roster in the event, though Jack Aikins returns to the NCAA roster with a 1:39.26 personal best. In addition to his 46.76/1:40.52 backstroke bests King also brings distance freestyle prowess to the team with 4:17.02/15:02.76 bests in the 500/1650 free, Both of those times would’ve been the fastest on last year’s roster, meaning that like Nicholas, King instantly strengthens disciplines where UVA does not have a lot of depth. The team also gets help in distance freestyle with the arrival of Sandpipers’ Dillon Wright. He owns lifetime bests of 4:21.94/15:06.66 in the 500/1650 freestyle and 3:48.09 in the 400 IM, all of which would’ve scored at the 2024 ACCs.

Harry Belcher adds his strength in the freestyle and IM groups, rounding out the incoming swimming recruits. Then, they’ve added three new divers to the men’s roster. Last March, Lizzy Kaye earned the school’s first diving All-American and HM All-American honors for the women’s team. It seems Virginia is now looking to replicate that success with their men—another tactic to help them climb up the national rankings ahead of their 2025 recruiting class. Once they arrive on campus, the attention will turn towards not just climbing the NCAA standings but being at the top.

#3 Harvard Crimson

• Top-Tier additions: #4 Adriano Arioti (MD – back/fly/IM), #16 Joshua Chen (IA – breast), 2023 HM Marre Gattnar (CA -free/back/fly), BOTR Evan Crowley (TX – free/back), Apostolos Siskos (Greece – back/fly)
• “The Rest”: Aykut Mert Iravul (Turkey – fly/IM), Eric Lee (NJ – IM/back), Richard Poplawski (NJ – IM/fly), Will Sullivan (NC – diving)

Harvard’s won the Men’s Ivy League championship seven straight times and even as the rest of the Ivy League’s rosters get deeper, so does Harvard’s. And not just in comparison to the rest of the Ivy League, the Crimson have brought in one of the best first-year classes in the entire division.

Olympic 200 backstroke semifinalist Apostolos Siskos joins the backstroke group (1:55.42 PB); he’s never swum yards but has seen massive improvements this year in the big pool, making him an even more attractive recruit for the Crimson than he was when he first committed. They’ve brought in #4 Adriano Arioti, a versatile backstroke/butterfly/IM swimmer went undefeated during his senior high school season. He would have been top of the Harvard roster in two events last season: 200 backstroke (1:40.55) and 400 IM (3:49.49). He would’ve ranked 2nd in the 200 IM (1:43.58) and third in both the 100 back (46.97) and 200 fly (1:42.94). Arioti a

#16 Joshua Chen won gold at the 2023 World Junior Championship and has shown he can also perform in yards. He owns lifetime bests of 52.59/1:53.71 in the breaststroke events, which would’ve made him the top Harvard performer in both events last season.

Chen and BOTR Evan Crowley are the two big specialists in this class as Arioti, Siskos, HM Marre Gattnar, Mert Iravul, Eric Lee, and Richard Poplawski can all cross into multiple disciplines. Gattnar, who took a gap year during the 2023-24 season, arrives on campus with a lifetime best 19.53 50 freestyle, which would’ve won the 2024 Ivy League Championship ahead of Harvard’s own Sonny Wang, giving the Crimson a solid 1-2 sprinting punch. He can also put up 43.06 in the 100 free, 1:35.60 in the 200 free, 46.95 in the 100 back, and 47.08 in the 100 fly. Then there’s Crowley, who is bringing bests of 19.8/43.2 to the sprint group.

Turkey’s Aykut Mert Iravul adds speed to the fly and IM groups. Meanwhile, club teammates Eric Lee and Richard Poplawski swim IM and can branch out into 200s of stroke, with Lee more focused on backstroke and Poplawski on butterfly.

It’s been a couple of seasons since we’ve seen Harvard make a real impact on the national level but with this class arriving in Cambridge, the day they’re back doing just that will come sooner rather than later.

#2 Indiana Hoosiers

• Top-Tier additions: #20 Cooper McDonald (GA – distance free), Owen McDonald (Arizona State transfer – IM/back), Matt King (Virginia transfer – sprint free), Brian Benzing (Towson transfer – breast), Zalan Sarkany (Arizona State transfer – distance free), Miroslav Knedla (Czechia – back)
• “The Rest”: Saadeddin Saadeddin (NJ – distance free), Raekwon Noel (NJ/Guyana – free/IM), Alexei Avakov (MA – breast), Ian Everett (MO – sprint free), Wilson Tuttle (NC – free/IM)

The transfers are the big story in Bloomington, as the Hoosiers have amassed one of the strongest transfer crews that we’ve seen. U.S. Olympian Matt King is on campus at Indiana after stops at Alabama, Virginia, and an Olympic redshirt season. He’s a drop-dead sprinter with 18.96/41.34 bests, that would’ve scored at 2024 NCAAs. King hasn’t raced at NCAAs since 2022, where he scored 17 points but once again focusing on short course yards, he’ll be an asset to Indiana’s relays as well as an individual point scorer. Owen McDonald scored 46 points at 2024 NCAAs, the third-most on the ASU roster. He’s made three ‘A’ finals at the meet and swam lifetime bests in each event (44.25 100 back/1:36.63 200 back/1:39.23 200 IM). He helps offset the loss of three-time NCAA champion Brendan Burns in the backstrokes and brings new speed to Indiana’s IM crew as their fastest 200 IMer was 10th last year, while McDonald was second.

But we’re not done with their transfers, as McDonald’s Sun Devil teammate Zalan Sarkany joins the roster. Sarkany, the 2024 NCAA champion in the 1650 free, was a late addition to the squad. Indiana didn’t score in the event last year, so even though it’s far and away his best event, he’s still adding points for Indiana, which was only two points out of third place last season. Finally, mid-major standout Brian Benzing transferred to Indiana from Towson for his fifth year of eligibility. After finishing 3rd in the 100 breast last season, Benzing brings speed to an already deep breaststroke core —a discipline where Indiana historically shines.

Outside of their impressive transfer class, their 2024-25 additions are highlighted by Paris Olympics semifinals Miroslav Knedla. Knedla finished 12th in the 100 backstroke in Paris, about two-tenths off his 53.28 best. He’s new to yards swimming, but like McDonald, he will shore up a backstroke group that’s graduated their lone 100 backstroke NCAA scorer. They’ve added 10x Guyanese national record holder Raekwon Noel, now based out of New Jersey, who brings depth to the distance free and 200 fly/back groups.

Domestically, this is a quieter recruiting class as they only snagged one swimmer from our re-ranks, #20 Cooper McDonald, Owen’s younger brother. While his brother is an IM/backstroke specialist, the younger McDonald is focused on distance freestyle (1:34.82/4:17.99/15:14.31). Saadeddin Saadeddin is another first-year distance specialist (4:24.81/15:18.62), giving the Hoosiers even more depth in the discipline. Alexei Avakov helps round out the breaststroke group, Wilson Tuttle brings more free/IM speed, and Ian Everett brings his talents to the sprint group.

This is a smaller freshman recruiting class and while talented, they likely wouldn’t rank so high if it weren’t for the star power they bring in from their transfers. But that power is too hard to ignore. In addition to their undergraduates, Indiana has a core of returning fifth-years that, combined with these transfers, make it clear that this is a team built to win now.

#1 Texas Longhorns

• Top-Tier additions: #2 Cooper Lucas (TX – free/fly/IM), #11 Kyle Peck (VA – free/back), HM Landon D’Ariano (PA – fly/IM), BOTR Garrett Gould (NJ – free/back/fly), BOTR Jeremy Kelly (TX – free/IM), Hubert Kos (Arizona State transfer – back/IM), Aaron Shackell (Cal transfer – free), Rex Maurer (Stanford transfer – back/free/IM), Michael Cotter (NC State transfer – free/IM), Ben Sampson (Colorado Mesa transfer – back/IM)
• “The Rest”: Max Hatcher (TX – free), Tyler Quarterman (ID – back/IM), Luke Stibrich (TX – IM), Luke Forester (MA – diving), Jacob Welsh (CA – diving)

Indiana’s transfer class is rivaled only by Texas’ transfer contingent. Reigning Olympic 200 back champion Hubert Kos, U.S. Paris Olympian Aaron Shackell, 2023’s top recruit Rex Maurer, multi-time DII champion Ben Sampson, and 2022 #3 recruit Michael Cotter arrive at the Forty Acres and provide an instant jolt to the Texas revitalization effort. Individual NCAA ‘A’ final potential in multiple events and relay splits that will bring Texas back to national relevancy in more than the 800 freestyle relay, this group brings a wealth of experience to Austin.

There’s certainly an argument to be had about which transfer class will make more of an impact for their program, Indiana or Texas, but we’ve gone with Texas. By our rules, remaining eligibility is a major consideration in these rankings and the Texas transfers have a higher remaining average eligibility than the Hoosier crew. That’s mainly thanks to the additions of Maurer and Shackell and their arrival gives Texas the first, second, fifth, and sixth-ranked recruits from the high school class of 2023.

They’ve gained all that strength and we haven’t even gotten to their first years yet. That part of their recruiting class is also deep. They’ve added in-state recruit #2 Cooper Lucas, a Swiss army knife swimmer with the fastest 400 IM time in his high school class with an NCAA-scoring worthy 3:41.15. Lucas’ skill in IM, mid-distance free, and butterfly makes him seem like the ideal recruit to take massive strides under Bob Bowman. #11 Kyle Peck is just off earning an NCAA invite with 45.68/1:42.71 bests in the 100/200 backstroke and 19.74/43.66 in the 50/100 freestyle.

The Longhorns also added HM Landon D’Ariano (1:45.05 200 fly/3:44.36 400 IM), BOTR Garrett Gould (19.92 50 free/43.55 100 free), BOTR Jeremy Kelly (20.02 50 free/43.67 100 free), Max Hatcher (4:21.55 500 free/15:04.80 1650 free), Tyler Quarterman (1:44.73 200 back), and Luke Stibrich (4:24.34 500 free/3:47.68 400 IM).

The Bowman era in Texas is beginning this season and there’s enough talent left on the roster from last season that, combined with the influx of experienced transfers coming to Austin, the freshmen aren’t in a position where they need to make an immediate impact—there are only so many championship roster spots, after all. Some of them could progress enough this season that it’s impossible to leave them home when SECs and NCAAs come around. But this is a deep recruiting class—transfers and freshmen—able to add value right now and make an impact for the next few seasons, not just this one.