Women’s Recruiting Class Rankings Revisited: Top 12 Schools For 2016-2019

Every summer, we rank down the top recruiting classes snagged by each team. But what do those rankings look like four years later, when each swimmer has had an opportunity to complete a full NCAA career of competing and scoring?

We’ve already looked back at our top 20 individual athletes in the high school graduating class of 2015, ranked when they were high school juniors in the summer of 2014. Now it’s time to look back at our team-by-team recruiting class rankings to see which teams got most from their recruiting hauls.

• Revisiting Recruiting Ranks: Top 20 Athletes From High School Class of 2015

Back in July of 2015, we ranked out the top 12 recruiting classes nationwide. You can look back on our ranks here:

• #9-#12
• #5-#8
• #1-#4

We’ve republished each of the 12 classes below, verbatim from how they were listed in our 2015 post. Then we tracked down some stats on each class, plus a short analysis of each class along with any extra swimmers who wound up being part of the class.

Bear in mind that international swimmers throw a wrinkle into this sort of analysis, given the difficulty in projecting ahead of time when an international recruit will join an NCAA program and officially start their eligibility.

Note: The ‘number of NCAA Scorers’ section refers only to individual scorers, and only among athletes included in our original recruiting class rankings. Late additions to the classes are noted when we can find them.

#12 Indiana Hoosiers

Top-tier additions: #9 Lilly King, Miranda Tucker, Christine Jensen
The rest: Allison Cunningham, Hannah Sakaluk, Laura Morley, Mackenzie Atencio, Shelly Drozda

• NCAA finishes over 4 years: #7, #8, #8, #9
• Number of NCAA scorers in class: 4/8 (plus transfer Bailey Andison)

King was a massive scorer, finishing fourth in the entire class in individual scoring. Tucker was only with Indiana for a year, but she had her best-scoring season there, putting up 33 as a freshman. Jensen and Morley both scored as seniors. On the other hand, three of the seven dropped off the roster by this class’s senior year.

Andison transferred in as a senior and scored 24 points this year.

#11 Georgia Bulldogs

Top Tier Additions: Shauna Lee, Sam Fazio, Caitlin Casazza
The rest: n/a

• NCAA finishes over 4 years: #1, #4, #11, #18
• Number of NCAA scorers in class: 0/3

This class was small coming in, and wound up never scoring individually for the Bulldogs, who slipped from national champions in their freshman year to barely inside the top 20 last year. Fazio transferred out to Arizona State. Casazza (and diver Allison Lee) were the only two seniors on the roster this season.

#10 Virginia Cavaliers

Top-tier additions: #16 Megan Moroney, Kasey Schmidt, Eryn Eddy, Vivian Tafuto
The rest: Peyton Baldwin, Rachel Politi

• NCAA finishes over 4 years: #5, #12, #9, #6
• Number of NCAA scorers in class: 1/6

Moroney was the only individual scorer in the class, but put up 44 career points by herself, including one redshirt season. Eddy was a multi-time NCAA scorer on relays, and Tafuto also scored on a relay. Despite going through a coaching change during their collegiate careers, five of these six remained on the roster as seniors – only Schmidt transferred out to Hawaii after her freshman year.

#9 Minnesota Golden Gophers

Top-tier additions: Rachel Munson, Zoe Avestruz, Erin Emery, Kaia Grobe
The rest: Chantal Nack, Danielle Bergeson, Elisa Burgstahler, Erin Buck, Katelyn Sauder, Lauren Lalumiere, Maggie Werba, Nicki Ciavarella, Olivia Johnston

• NCAA finishes over 4 years: #16, #10, #10, #11
• Number of NCAA scorers in class: 2/13

This was a huge class, that mostly stayed intact – 10 of the 13 are still on the roster as of their senior year. Nack became one of the NCAA’s breakout swimmers in her senior year, scoring 21.5 points with a massive improvement curve. Munson also scored in her senior year. Avestruz was a staple of the Gopher relays all four years of her career. The rest were more conference-level contributors.

#8 UCLA Bruins

Top-tier additions: #15 Caroline McTaggart, Emma Schanz, Mary Pelton, Sandra Soe,
The rest: Alex Hubel, Elena Escalas, Sabrina Kwok

• NCAA finishes over 4 years: #17, #20, #26, #17
• Number of NCAA scorers in class: 0/7

McTaggart looked like a star in the making early on, blasting a best time in her very first NCAA dual meet in 2015. But injuries and surgeries have waylaid her since then, and she no longer appears on the Bruin roster. Schanz broke a school record and Soe was an NCAA relay scorer, but none broke through to score individually. Four of these seven remain on the roster. Pelton transferred out to Virginia and swam two seasons there.

#7 Michigan Wolverines

Top-tier additions: Siobhan Haughey, Becca Postoll, Astrid Swensen, Jamie Yeung
The rest: Katie Duggan, Catie Deloof

• NCAA finishes over 4 years: #10, #11, #4, #3
• Number of NCAA scorers in class: 3/6 (plus Rose Bi)

This was a great class for Michigan, and the catalyst for their rise into the top 4 at NCAAs the past two seasons. Haughey was one of the top individual scorers in the entire class with 126 individual points. Bi scored 95, including 45 in her senior year. Deloof rose up to score in her senior year, as did Yeung. Five of the six originally listed remained on the roster their senior years, and this class even grew, getting Bi and high-profile transfer Taylor Garcia from Arizona.

#6 Auburn Tigers

Top-tier additions: #11: Aly Tetzloff, Bailey Nero, Erin Falconer, Shannon McKernan
The rest: Katie Money, Michelle Turek

• NCAA finishes over 4 years: #33, #18, #16, #12
• Number of NCAA scorers in class: 3/6

As advertised, Tetzloff was a great relay swimmer and individual scorer in her final two seasons. Falconer and Nero also scored individually. Five of the six remain on the roster, and Auburn saw a serious uptick in NCAA finishes, even with a coaching change heading into this group’s senior year.

#5 Stanford Cardinal

Top-Tier Additions: #6 Ella Eastin, #19 Leah Stevens, Kim Williams, Kaitlyn Albertoli
The rest: n/a
Not included: Katie Ledecky (deferral)

• NCAA finishes over 4 years: #2, #1, #1, #1
• Number of NCAA scorers in class: 4/5

We bumped this class down quite a bit when Ledecky deferred her enrollment, but even without her, this group was pretty stacked. Eastin was the top individual scorer in the entire class with 228 career points. Ledecky scored 115.5 in just two seasons, and Stevens (50) and Williams (7) also played key roles in three consecutive NCAA titles.

#4 Texas Longhorns

Top-Tier Additions: #7 Quinn Carrozza, #10 Nora McCullagh, Remedy Rule, Olivia Anderson, Joanna Evans,
The rest: Alyssa Cook, Anelise Diener, Brooke Hansen

• NCAA finishes over 4 years: #15, #5, #6, #5
• Number of NCAA scorers in class: 2/8 (plus divers Meghan O’Brien and Sofia Rauzi)

Texas had only two of these swimming recruits score, but this class had a bigger impact than that. Rule was set to score in the double digits before a controversial DQ out of finals in 2017. Diener, Rule and Hansen were both key relay pieces over their four years, and McCullagh also scored as part of a relay. Anderson was maybe better as a long course swimmer, making semifinals twice at 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials.

#3 Arizona Wildcats

Top-Tier Additions: #8 Taylor Garcia, #13 Katrina Konopka, #17 Daniela Georges, Annie Ochitwa, Sam Senczyszyn, Ashley Sutherland
The rest: Emma McCarthy, Karli Thuen, McKenzie Rumrill, Sarah Shimomura, Ali Powell

• NCAA finishes over 4 years: #12, #16, #20, #14
• Number of NCAA scorers in class: 2/11

This class broke up in a hurry. Garcia transferred to Michigan. Ochitwa transferred to Missouri. Senczyszyn transferred to Division III Wisconsin – Eau Claire. Konopka did score in two NCAA meets, but only for a total of 5.5 points. Rumrill also developed well and scored as a senior.

#2 USC Trojans

Top-Tier Additions: #14 Riley Scott, #18 Sydney Lofquist, #20 Madison Wright, Anika Apostalon (transfer), Allie Wooden, Hanni Leach, Kirsten Vose, Tamara Santoyo, Victoria Toris
The rest: Destiny Nelson, Elizabeth Stinson, Katie Christy, Olivia Ontjes, Lily Dubroff

• NCAA finishes over 4 years: #6, #9, #12, #10
• Number of NCAA scorers in class: 5/14

This was a good class, and not the reason USC slid backwards over four years. Scott scored in three of her four collegiate years. Vose was a 27-point machine as a freshman, and though she wasn’t great in either of her next three seasons, she redshirted one and still has a year to go. Wright was the best scorer (so far), putting up 40 points over her final three seasons. Stinson also scored four as a freshman. Apostalon was a scorer in both her seasons as a Trojan after transferring in from San Diego State. Lofquist transferred out to Wisconsin but never wound up scoring. 12 of the 14 remained on the roster by their senior years – only Lofquist and Nelson didn’t finish out their careers at USC.

#1 Cal Golden Bears

Top-Tier Additions: #3 Kathleen Baker, #4 Katie McLaughlin, #5 Amy Bilquist, Jennifer Campbell, Phoebe Lamay (diving), Valerie Hull (transfer – Auburn)
Not included: #2 Abbey Weitzeil (deferral)

• NCAA finishes over 4 years: #3, #2, #2, #2
• Number of NCAA scorers in class: 5/7

Baker, Bilquist, McLaughlin and Weitzeil combined for 462 individual points over a combined 14 seasons. Weitzeil still has one season to go after a senior year deferral, and Baker left college a year early to turn pro. This was the top-scoring group at NCAAs by a pretty solid margin over Stanford, and Cal finished inside the top 3 in all four seasons with this class.

Re-Ranking the Classes

Certainly individual points don’t encapsulate everything a recruiting class brings to a program over four years. But they are the easiest way to rank the classes against each other four years later. Here’s a look at all the classes represented, ranked by individual points from all swimmers in this graduating class:

And our new top 12, purely in terms of individual NCAA points:

The far left column tracks each swimmer’s final rank within the class. The next column tracks their individual ranking in our top 20 recruits post. HM means “honorable mention.” UNR means “unranked” and INTL means “international”, as we don’t rank international swimmers in our top 20 post.

In the case of transfers, we’ve only awarded points to the school that the athlete earned while at that school – so a swimmer who transferred after two years will have their first two year’s worth of point totals count for their original school and their next two years for their second school.

#1 Cal

#2 Stanford

#3 Michigan

#4 Indiana

#5 Texas A&M

#6 Louisville

#7 USC

#8 Auburn

#9 Penn State

#10 South Carolina

#11 Denver

#12 Virginia

More recruiting rank analysis:

Women’s:

• Revisiting recruiting ranks: High school class of 2015
• Revisiting recruiting ranks: High school class of 2018
• All recruits, Classes of 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 (coming soon)

Men’s:

• Revisiting recruiting ranks: High school class of 2015 (coming soon)
• Re-Ranking the recruiting classes: Collegiate class of 2016-2019 (coming soon)
• Revisiting recruiting ranks: High school class of 2018 (coming soon)
• All recruits, Classes of 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 (coming soon)