SwimSwam Pulse is a recurring feature tracking and analyzing the results of our periodic A3 Performance Polls. You can cast your vote in our newest poll on the SwimSwam homepage, about halfway down the page on the right side.
Our most recent poll asked SwimSwam readers if the best teams in the NCAA are becoming too dominant:
Question: Do you wish there was more parity in college swimming?
RESULTS
- Indifferent – I just want to see fast swimming – 47.3%
- Yes – it’s not as exciting when one or two teams are dominant – 40.3%
- No – dynasties are good for the sport – 12.5%
We’re only a few weeks into the 2024-25 college swimming season, but it’s already a foregone conclusion that the Virginia Cavaliers are going to win their fifth straight Women’s NCAA title.
Adding to last year’s powerhouse team is Olympic medalist and multi-time world champion Claire Curzan, and then last week, we learned that another Olympic medalist, Katie Grimes, would be joining the squad.
The Texas women have been the runner-ups for three straight seasons, and just like UVA winning, nearly everyone expects them to finish in that position again come March.
On the men’s side, it’s long been a back-and-forth battle with Cal and Texas, as since 2010, only two other teams have won the national title: Michigan in 2013, and then Arizona State last season.
With the break-up of ASU’s championship-winning team in the wake of Bob Bowman‘s departure to Texas, along with the rise of Florida and Indiana, the battle on the men’s side figures to be one of the most exciting and unpredictable in recent memory this season. However, given the lineup of talent that’s followed Bowman to Austin, it seems imminent that the Longhorns will become a powerhouse once again in short order.
Given the continued dominance of the Virginia women, and the addition of Grimes signaling that won’t be ending anytime soon, we asked SwimSwam readers how they felt about a select few teams towering over the competition in college swimming.
The results tell us that the idea that “dynasties are good for the sport” doesn’t hold true here, as over 87% of people are either against the lack of parity or indifferent to it.
The leading option was indifference, with over 47% of people saying they don’t necessarily care if the team race isn’t exciting, they’re just interested in seeing fast swimming.
Even though Virginia has been winning NCAA titles by a landslide in recent years, there’s been no shortage of electric performances from the likes of Gretchen Walsh, Alex Walsh and the now-graduated Kate Douglass, and that promises to continue with Curzan and Grimes.
For the men, the team races have been more exciting of late, but the performances from the likes of Leon Marchand and other stars have been the main attraction of the meet.
Just over 40% of votes said they wished there was more parity in NCAA swimming, and that things aren’t as exciting when a couple of teams are dominant.
At the 2024 Women’s Big Ten Championships, Indiana edged out Ohio State by half a point to win the title—imagine the fireworks if we saw that at NCAAs?
At the same time, college swimming isn’t a professional sport—there’s no salary cap, and the playing field isn’t level across the board. Programs are rewarded for success, development, active recruiting, etc., and a team like Virginia has set the standard that has distanced itself from the rest of the pack.
Although the Cavalier men’s team is nowhere near the same level, the success of their women’s program has led to several game-changing commitments on the men’s side recently, most notably Thomas Heilman and Maximus Williamson.
UVA is now the gold standard and is reaping the rewards, as they should. It just means the race for NCAA titles, at least for the women, doesn’t project to be close any time soon.
Below, vote in our new A3 Performance Poll, which asks: Which SC Worlds appearance are you anticipating the most?
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The A3 Performance Poll is courtesy of A3 Performance, a SwimSwam partner.
For the University of Virginia women’s swimming & diving program, it’s the ascent to 610 team points.
I took great pleasure watching the University of Texas women’s swimming program speared by the trident (K. Douglass, A. Walsh, G. Walsh).
The mediation of craft with craft fair
One brings a sense of accomplishment
The other brings an unbounding appetite
One is burdened with purpose
The other is burdened with need
One that seeks to know the limit
The other is frightened by it
And we wouldn’t know this unless someone thought to ask these questions.
Bro thinks he’s Zippo
How about Indiana University Men?
NCAA Champions 1968 to 1973?
(NOT to forget almost 7 in a row,
but, USC won 339 to 338 in 1974)
Indifferent to the Dynasty on not in NCAA Swimming here. Although some future factors might have great effect on how it plays.
Roster limits, Schools dropping Swimming, NIL and increased cost of doing business will mitigate the playing field. These elements will in all likelihood compress the top 5-10 teams and make for a very competitive NCAA meet. Just my opinion. It will be what it will be – People are funnier than anybody.
College swimming is for competitive rivalry. UVA is an ultra-pro team
Fast swims are great and that’s what we all look for and get excited about. I personally think it would be nice to spread some of those fast swims out across more teams. IMO, there nothing more exciting than a meet being decided by the 400 free relay.
I’m not sure what the swimming equivalent would be to a Cinderella run to the Sweet 16 or Final Four would be, but I would like to find out and see it. In NCAA basketball, at the beginning of the season, every team has a shot at winning it all, and that’s cool.
Great thing about swimming is that as much as people love cheering for teams, it’s still really just an individual sport (except for relays of course). I have my favorites but besides that, fast swimming is fast swimming no matter who its from
I do like it when relays can throw down ridiculously fast times like the UVA sprints, Australian freestyle relays, US medley relays etc so I guess in that sense, having a dynasty is a plus