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 polls asked SwimSwam readers which college team outperformed expectations the most this past season:
Question: Which team exceeded expectations the most in the 2024-25 NCAA season?
RESULTS
- Stanford women – 56.6%
- Georgia men – 9.6%
- Texas men – 9.3%
- Indiana women – 7.1%
- Cal men – 6.8%
- ASU men – 5.4%
- Michigan women – 3.0%
- Cal women – 1.3%
- Other – 0.9%
The vast majority of people were predicting the top two teams at the 2025 Women’s NCAA Championships to be the same as they had been the previous three seasons: Virginia and Texas.
However, Stanford kicked the meet off in dynamite fashion, following up a runner-up finish to the Cavaliers in the 200 medley relay with a dominant victory in the 800 free relay, which set them up for a run at the #2 position that Texas had held since 2022.
The Cardinal maintained 2nd place in the team race throughout the majority of the meet. Texas pulled within four points after the 400 medley relay on Friday night, and briefly pulled ahead of Stanford after the 1650 free, but the Cardinal reclaimed 2nd after the 100 free on the final night and never looked back, scoring 417 points compared to Texas’ 394 in 3rd.
In our latest poll, we asked SwimSwam readers which team outperformed expectations the most during the 2024-25 season, and the Stanford women were the clear top pick with 56.6% of votes.
Led by coach Greg Meehan, who on Friday, was announced as USA Swimming’s new National Team Director, Stanford had several swimmers hit multiple personal best times en route to their runner-up finish, outscoring their projection point total based on the psych sheets by 82 points.
In addition to the relay prowess, where the Cardinal scored 160 points highlighted by that 800 free relay title, they had four swimmers score 40 or more individual points, led by Torri Huske, who returned from a redshirt season to score 54 points, winning the 200 IM title to boot.
Caroline Bricker was a standout in her sophomore year, scoring 50 points including a surprise win in the 400 IM, and Lucy Bell put up 49 points, winning the 200 breast title along the way.
Their other big point scorer was senior Aurora Roghair, who recently announced her retirement after placing 2nd in the 500 free, 1650 free and 11th in the 200 free for 40 points in her final NCAAs.
It’s fair to say that the Stanford women didn’t get an “overwhelming majority” of the votes in the poll—there were still 43.4% of people who didn’t pick them, but those votes were spread out across seven other teams (and the ‘other’ option).
The top choice behind Stanford was the Georgia men, which landed a 7th-place finish after they were picked to place 9th in the final edition of the SwimSwam Power Rankings.
The Bulldogs benefited from the return of Luca Urlando, who rocketed to the national title and a new all-time record in the 200 fly and 45 total points individually, while Jake Magahey (42), Tomas Koski (31.5) and Ruard Van Renen (28) also scored big points for UGA. They also scored 92 relay points after they were only seeded for 40.
Close behind Georgia in the poll was the Texas men.
By the time the NCAA Championships rolled around, the Longhorns were the big favorites to win the title, but looking back to the start of the 2024-25 season, Texas emerging as the national champions looked far less likely. Therefore, the 9.3% of votes they received likely had to do with their rise over the entirety of the campaign, not just zeroing in on NCAAs.
Other options earning more than 5% of votes were the Indiana women, who set a program record with a 4th-place finish, the Cal men, who were right in the thick of the battle for the NCAA title (finishing 2nd) when many believed it would come down to Texas and Indiana, and the ASU men, who lost a significant chunk of their top performers from last year but impressed with a 6th-place finish in their first season with Herbie Behm as head coach.
Below, vote in our new A3 Performance Poll, which asks: What are your thoughts on the addition of stroke 50s to the Olympic program?
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ABOUT A3 PERFORMANCE
The A3 Performance Poll is courtesy of A3 Performance, a SwimSwam partner.
This is probably the best place to put this comment:
I’m just a swim parent that reads Swimswam. I don’t have any visibility on what makes a good coach or why a coach is successful.
I’ll just say – during NCAAs (women’s) I was sitting in the stands above the Stanford team. This dude CARES about his swimmers.
It was really cool watching him interact with is team, give advice after challenging swims and celebrate the great swims.
Hell – I even saw him walking around picking up trash on deck after prelims. It’s apparent he’s a good person – and would be someone I would want my daughter to swim for.
Best of luck to him in his new… Read more »
All I can say is DUH