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 which NCAA meet will be quickest as midseason invites arrive:
Question: Which midseason invite will produce the most nation-leading times?
RESULTS
- Tennessee Invite – 35.0%
- Texas Invite – 30.9%
- Wolfpack Elite Invite – 23.0%
- UGA Fall Invite – 5.1%
- Ohio State Invite – 4.0%
- Minnesota Invite – 1.9%
We’ve already seen several blistering swims through the first couple months of the 2024-25 NCAA season, and we’re sure to see plenty more this weekend as the vast majority of midseason invitational meets will take place.
Outside of the Minnesota Invite, which will run the week after U.S. Thanksgiving in early December, all of the other marquee invites will kick off within the next few days.
Cal will be racing at the Minnesota Invite, but the rest of the NCAA’s top teams will be in action this week: Virginia and the host Vols will be at the Tennessee Invite, Texas, Stanford and USC will race in Austin, Florida will join Georgia at the UGA Fall Invite, NC State welcomes Arizona State and Virginia Tech to the Wolfpack Elite Invite, and Indiana and Louisville head to Ohio State to compete at the OSU Fall Invite.
Asking SwimSwam readers which meet will produce the most nation-leading times, the Tennessee Invite came out on top with 35% of votes, followed closely by the Texas Invite (30.9%).
The Tennessee Invite is headlined by the Virginia women’s team, which will feature Gretchen Walsh (50 free, 100 fly, 200 back), Claire Curzan (100 back, 200 back, 200 fly), and other candidates to post nation-leading times such as Leah Hayes, Aimee Canny, Emma Weber and Cavan Gormsen. Alex Walsh will notably not be racing.
We’ll also see top Tennessee swimmers Camille Spink, Josephine Fuller and Jordan Crooks in the meet, who all have the potential to post the top time in the nation in multiple events.
The Texas Invite will be loaded with the Longhorns, Stanford and USC all in action. We’ve already seen what Texas has done early on this season, and given that, it’s easy to see some blistering swims being dropped. Emma Sticklen and Jillian Cox have been the top performs thus far for the women’s team, and the men’s side has been highlighted by newcomers Hubert Kos, Rex Maurer and defending NCAA champion Luke Hobson.
The Cardinal figure to have a chance to post some NCAA-leading times given they have Torri Huske back in action after her redshirt season, as the Olympic champion had a very impressive season debut against ASU.
The only other meet that picked up more than 10% of votes was the Wolfpack Elite Invite, which earned 23%. Arizona State has been ripping it up early on this season, NC State is always dangerous, and Virginia Tech has the likes of Youssef Ramadan and Carles Coll Marti who could both throw down some of the top times in the country.
The UGA Fall Invite only picked up 5% of votes, but the meet is not one to overlook given it features Florida’s Josh Liendo and Bella Sims, plus Georgia’s Luca Urlando.
Below, vote in our new A3 Performance Poll, which asks: The Texas Invite won’t be scored—does scoring matter at this point in the season?
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ABOUT A3 PERFORMANCE
The A3 Performance Poll is courtesy of A3 Performance, a SwimSwam partner.
If we want to make swimming into a self-sustaining spectator sport, scoring and winning meets will have to matter. From an insider’s perspective, the only purpose of mid-season meets is to post times and help coaches set championship lineups. To a viewer, that’s boring as hell. Imagine if NCAA basketball played the early-season invite tournaments as unscored scrimmages. Who would watch the Maui Invitational if the only results were player stats? Mid-season invite scores don’t matter now, but that needs to change.
There’s an overall difference between the two sports in that basketball players can consistently play at a 100%, where in theory swimmers can’t without limiting themselves around championship season.
Swimming is an individual sport centered around one, maybe two, meets in a season for most. To ask people to care about team race at a mid-season meet, where most teams hardly taper, is ultimately asking the sport to change more than anything else.
The sport needs to change if it wants to stay alive
For the women this is for sure but combined its got to be the Texas invite.
Anyone know if the Texas Invite will be streamed somewhere? I think I saw all other invites are on espn+ right now, but I can’t find the Texas Invite anywhere