The Top 10 NCAA Diving Recruits In The Boys’ High School Class of 2025

While a bulk of the team points in NCAA Swimming and Diving meets come from swimming, it is no secret that diving has the potential to play a huge role and sway results in an unpredictable manner.

In an effort to expand NCAA coverage here on SwimSwam, we have compiled a list of the top 10 men’s recruits for the high school class of 2025. The goal of this expanded coverage is to provide our readers with a more complete view of how recruiting will impact the future of a team.

Methodology

Ranking divers is more complex and less black and white than ranking swimmers. Diving is a subjective sport, meaning that simply looking at scores does not provide a full picture compared to looking at a swimmer’s time. The scoring is open up to interpretation, so it was important for us not just to look at results while compiling these rankings, but to also analyze video and formulate our own opinions in the process.

Within Division I of the NCAA, most dual meets in diving only contest the one-meter and three-meter springboard events. Platform diving, for the most part, only comes into play for invitationals and championship meets. Divers with the ability to compete platform right out of high school are not very common, but are very valuable. This versatility of having a platform-capable diver is important for college teams to have because it simply means more chances to score points.

Being successful in the junior ranks in diving does not always translate to success at the NCAA or senior level. It was important for us to consider potential when composing this ranking as previous success isn’t always a reliable indicator.

This list focuses on American-based athletes as it is difficult to predict if international athletes will choose to compete in the NCAA. Additionally, this list is not exhaustive of all the talented NCAA recruits in this class and does not mean any diver omitted doesn’t have the potential to make valuable contributions to a college team.

Honorable Mentions

Paul Hong – GC Diving – Highland Village, TX  **Committed to Auburn**

Hong is a strong springboard diver with the great ability to not only bend the board, but  has good timing with the springboard as well. Because of his lower body strength, he is able to jump higher than most others and complete more difficult dives. While Hong does have a strong competition list in terms of difficulty, the element that’s currently holding him back is his lines and form. Right now, he is just a little sloppy with slightly bent legs and flexed feet sprinkled throughout his diving. Working on the little details will lead to success for him on the NCAA level.

Nathan Frette – West Florida Lightning Aquatics – Orlando, FL

Frette is an astonishing talent in terms of the dives that he’s able to do for someone of his age. Right now, his three-meter competition list is more difficult than most divers competing at the world level let alone the national level. The caveat is currently, his execution on these difficult dives is frankly not up to par. He is still able to score decently on them because of the insanely high difficulty, but would be better off focusing on consistency and execution moving forward for the time being. Nonetheless, we couldn’t not mention him on this list because of his aforementioned difficult list.

TOP 10

10. Tuck Gregory – Moss Farms Diving – Norman Park, GA **Committed to Missouri**

Tuck Gregory is strong on the springboard and on the platform, which is a big asset in the NCAA. He has good board work and is able to jump high on springboard but is also very fast-twitch, allowing him to easily build his difficulty on the platform. An area of improvement for him would be in his lines and extension. Judges will deduct for any little imperfection, so Gregory’s occasional flexed foot or soft knees will get hammered by judges.

9. Grant Schneider – Mission Viejo Nadadores – Mission Viejo, CA **Committed to Stanford**

Overall, Schneider has a lot of potential and has the ability to be a threat in all three events. His diving is smooth and his entries in the water generally look very clean. Judges love a nice low-splash entry and are not afraid to award those dives with high scores. Right now, Schneider is pretty inconsistent. Looking at his recent results, it seems that there is always at least one “miss” in his competition list surrounded by other solid dives. As he gets more experienced and more practice with his dives, this problem will hopefully iron itself out, but until then, he comes in as our number nine recruit.

8. Aidan Kless – Ripfest – Noblesville, IN

On paper, looking at results over the past season, Aidan Kless doesn’t appear to be amongst the top divers in his class. His best event right now, and the only event he qualified to compete on at the recent junior national championships, is the platform. He has a relatively understated competition list in terms of difficulty and some solid scores to go along with it. What really catapulted Kless onto this list is the fact that he’s only been training on the platform since the spring of 2024. Considering that, it’s astonishing that he was able to accomplish all he did this summer with only a few months of experience. He has a ton of potential and if he continues on his current trajectory, he has big things coming in his future.

7. Chase Sorosky – Unattached – Phoenix, AZ **Committed to Princeton**

Sorosky has great boardwork and is fast-twitch, which is a recipe for a great all-around springboard and platform diver. He has high-difficulty competition lists across all events and also has the ability to complete each of his dives with high execution. Sorosky’s current issue, similar to Schneider (our number nine pick), is his inconsistency. Based solely on the eye test, it is obvious that Sorosky is talented and has the ability to put up some really high scores. Right now, it’s just a matter of if he can put it all together on the right day. Once he figures out how to compete well, he will be dangerous in the NCAA.

6. Rock Sweet – Team Texas Diving – Montgomery, TX

What is particularly impressive about Rock Sweet’s diving are his remarkably clean entries. He can enter the water with barely any splash, which is something that judges heavily award. Especially as a platform diver, the ability to produce dives with splashless entries is what separates the good from the great competitors. His current competition list has a pretty decent amount of difficulty, but there is room to grow and implement more upgrades. Sweet’s springboard skills complement his platform skills, which also make him an asset in dual meets. Overall, Rock Sweet is an extremely talented diver with a lot of potential to flourish in the NCAA.

5. Grant Cates – Ripfest – Swayzee, IN

Kicking off the top five, and the second Ripfest diver on this list, is Grant Cates. Cates has shown massive improvement over the past year and has deservedly earned his spot in the top half of this ranking. He excels on both the springboard and on the platform with his consistency and good execution. His springboard difficulty, while not low by any means, is not quite as high as some of the other top divers in his age group. However, Cates has an air of grace and fluidity that really adds to the overall impression of his diving. Over the past year, he has made some major strides on platform, even placing third on the event at this year’s junior nationals.

4. Luke Hernandez – Duke Diving – Holly Springs, NC  **Committed to Duke**

This class is so stacked with platform divers that Luke Hernandez is the only top ten entrant that doesn’t currently compete tower. However, he does have prior experience on the event and has competed it as recently as summer of 2023. Hernandez places this high on the list because he is the most aesthetically beautiful diver in his class. He possesses the qualities of being fluid, refined, clean and graceful, all of which I heavily recognize when considering a diver’s potential. Hernandez has a style of diving that does really well on the international stage. While he is currently on a platform hiatus, it’s worth noting that Hernandez also has some serious talent on that event and has the capacity to be a three-event scorer for his team when/if he gets back up there.

3. Nathaniel Grannis – Dominion Dive Club – Annandale, VA **Committed to Purdue**

Nathaniel Grannis is one of only two divers on this list to have competed at this year’s Olympic Team Trials, which is an extremely valuable experience. The production and the scale of the Olympic Trials is the most comparable to that of the NCAA swimming and diving championships, so competing there is really beneficial to have under your belt when starting your NCAA career.

A couple of years ago, I would have considered Grannis to be mainly a platform diver, but recently he has taken some big steps forward with his springboard diving. He has been slowly and steadily increasing his difficulty on all boards and now has one of the strongest competition lists in his class across all events. He has been training some really big dives, so it will be interesting to see how that goes once he implements them into his competitions more. At times, Grannis does struggle a little bit with minor form issues and cleanliness of his entries, but nonetheless he is really strong and has a bright future.

2. Gunnar Grubbs – Stanford Diving – Palo Alto, CA **Committed to Stanford**

Similarly to #4 Hernandez, Gunnar Grubbs really shines because he has a certain artistic aspect to his diving. Grubbs is a very sound diver mechanically and is very clean and precise. His difficulty on the springboard is on the lower end at the moment, but his nice lines and execution more than makeup for it.

One springboard, Grubbs and Hernandez are very comparable. The difference maker between deciding where each should be placed on this ranking is that Grubbs is currently a three-event diver, while Hernandez is only a two-event diver. Grubbs really excels on the 10-meter and has made a lot of progress up there, especially within the last year. He has really stepped up his difficulty and consistency while maintaining his great execution.

1. Joshua Hedberg – The Indiana International School of Diving – Noblesville, IN **Committed to Indiana**

In this class that is already saturated with many great platform divers, Joshua Hedberg is still miles ahead of the competition. He is so good that I knew without a doubt, before even doing any research, that he would be my pick for the number one spot. He has been one of the nation’s top platform divers all the way since 2021 when he was just fourteen years old. With all that talent also comes a ton of experience competing on big stages. Hedberg has been a part of countless Team USA assignments and has represented the United States at both junior and senior World Aquatics Championships numerous times. If anyone can stay cool, calm and collected throughout the craziness of the NCAA postseason, it’s Hedberg.

Both Hedberg’s difficulty and execution on the 10-meter platform are unmatched. He easily won this event at the 2024 junior national championships by nearly 100 points. As a result of being an Olympic hopeful, Hedberg has been focusing solely on platform, as he hasn’t competed on springboard in over two years now. Despite that, his perfect form, air awareness and fast twitch abilities all lead me to believe that his talents will carry over to the lower springboards as well.