USA Swimming Announces Roster for 2025 World University Games

Earlier today, USA Swimming announced the World University Games roster of 20 men and 20 women. 15 different colleges will be represented at the Games, all but one of which (Princeton) come from power four conferences. This is a shift from what we have seen in previous years, where a variety of conferences, and even NCAA divisions are represented.

Selection Criteria at a Glance

• Must be between 18-25 on December 31, 2025
• Can’t be on the World roster.
• Must be currently enrolled in college/university, or have graduated in 2024 (note: this sometimes requires some guesswork on our part)
• Selection priority is based on overall finish in finals. I.e., an eligible swimmer who makes the ‘A’ final takes priority over a swimmer in any other final, regardless of the time they swam in finals.
• Priorities
  1. Top two in 100/200 free, and best-finishing available swimmer in the other individual events (excluding stroke 50s).
  2. Next-best-finishing available swimmer in the events other than the 100/200 free (excluding stroke 50s).
  3. Third-best-finishing available swimmers from the 100 free.

As we were projecting the WUGs roster, we mentioned that this roster is notoriously difficult to project with 100% certainty, partially because it’s not always clear who exactly is eligible, and partially because those who are eligible don’t accept the invites. The biggest names we expected to possibly see on the rosters and who weren’t announced were Alex Shackell and Aaron Shackell, both 2024 Olympians. Alex, part of the high school class of 2025, announced that should will swim for Indiana starting in 2026, meaning that her eligibility wasn’t certain, but there was at least a chance she’d already enrolled in college classes. Aaron has competed for Cal and Texas over the last seasons, and while he isn’t currently affiliated with a college swim program, he would’ve met the criteria for WUGs if he was currently enrolled somewhere.

On the women’s side, we projected 19 women would make the team, but with Alex Shackell out, that left room for two athletes to take her place. One of which was Ella Welch, a junior at Louisville who will be competing in the 50 and 100 butterfly events in Germany. The other swimmer was 2024 ASU grad Lindsay Looney who will also be swimming the 200 butterfly.

With Aaron Shackell out, Baylor Nelson will add the 200 free in addition te the 400 IM. One name we missed was Jack Dahlgren, who last swam collegiately in 2023, but is apparently enrolled in a graduate program, making him eligible for WUGs.

Louisville Head Coach Arthur Albiero was named as the Head Coach for the meet, with assistant coaches Daniel Kalupski (NC State), Annie Lazor (Florida), John Long (Indiana), Trevor Maida (Texas), and Jake Shrum (Virginia) joining him.

Women’s Roster

• Katie Christopherson, Virginia – 200 Breast
• Julia Dennis, Louisville – 50/100 Free
• Piper Enge, Texas – 50/100 Breast
• Cavan Gormsen, Virginia – 200/400 Free
• Leah Hayes, Virginia – 200/400 IM
• Abigail Herscu, Cal – 200 Breast
• Tess Howley, Virginia – 200 Fly
• Kate Hurst, Texas – 800/1500 Free
• Isabel Ivey, Florida – 200 Free
• Gena Jorgenson, Nebraska – 1500 Free
• Caroline Larsen, Louisville – 50 Fly; 4×100 Free Relay
• Lindsay Looney, Arizona State – 200 Fly
• Michaela Mattes, Florida – 400 Free
• Mila Nikanorov, Ohio State – 800 Free
• Kennedy Noble, NC State – 50/100/200 Back
• Teagan O’Dell, Cal (committed) – 200/400 IM
• Maxine Parker, Virginia – 50/100 Free
• Leah Shackley, NC State – 50/100/200 Back; 100 Fly
• Emma Weber, Virginia – 50/100 Breast
• Ella Welch, Louisville – 50/100 Fly

Rising NC State sophomore Leah Shackley is competing in the most events on the women’s side, slated to swim all three distances of backstroke and the 100 butterfly.

Men’s Roster

• Daniel Baltes, Ohio State – 50 Free
• Josh Bey, Indiana (committed) – 200 Breast
• Jack Dahlgren, Missouri – 200 Fly
• Ben Delmar, North Carolina – 50/100/200 Breast
• Daniel Diehl, NC State – 50/100/200 Back
• Alec Enyeart, Texas – 400/800/1500 Free
• Ryan Erisman, Cal (committed) – 400/800 Free
• Nate Germonprez, Texas – 50/100 Breast
• Carson Hick, Kentucky – 1500 Free
• David King, Virginia – 200 Back
• Matt King, Indiana – 50/100 Free
• Matthew Klinge, Ohio State – 50/100 Fly
• Mason Laur, Florida – 200 Fly; 400 IM
• Owen McDonald, Indiana – 200 IM
• Jake Mitchell, Florida – 200 Free
• Will Modglin, Texas – 50/100 Back
• Kamal Muhammad, Tennessee (committed) – 50/100 Fly
• Baylor Nelson, Texas (committed) – 200 Free; 400 IM
• Mitchell Schott, Princeton – 200 IM
• Camden Taylor, Texas – 100 Free

There are a number of men who are entered in three different individual events. Ben Delmar is swimming all three breaststroke distances. Daniel Diehl will compete in all the backstroke races, and Alec Enyeart is scheduled for all the distance free races.

Coaches

• Head Coach: Arthur Albiero (Louisville)
• Assistant Coaches:
  • Daniel Kalupski (NC State)
  • Annie Lazor (Florida)
  • John Long (Indiana)
  • Trevor Maida (Texas)
  • Jake Shrum (Virginia)

The World University Games are scheduled to compete from July 17-23, 2025 in Berlin Germany.