The Virginia women and Texas men remain the top-ranked teams in the nation as the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America’s (CSCAA) has released its January dual meet polls.
The Cavalier women have held the #1 ranking all season long, while the Longhorn men took over the top spot in November and haven’t relinquished it.
The CSCAA polls are primarily geared toward dual meet strength, rather than predicting the finishing order in a championship setting.
The CSCAA describes the process:
The committee, consisting of Division I coaches, evaluates and ranks the nation’s top 25 dual meet teams. Their assessment considers head-to-head dual meet outcomes, recent performances since the last rankings, season-long results, dual meet records, roster changes (such as injuries), and data from the SwimCloud Simulator. It’s important to note that the poll’s objective is not to predict the top finishers in a championship meet format.
WOMEN’S POLL
The four-time defending NCAA champions, the Virginia women have no equal in the NCAA and are poised to run away with their fifth straight national title in two months time.
Since last month’s polls were released, the Cavaliers have reloaded with the addition of two Olympic medalists to their roster. Freshman Katie Grimes joined the team after committing in October, while fifth-year Alex Walsh made her season debut in January after sitting out the first semester with injury.
Virginia cruised to a dominant win over Virginia Tech on Jan. 11, with Grimes and Walsh combining for four individual wins.
Along with Virginia holding strong at #1, the entire top seven women’s teams are the exact same as they were one month ago, with Texas, Stanford, Florida, Tennessee, Indiana and Michigan ranking 2-7.
The Cal Bears and NC State Wolfpack both moved up into a tie for #8, previously ranked 9th and 10th, while Louisville, despite being undefeated in duals, slips to 10th after previously sitting 8th.
Georgia, Wisconsin and Ohio State remain 11th, 12th and 13th, while USC moves up four spots from 18th to 14th despite suffering a pair of losses to Cal and Stanford last weekend.
Also moving up four spots was the South Carolina Gamecocks, who have reeled off wins against Virginia Tech and Auburn in January to rank 18th in the nation.
Women’s Rankings
| Rk | Prv | Team | Points | Record |
| 1 | 1 | Virginia | 425 | 3-0 |
| 2 | 2 | Texas | 407 | 4-0 |
| 3 | 3 | Stanford | 391 | 4-0 |
| 4 | 4 | Florida | 367 | 6-1 |
| 5 | 5 | Tennessee | 365 | 3-1 |
| 6 | 6 | Indiana | 331 | 3-2 |
| 7 | 7 | Michigan | 311 | 4-1 |
| 8 | 9 | California | 293 | 4-1 |
| 8 | 10 | NC State | 293 | 3-0 |
| 10 | 8 | Louisville | 285 | 5-0 |
| 11 | 11 | Georgia | 250 | 4-3 |
| 12 | 12 | Wisconsin | 244 | 4-0 |
| 13 | 13 | Ohio State | 223 | 5-1 |
| 14 | 18 | Southern California | 183 | 2-2 |
| 15 | 15 | Alabama | 177 | 3-1 |
| 16 | 17 | North Carolina | 166 | 2-3 |
| 17 | 14 | Arizona State | 160 | 7-3 |
| 18 | 22 | South Carolina | 137 | 5-2 |
| 19 | 21 | Texas A&M | 121 | 5-1 |
| 20 | 16 | Louisiana State | 109 | 6-3 |
| 21 | 19 | Auburn | 87 | 2-0 |
| 22 | 24 | UCLA | 73 | 3-4 |
| 23 | 20 | Duke | 68 | 4-1 |
| 24 | 23 | Minnesota | 33 | 6-3 |
| 25 | 25 | Florida State | 19 | 4-3 |
Also Receiving Votes: Virginia Tech (5), Missouri (1), Pittsburgh (1)
MEN’S POLL
The Texas men have established themselves as a burgeoning powerhouse in the NCAA, following up an impressive showing in November at the Texas Invitational with a pair of dominant wins in the last five weeks, toppling Georgia on Dec. 18 and SMU on Jan. 10.
The Longhorns hang on to the #1 ranking, Indiana remains #2, while Cal makes the move up to #3 after previously ranking 5th.
The Golden Bears moving up comes after Lucas Henveaux and Mewen Tomac joined the team for the second semester with surprise appearances at their dual with USC on Friday, with Henveaux notably firing off a time of 4:11.17 in the 500 free.
The Hoosiers have also added sprinter Matt King and breaststroker Caspar Corbeau to their roster for the second semester, making IU a formidable, well-rounded team.
It’s looking like a real three-horse race for the NCAA title in March.
Arizona State, which has gone 8-0 in dual meets this season, slides one spot to 4th in the poll, while Florida also moves down one spot after being passed by Cal, ranking 5th.
Michigan and Virginia Tech were two other big movers in the top 12, with the Wolverines jumping up three spots into 10th, and the Hokies going from 19th up to 12th.
Michigan fell to Indiana on Jan. 10 but steamrolled Ohio State last week. Virginia Tech has been blowing out their opponents so far in 2025, dominating Queens, South Carolina and Virginia.
While the same 25 teams remain in the women’s rankings, the men’s has four new additions from December: Kentucky, Harvard, Northwestern and Princeton.
Men’s Rankings
| Rk | Prv | Team | Points | Record |
| 1 | 1 | Texas | 400 | 4-0 |
| 2 | 2 | Indiana | 381 | 3-1 |
| 3 | 5 | California | 360 | 4-1 |
| 4 | 3 | Arizona State | 358 | 8-0 |
| 5 | 4 | Florida | 330 | 4-3 |
| 6 | 6 | NC State | 313 | 2-1 |
| 7 | 7 | Georgia | 291 | 3-3 |
| 8 | 9 | Tennessee | 288 | 1-2 |
| 9 | 8 | Stanford | 284 | 1-2 |
| 10 | 13 | Michigan | 252 | 3-1 |
| 11 | 10 | Louisville | 241 | 4-0 |
| 12 | 19 | Virginia Tech | 205 | 8-1 |
| 13 | 12 | North Carolina | 197 | 4-1 |
| 14 | 11 | Ohio State | 188 | 4-1 |
| 15 | 14 | Auburn | 186 | 3-1 |
| 16 | 16 | Southern California | 171 | 2-2 |
| 17 | 23 | Texas A&M | 137 | 3-1 |
| 18 | 17 | Virginia | 125 | 0-3 |
| 19 | 15 | Alabama | 120 | 2-1 |
| 20 | 21 | Georgia Tech | 61 | 4-1 |
| 21 | 22 | Florida State | 60 | 1-4 |
| 22 | NR | Kentucky | 54 | 4-2 |
| 23 | NR | Harvard | 43 | 5-0 |
| 24 | NR | Northwestern | 41 | 6-0 |
| 24 | NR | Princeton | 41 | 8-1 |
Also Receiving Votes: Louisiana State (31), Arizona (22), Wisconsin (15), Minnesota (3), SMU (2)
Division I Women’s Poll Committee
Brooks Fail (Southern Cal), Bex Freebairn (Missouri), Jerry Champer (Georgia), Ashley Dell (Illinois-Chicago), Ryan Evans (Kansas), Naya Higashijima (New Mexico), Zach Hinsley (Miami (FL)), Michael Licon (Akron), Maddy Olson (Minnesota), Pat Rowan (Nebraska), Coleman Stewart (Duke), Leah Stancil (Louisiana State), Milana Socha (Dartmouth), Athena Spellman (Florida State), Graydon Tedder (Texas Christian), Nathan Lavery (Drexel) Brody Lewis (Utah).
Division I Men’s Poll Committee
Cauli Bedran (Wisconsin), Jim Bolster (Columbia), Patrick Callan (Auburn), Graham Carpenter (Ohio State), Alicia Franklin (Denver), Reed Fujan (Louisville), Josh Huger (California-Berkley), Michael Joyce (Minnesota), Caitlin Kolbus (Kentucky), Brody Lewis (Utah), Jessica Miller Livsey (Old Dominion), Corey Manley (Arizona State), Tamber McCallister (Brigham Young), Eric Posegay (Texas), Bill Roberts (U.S. Naval Academy), Neal Studd (Florida State).
