By Spencer Penland on SwimSwam
It’s that time of the year again. SwimSwam will be previewing the top 12 men’s and women’s teams (and then some) from the 2025 NCAA Championships. Follow along with the College Swimming Preview Channel. Want to read even more? Check out the latest edition of the SwimSwam magazine.
#4 INDIANA HOOSIERS
Key Losses: Anna Peplowski (45 NCAA Points), Ching Gan (28 NCAA Points), Skyler Liu (36 NCAA Points), Brearna Crawford (16 NCAA Points), Kacey McKenna (4 NCAA Points), Ava Whitaker (NCAA qualifier), Mariah Denigan (NCAA qualifier)
Key Additions: #1 Alex Shackell (IN – Free/Fly/IM), HM Liberty Clark (CA – Free), Macky Hodges (USC Transfer – NCAA qualifier), Jonette Laegreid (Drury Transfer – 2x DII NCAA Champion), Amelia Bray (New Zealand – Free), Alessandra Gusperti (Italy – Free/IM)
GRADING CRITERIA
Over the years, we’ve gone back and forth on how to project points, ranging from largely subjective rankings to more data-based grading criteria based on ‘projected returning points.’ We like being as objective as possible, but we’re going to stick with the approach we’ve adopted post-Covid. The “stars” will rely heavily on what swimmers actually did last year, but we’ll also give credit to returning swimmers or freshmen who have posted times that would have scored last year.
Since we only profile the top 12 teams in this format, our grades are designed with that range in mind. In the grand scheme of college swimming and compared to all other college programs, top 12 NCAA programs would pretty much all grade well across the board. But in the interest of making these previews informative, our grading scale is tough – designed to show the tiers between the good stroke groups, the great ones, and the 2015 Texas fly group types.
5 star (★★★★★) – a rare, elite NCAA group projected to score 25+ points per event 4 star (★★★★) – a very, very good NCAA group projected to score 15-24 points per event 3 star (★★★) – a good NCAA group projected to score 5-14 points per event 2 star (★★) – a solid NCAA group projected to score 1-4 points per event 1 star (★) – an NCAA group that is projected to score no points per event, though that doesn’t mean it’s without potential scorers – they’ll just need to leapfrog some swimmers ahead of them to do itWe’ll grade each event discipline: sprint free (which we define to include all the relay-distance freestyle events, so 50, 100 and 200), distance free, IM, breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly and diving. Use these grades as a jumping-off point for discussion, rather than a reason to be angry.
Also, keep in mind that we are publishing many of these previews before teams have posted finalized rosters. We’re making our assessments based on the best information we have available at the time of publication, but we reserve the right to make changes after publication based on any new information that may emerge regarding rosters. If that does happen, we’ll make certain to note the change.
2024-2025 LOOKBACK
Last season was a historic one for the Indiana Hoosiers. They capped off their season with a program high 4th place finish at NCAAs, including a program high 312 points. That score was almost 100 points higher than their previous program best, which was 219 from 2023. On top of that, IU had a pair of NCAA champions. Skyler Liu won NCAA titles in both 3-meter and platform diving, while Anna Peplowski claimed victory in the 200 free.
Other high points included Miranda Grana taking 3rd in the 100 back and 4th in the 100 fly, Ching Gan taking 3rd in the 1650 free and 7th in the 500 free, Peplowski coming in 3rd in the 500, and Brearna Crawford taking 3rd in the 200 breast. It was a senior-heavy roster and the Hoosier seniors delivered in a big way.
As far as their conference meet performance went, Indiana came in 2nd at Big Tens, finishing close behind Ohio State. The Hoosiers won 8 Big Ten titles last year, 7 individual events and 1 relay.
SPRINT FREE: ★★★½
Indian has brought in a ton of sprinters for this season, which will help to mitigate the loss of Anna Peplowski, the NCAA champion in the 200 free. Most of Indiana’s new faces this season look like they’ll contribute individually in at least 1, if not more, of the sprint free events.
Let’s start, however, with the return of Kristina Paegle, who is back for her senior year to lead this distance crew. Paegle was IU’s leading 50 freestyler last season, swimming her career best of 21.56 to finish 10th at NCAAs. She also went her career best of 47.56 at NCAAs last year, which she swam to qualify for the ‘B’ final. Paegle went on to take 12th in finals with a 47.69. She does race the 200 free individually as well, however, Paegle hasn’t found as much success in that event, as her career best is still the 1:45.02 she swam as a senior in high school in February of 2022. Last season, Paegle’s best in the 200 free was 1:46.13.
She’s more of a depth piece than an NCAA scoring threat, at least at this point, but Mya DeWitt is back for her senior season after being one of Indiana’s top sprinters last season. Primarily a backstroker, DeWitt has proven to be quite strong in the 50 and 100 free as well. DeWitt clocked her career best of 22.24 in the 50 at NCAAs last season. Her career best of 48.76 in the 100 free came last season as well. Notably, DeWitt ripped a 21.65 split on the 200 free relay and a 48.19 on the 400 free relay at NCAAs last season.
As far as the newcomers go, there’s a lot to cover. Firstly, it’s possible we don’t see her racing one of the sprint free events individually at a championship meet this year, but freshman Alex Shackell, SwimSwam’s #1 recruit in this class, is a serious threat in all 3 events. Shackell comes in with a career best of 21.71 in the 50 free, 47.44 in the 100 free, and 1:42.28 in the 200 free. Her 50 and 100 times would have been fast enough to qualify for the ‘B’ finals at NCAAs last year, while her 200 free time would have been good for 5th. Shackell is even better in the 100 and 200 fly, which makes the likelihood of seeing her individually in the 100/200 free fairly low, and she’s also great in the 500 free and 200 IM, which makes it unclear if we’ll see her in the 50 free either.
A newcomer who we’ll definitely see in the sprint free events is freshman Liberty Clark, an Honorable Mention in SwimSwam’s Class of 2025 Rankings. Clark was excellent as a high schooler in all 3 sprint free events, holding a career best of 22.30 in the 50 free, 48.48 in the 100 free, and 1:45.76 in the 200 free. All 3 of those times are quite close to what it takes to qualify for the NCAA Championships, which puts Clark in a great place as she begins her collegiate career. Moreover, last year to qualify for the ‘B’ final in each of those events at NCAAs, it took a 21.89 in the 50, 47.88 in the 100, and 1:44.18 in the 200, all 3 of which represent realistic margins of improvement for Clark in her freshman season.
Another notable newcomer is New Zealand’s Amelia Bray. This freshman hasn’t raced yards before, however, she comes in boasting some really strong LCM times. Bray has been 25.78 in the LCM 50 free and 56.07 in the LCM 100 free. LCM to SCY conversions tend to be a bit shaky, but we have enough evidence of past swimmers to say those probably come in somewhere around 22-high in the 50 and 49-something in the 100.
Similarly, Italy’s Alessandra Gusperti is another incoming freshman with only meters times to go off. Gusperti is a bit off Bray’s times, coming in with a 26.15 LCM 50 free, 56.68 100 free, and a 2:04.44 200 free. Again, we’ll have to see how she adapts to yards training and racing, but Gusperti looks like at the worst she should be a great depth piece in this sprint group.
The last pure sprinter freshman is Grace Hoeper, who comes in with a 22.58 in the 50, 49.79 in the 100, and 1:48.67 in the 200 free.
Past the pure sprint side of things, Indiana adds a lot of strong 200 freestylers with this class. For starters, Macky Hodges has transferred to IU after spending her freshman and sophomore seasons at USC. Hodges’ best event is the 200 free, where she holds a career best of 1:44.77, which is just half a second off what it took to score at NCAAs last year. Hodges also has a 22.84 50 free and 49.04 100 free to boot, though, she doesn’t race those events individually ton, or at least she didn’t at USC.
Colleen Bull is another intriguing freshman for this sprint group. She comes in with a personal best of 1:47.87 in the 200 free, and has already been under 50 seconds in the 100 free, holding a personal best of 49.92. Behind her, Luci Gutierrez holds a personal best of 1:48.19 in the 200, while Skylar Knowlton has been 1:48.43. Canada’s Laila Oravsky has been 2:02.66 in the LCM 200 free.
As stated at the beginning of this section, most of Indiana’s incoming swimmers fall into the sprint free category. There’s a ton of upside with this group, but right now, Paegle is the only expected scorer, which leaves us at a 3.5-star rating. With any of these freshmen or Hodges popping off this season, it could easily skyrocket in the rankings by the end of the season.
DISTANCE FREE: ★
This distance crew has seen a complete overhaul from last season. For starters, Indiana’s top 5 swimmers in the 500 free from last season are all gone, including NCAA 3rd place finisher Anna Peplowski and 7th place finisher Ching Gan. Elyse Heiser and Mariah Denigan, who each went 4:40-point last year, are gone as well, along with Katie Carson, who was 4:44 last year.
They face a similar situation in the 1650 free, where the top 4 swimmers from last year are all gone. Gan was the leading miler last year, taking 3rd in the event at NCAAs, while Denigan came in 18th. Carson and Heiser didn’t compete in the event at NCAAs, however, they went 16:14 and 16:19 respectively last season, adding some great depth.
Facing these losses, Indiana brings in some really nice talent in the distance events, it may just take a while for that talent to develop to the NCAA scoring level. Freshman Skylar Knowlton looks like a great prospect in the 500 free, coming in with a personal best of 4:46.86.
Laila Oravsky, a freshman from Canada, could be the leading distance swimmer for the Hoosiers this season. Oravsky hasn’t raced yards before, however, she holds career bests of 4:17.08 in the LCM 400 free and 16:45.11 in the LCM 1500 free. While it’s hard to throw out accurate conversions in these events, it’s worth noting that Oravsky’s time in the 1500 free would have placed 7th at the US Summer Junior Nationals meet in early August. Her 400 time would have been good for 6th.
Luci Gutierrez is another promising freshman distance swimmer for Indiana. Gutierrez has been as fast as 4:50.00 in the 500 free and holds a personal best of 16:46.50 in the 1650 free.
Alex Shackell is another intriguing option here. Shackell could realistically swim any of the day 2 events (50 free, 500 free, 200 IM), so it’s hard to tell what she’ll wind up in. She holds a career best of 4:40.16 in the 500 free, which means she represents Indiana’s best chance at having an NCAA qualifying swimmer in the 500. Again, we don’t know if we’ll see Shackell in the 500 at championship meets, but given the thinness of the event, it’s possible we do.
Macky Hodges represents another new swimmer to the team who could help in the distance events. A junior who spent her first 2 seasons at USC, Hodges has been 4:43.51 in the 500 free. That means Hodges could lead Indiana’s 500 group this season, however, Hodges is also very strong in the 200 IM, and may swim that instead.
This distance group is very much in a rebuilding year. They have talent, they’ll just need time to develop. We’ve rated it 1 star, however, if we knew that Shackell was going to swim the 500, it would probably be a 2 star group.
BACKSTROKE: ★★★★
This backstroke group lost Kacey McKenna from last season, bit is still in phenomenal shape heading into the season. Miranda Grana enters her junior season and her 2nd year with the Hoosiers looking to capitalize on a wildly successful sophomore year. Grana was incredible at NCAAs last year, finishing 3rd in the 100 back with a new career best of 49.62.
Grana also had a breakthrough year in the 200 back last season, coming in with a career best of 1:51.06 from the 2024 SEC Championships, then popping a 1:48.73 at NCAAs. She posted that time to blow out the ‘B’ final, winning it by 2.52 seconds. In fact, her swim was so fast that it would have been good for 5th in the ‘A’ final. That being said, Grana represents a strong ‘A’ final contender in both backstroke events this season.
Mya DeWitt is back for her senior season after having a great showing as a junior last year. DeWitt ripped a new career best of 50.78 in the 100 back last year, which got her into the ‘B’ final at NCAAs. She wound up finishing 14th in 51.06 in finals, however, her 50.78 from prelims would have been good for 12th in finals. DeWitt isn’t as strong in the 200 back, but she did clock her career best of 1:53.34 in prelims at NCAAs last year, which was enough for a 27th place finish.
USC transfer Macky Hodges should add some really nice depth in the 200 back, just like DeWitt. Hodges comes to Indiana after clocking her career best of 1:53.58 at NCAAs last season. While both DeWitt and Hodges are off the 1:51.75 it took to qualify for finals in the 200 back last year, they’re within striking distance with a good season of improvement.
BREASTSTROKE: ★★
This breaststroke group has experienced a total overhaul from last year, so we’ll really need to dig into it. Shockingly, Indiana’s top 5 100 breaststrokers from last year are all no longer on the team. Technically it’s the top 6, but Anna Peplowski was the 6th fastest 100 breaststroker last year and she only swam the event once at a dual meet. Moreover, the top 3 200 breaststrokers from last year, and the 5th fastest, are no longer on the team.
That leaves the Hoosiers with a ton of fresh faces in this breaststroke squad. Even so, it looks to be a solid breast group with NCAA scoring potential. Brearna Crawford was Indiana’s only scoring breaststroker from last year, having finished 3rd in the 200 breast to earn 16 points for the team as a senior.
Leading this breaststroker group is sophomore transfer Jonette Laegreid, who spent her freshman year at DII Drury last season. Laegreid was incredibly successful as a freshman, winning DII NCAAs in both the 100 and 200 breast. Her career best in the 100 breast stands at 59.69, while she holds a high mark of 2:08.59 in the 200 breast. While neither of those times are quite fast enough to score at DI NCAAs, Indiana has long been one of the premier breaststroke programs in the NCAA, and given her times from last season, it wouldn’t be terribly surprising to see Laegreid make a ‘B’ final or two at NCAAs this year.
Incoming freshmen Kamile Zinis and Sula Ott will add some depth to this group. Zinis holds a personal best of 1:02.61 in the 100 breast, while Ott is 1:02.66 in the 100 and 2:18.86 in the 200.
Meanwhile, junior Reese Tiltmann is the fastest returning 200 breaststroker from last year’s team. Tiltmann was 2:11.58 in the 200 breast last year, which she swam at the Big Ten Championships.
BUTTERFLY: ★★★★½
This fly group ought to be incredibly productive in terms of NCAA scoring. Miranda Grana is back for her junior season after taking 4th in the 100 fly at NCAAs last year. Grana clocked her career best of 50.01 to earn that 4th place finish last year. Grana doesn’t race the 200 fly, but as a 50.01 100 flyer, she should be viewed as likely ‘A’ finalist once again this season.
While Grana is the fastest returning swimmer from last year, she’s not Indiana’s fastest swimmer on the roster. That’s because freshman Alex Shackell went 49.49 in the 100 fly as a high schooler. Shackell clocked her career best at the 2023 Winter Junior Championships East, back in December of 2023. That time would have been good for 4th at NCAAs last year, matching Grana’s actual finish. It’s worth noting that 2 of the 3 swimmers that beat Grana last year have since graduated.
Shackell is just as good in the 200 fly, where she holds a career best of 1:50.15. That time would have been fast enough for 3rd at NCAAs last year, and both swimmers who went faster graduated after last season, leaving Shackell as potentially the favorite in her freshman season. Also of note, Shackell was on the US Olympic Team in the LCM 200 fly last summer, finishing 6th in the event in Paris.
Grana and Shackell represent the bulk of the scoring potential in the fly events, but there’s other reasons to be excited about this group. Lily Hann is returning for her senior season with the Hoosiers after a very successful junior year. Hann ripped a new career best of 1:56.30 in the 200 fly last year, which puts her not far off NCAA qualifying speed in that event. Meanwhile, Katie Forrester is also back for her senior season after clocking her career best of 1:56.82 in the 200 fly last season.
Moreover, incoming freshman Skylar Knowlton comes in with a great 200 fly personal best of 1:59.32. While that’s still a ways off what it will take to be an NCAA qualifying swimmer, there’s a lot of room for potential there with a great freshman season.
New Zealand’s Amelia Bray could be an interesting wildcard here. Bray is primarily a sprint freestyler, however, she’s been 1:01.09 in the LCM 100 fly, a very solid time. While that’s a nice 100 fly time, even more intriguing is that she holds a career best of 27.00 in the LCM 50 fly, which is reason to believe she may thrive in the yards 100 fly.
IM: ★★½
This IM group will see the return of Miranda Grana and Reese Tiltmann, their leading IM’ers from last year. Grana clocked her career best of 1:55.88 in the 200 IM last season at the Ohio State Invite. While that’s a very solid time, it’s worth noting that Grana has proven that she’s more than capable of competing and thriving the 100 fly/100 back double on day 3 of championship meets, which means there’s no reason to expect she’ll race the 200 IM at Big Tens or NCAAs this year.
Tiltmann posted her career best of 1:56.68 at NCAAs last season, where she finished 31st in prelims. Her career best of 4:07.61 came last year as well, at the Big Ten Championships. While neither of her personal bests are quite fast enough to score at NCAAs, they’re both close, especially the 400 IM. Last year, it took a 1:55.50 to make finals in the 200 IM, while it took a 4:07.29 in the 400 IM.
In terms of newcomers, Alex Shackell is once again the first name we’ll go over. Shackell holds a career best of 1:54.54 in the 200 IM, which would have been good for 11th in prelims at NCAAs last year. While there’s a case to be made that Shackell could race any of the 3 day 2 events, she’s been competing in the 200 IM consistently LCM over the past year, which would seemingly tip the scales in this direction.
Macky Hodges could be a great addition here as well. Hodges posted her career best of 1:56.69 last season while competing for USC.
Jonette Laegreid, the sophomore Drury transfer, will at least be a great addition to the depth of the 200 IM group. Laegreid clocked her career best of 1:59.88 in the 200 IM last year competing for Drury.
Canada’s Laila Oravsky is another freshman who could make an impact in the IM’s particularly the 400 IM. Oravsky has been 4:53.27 in the LCM 400 IM, which could make her a quality 400 IM’er at the Big Ten level. Oravsky also has a very good 200 free, but IU has a lot of 200 freestylers this season and few 400 IM’ers, so it seems more likely we see her in the IM.
DIVING: ★★★
Facing a loss as big as Skyler Liu hurts, but this diving group still seems to be in good shape. Liu was the NCAA champion in platform diving last season and she finished 3rd in 3-meter.
Still, the Hoosiers see 2 scoring divers return from last season. Ella Roselli had a great showing as a sophomore last season, qualifying for 2 NCAA ‘B’ finals. She came in 12th in platform and 14th in 1-meter. Meanwhile, Lily Witte, who was also a sophomore last year, took 14th in 3-meter and wasn’t far off finals in 1-meter, where she finished 21st in prelims. She was also 41st in prelims of platform. Both divers also were excellent at the Big Ten Championships last year, seeing Roselli take 3rd in 1-meter and 6th in platform, while Witte was 5th in 3-meter.
Mary Cate Cavanaugh qualified for NCAAs as a freshman last season, though she’ll need to improve this year to make a final. Cavanaugh was 37th in prelims of platform at NCAAs, also coming in 48th in 1-meter.
Indiana also brings in a high level recruit this year in freshman Kaylee Bishop. Though she’s just entering her freshman year of college, Bishop has already competed at a World Championships, having taken 11th in 10-meter platform synchro – mixed at the 2023 World Champs. She also competed at the 2024 World Cup. While Bishops’s high level international success has come in synchro diving, given the IU diving program’s track record, she feels like the type of diver who could quickly explode into a star on the NCAA stage.
RELAYS: ★★★★★
Note that the grading system doesn’t align perfectly for relays as double points.
Relay grading system:
5 star (★★★★★) – 31+ points per relay event 4 star (★★★★) – 22-30 relay points per event 3 star (★★★) – 12-21 relay points per event 2 star (★★) – 5-11 relay points per event 1 star (★) – 0-4 relay points per eventIndiana’s relays were excellent last year and, despite losing an NCAA champion in Anna Peplowski, it would seem they’re actually in better shape heading into this season. Last year, all of IU’s relays finished in the top 10 at NCAAs, with 4 of those relays finishing in the top 8. Their high water mark was the 400 medley relay, where they came in 4th.
Here is a breakdown of the relay finishes and lineups from last year:
Relay 2025 NCAA Result (Time) Lineup Losing Potential Adds Season-Best Time 200 FR 5th (1:26.68) Peplowski, DeWitt, McKenna, Paegle Peplowski, McKenna Shackell, Clark, Hoeper 1:26.68 400 FR T-7th (3:10.47) Peplowski, DeWitt, Grana, Paegle Peplowski Shackell, Clark, Hodges 3:10.47 800 FR 8th (6:55.14) Grana, Peplowski, Tiltmann, Paegle Peplowski Shackell, Hodges, Clark 6:55.14 200 MR 10th (1:34.62) McKenna, Crawford, Grana, Paegle McKenna, Crawford Laegreid, Shackell 1:34.52 400 MR 4th (3:25.83) DeWitt, Crawford, Grana, Paegle Crawford Shackell, Laegreid 3:25.83Most of the replacements needed are from Pelowski, though the Brearna Crawford loss on the medley relays could prove difficult to replace as well. The good news as far as Peplowski is concerned, Alex Shackell provides a clear replacement, and then some. Though Peplowski was the NCAA champion in the 200 free last year, she was only on 3 relays, as Kristina Paegle handled the free duties on both medley relays.
Shackell represents a great replacement for Peplowski in that she’s a little faster in the 50 free, basically the same in the 100 free, and a little slower in the 200 free. Shackell has been 21.71 in the 50 free, which is already faster than Peplowski’s career best of 21.86, which she swam leading off the 200 free relay at NCAAs last year. Moreover, Shackell has already split 21.40 on a relay before, so she actually represents a small upgrade over Peplowski for the 200 free relay.
The other replacement that will have to be made for the 200 free relay is Kacey McKenna. The silver lining there is that McKenna was IU’s slowest split on that relay, coming in at 22.12 at NCAAs. Freshman Liberty Clark is 22.30 in the individual 50 free, but has split as fast as 21.50 on a relay before, also having put up a 21.85 split. Her 21.50 came at the Winter Junior Championships West meet this past December.
That puts IU’s 200 free relay, which already came in 5th last year, in really great shape. They’re able to upgrade at both legs they lost, so it would seem this relay stands a good chance of being able to dip under 1:26 this year.
The 400 free is very similar, except even more simple. Peplowski is the only loss from that relay last year. At NCAAs last year, Peplowski led the Hoosiers off in 47.32. Once again, Shackell provides the clear replacement here. Shackell comes to Bloomington with a career best of 47.44 in the 100 free. The potential upside here is that Clark has split 47.88 on a relay before, so she may also present an upgrade over Mya DeWitt, who split 48.19 on the relay last season. Indiana tied for 7th in the 400 free last year and all signs point to them being at least as fast as they were last year.
The 800 free is almost the exact same story. Peplowski is the only loss from a team that came in 8th last year. Now, losing Peplowski hurts more here, as she was the NCAA champion in the 200 free last year. She split 1:40.97 on the 2nd leg last year. Shackell is the clear choice here as well. She comes to IU with a personal best of 1:42.28, which isn’t as fast as Peplowski, but is still an elite 200 free.
There could be more shuffling on this relay, however. Miranda Grana led off in 1:44.91 last year, Reese Tiltmann split 1:44.31, and Kristina Paegle was 1:44.95. USC transfer Macky Hodges holds a personal best of 1:44.77, so she seems like she could likely end up on this relay. Clark is another person to look at here, as she was as fast as 1:45.76 in high school.
The medley relays could be a bit trickier to project. The loss of Brearna Crawford hurts, so IU will have to hope that one of their newcomers will be able to handle breaststroke duties with competitive splits. Jonette Laegreid is the first swimmer to look towards. The NCAA DII champion in both breaststroke events, she clocked a 26.88 split on the 200 medley relay at her conference championship meet last season. That’s just a tick behind the 26.71 Crawford put up at NCAAs for Indiana last year. Laegreid also split 59.38 on the 400 medley relay last year. If we’re counting on improvement out of Laegreid now that she’s with IU, she should be a very good choice to replace Crawford on the relays.
Freshman Alessandra Gusperti from Italy is primarily a sprint freestyler and flyer, however, she does boast a career best of 32.75 in the LCM 50 breast. If she’s just simply a sprinty swimmer in general, that’s exactly the type of swimmer Ray Looze has had a lot of success in getting elite 50 breast splits for medley relays out of.
The 200 medley relay also lost their backstroker from last year in Kacey McKenna. Ideally, Miranda Grana would move to backstroke and Alex Shackell would handle fly duties on that relay, however, this may well be the relay Shackell sits out of. Without Shackell, Mya DeWitt would be the clear choice to swim backstroke, and they could leave Grana on fly. It will be interesting to see how that ends up playing out, because Shackell has already split 21.95 on the 50 fly in a 200 medley relay, which is among the fastest splits in history. If you can have Grana on backstroke, Shackell on fly, and Paegle on free, that 200 medley could be deadly, even with a middle of the pack breast split.
The 400 medley faces the same question. Mya DeWitt swam the back leg last year, and did so phenomenally, putting up a 50.79. They could keep the rest of the relay the same as last year, with Grana on fly and Paegle on free, and just swap out Laegreid for Crawford’s breast leg. That may be what they decide to do, however, they could also switch Grana to backstroke and put Shackell on fly, which would give them sub-:50 legs on both back and fly. We’ll have to wait and see what the coaching staff determines the best strategy is. Whichever relay they decide to use both Shackel and Grana on should be one of the fastest in the NCAA.
Total Stars: 25.5/40
2025-26 OUTLOOK
This is a tricky team to rate heading into the season. They’re a little less balanced throughout the strokes than they were last season. This year, where they’re good, they’re great. For example, fly, where the combination of Miranda Grana and Alex Shackell should be elite. The same thing with backstroke, where Grana and Mya DeWitt should lead to huge scoring at the NCAA level.
On the flip side, there are plenty of places where it’s hard to see any swimmers scoring at NCAAs and, in some cases, it doesn’t seem likely they’ll have anyone qualified for NCAAs. Take distance free, for example. Last year, IU scored 44 points in the 500 and the 1650, yet, it seems very possible they won’t have anyone invited to NCAAs in those events this year.
Breast is another key area. They bring in the DII champion in both breast events from last year in Jonette Laegreid, yet her career best in the 100 breast wouldn’t have been fast enough to qualify for DI NCAAs last year. Her 200 breast would have earned an invite, but she’s still off a scoring time in that event. If Ray Looze and company can work their breaststroke magic, she could become a huge scoring asset in the breast events this year, however, right now, it doesn’t look like IU will have a scoring breaststroker.
Shifting back to the positive, it seems like the relays should actually be a little better than last year. They also brought in a ton of sprint free talent with this freshmen class. If they can hit on just a few of those swimmers, this could quickly become an elite sprint free group.
Still, the issue is that Indiana loses 129 points in individual events from last year, and it’s hard to see where those points are going to be replaced. It seems fair to say Alex Shackell should be worth something like 40 points as a freshman. She’s one of the fastest flyers in the NCAA and, whatever her 3rd event ends up being, she should at the very least be a ‘B’ final contender in it. There’s room for growth with Grana and Kristina Paegle over last year. Grana should hopefully move from the ‘B’ final to the ‘A’ in the 200 back, given her performance last year. Paegle was 11th and 12th respectively in prelims of the 100 and 50 free at NCAAs last year. If she’s able to improve just a tick in prelims this year, that could shift from a pair of ‘B’ finals swims to a pair of ‘A’ finals.
Those improvements are important and will matter in the team standings, however, between Shackell, Grana, and Paegle, that would still only make up less than half of the points the lost last year. If they’re going to try to make it all up, it would take homeruns on Laegreid and Liberty Williams in their freshmen seasons, and some really significant improvement out of the returning divers. Even then, they would probably still need Macky Hodges to have the best season of her NCAA career and Kaylee Bishop to immediately be a star diver in the NCAA immediately as a freshman.
While it’s certainly possible that Indiana could repeat their program high performance from last year at NCAAs, it would take a whole lot to make that happen. In other words, it’s likely they slip from their 4th place finish last year. That’s not to paint the program in a negative light heading into this season, it’s really just a testament to the incredible amount of talent they had in last year’s senior class. Plus, while they’re probably facing a slip, it shouldn’t be a huge one. Even if they score 60 points less than last year at NCAAs, which seems like a reasonable estimate, that would only have dropped them from 4th to 6th based on last year’s scores.
There’s a lot of promise with Indiana’s additions to the roster, but they’re still facing an uphill battle to remain in the top 5 this year.
WOMEN’S 2025-26 COLLEGE PREVIEW INDEX
RANK (2024) TEAM SPRINT FREE DISTANCE FREE BACK BREAST FLY IM DIVING RELAY TOTAL 1 Virginia Cavaliers 2 Stanford Cardinal 3 Texas Longhorns 4 Indiana Hoosiers ★★★½ ★ ★★★★ ★★ ★★★★½ ★★½ ★★★ ★★★★★ 25.5/40 5 Tennessee Volunteers ★★★½ ★★★ ★★ ★★★★★ ★★★ ★★★ ★ ★★★ 23.5/40 6 Florida Gators ★ ★★★ ★★ ★★★ ★★ ★★★½ ★★★ ★★★ 20.5/40 7 Louisville Cardinals ★★★★ ★★ ★★½ ★★★ ★★★ ★★★ ★ ★★★★ 22.5/40 8 Cal Golden Bears ★★★½ ★★★★ ★★★½ ★★★ ★★★★ ★★½ ★ ★★★★ 25.5/40 9 Michigan Wolverines ★★★★ ★★★★ ★★★★ ★★★ ★★★ ★★½ ★ ★★★★★ 26.5/40 10 NC State Wolfpack ★★★ ★ ★★★★★ ★★★★ ★★★ ★★ ★ ★★★★ 23/40 11 USC Trojans ★★★★ ★★★ ★ ★½ ★ ★★★½ ★★ ★★★ 19/40 12 Wisconsin Badgers ★★ ★ ★★½ ★★ ★ ★ ★ ★★ 12.5/40Read the full story on SwimSwam: 2026 College Swimming Previews: #4 Indiana Women Facing Huge Losses After Historic 2025 Season
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