By Spencer Penland on SwimSwam
2026 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships
Wednesday, March 18 – Saturday, March 21, 2026 McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta, GA Defending Champions: Virginia (5x) Championship Central Preview Index Psych Sheet Live Stream Live Results Live Recaps Prelims: Day 1 Finals: Day 1Top 10 Teams After Night 1
Virginia — 100 Texas — 89 Stanford/Louisville — 59 — Michigan — 56 Tennessee — 52 California — 49 Indiana — 46 Ohio State — 39 Georgia — 34The 1st day of the 2026 Women’s NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships is in the books. Today was our 1st real taste of the new format, wherein only the top 8 swam in finals. At the end of day 1, Virginia, the 5-time defending champions, had taken the lead. Texas had a terrific day 1, and finds themselves sitting just 11 points behind Virginia with 3 events already in the books.
With the top line out of the way, let’s take a look at how the teams today performed versus their projected scored from the psych sheet. While looking at the points actually scored versus the seeded points from the psych sheet doesn’t tell the whole story, it’s actually quite indicative of team momentum. Without further ado, here is the breakdown of each team’s scores versus their projected scores:
Team Psych Points Points Scored Difference vs Seed Virginia 103 100 -3 Texas 77 89 12 Stanford 58 59 1 Louisville 65 59 -6 Michigan 62 56 -6 Tennessee 50 52 2 Cal 69 49 -20 Indiana 34 46 12 Ohio State 44 39 -5 Georgia 43 34 -9 Florida 12 31 19 NC State 34 28 -6 USC 24 24 0 Alabama 22 22 0 Wisconsin 20 16 -4 Nebraska 15 15 0 LSU 14 14 0 Pitt 4 10 6 Penn 3 6 3 Minnesota 0 6 6 Arizona State 0 6 6 UCLA 6 4 -2 South Carolina 0 4 4 Duke 0 2 2 Notre Dame 0 2 2 Indiana State 0 2 2This data paints an interesting picture. Starting with the champs, while Virginia won both relays tonight and had some truly stellar swims, they underperformed versus the psych sheet. That was due to their performance in the 1650 free, where Cavan Gormsen took 13th after being seeded 10th. The Cavaliers were only -3 on the day, and they had such an advantage in the psych sheet scoring, that it’s really no cause for concern for the 5-time defending champions.
While Virginia shouldn’t feel worried at all about their team performance on day one, Texas should feel great about where they’re at. The Longhorns tied for the 2nd biggest gain versus the psych sheet today, scoring 12 more points than they were projected to. Additionally, Texas ended today down only 11 points to Virginia. With 3 swimming events in the books already, and a decided advantage in the diving events, Texas is in excellent position heading into Thursday.
Another team that has a lot of reason to feel really good heading into tomorrow is Indiana. The Hoosiers tied Texas for the 2nd biggest gain versus the psych sheet, going +12 on the day. Those 12 points came in the relays, where Indiana was great, going from the 13th seed to 9th in the 200 medley relay, and from the 6th seed to 5th in the 800 free relay. On top of that, Indiana had some exceptional individual performances on the day, including freshman Liberty Clark‘s 1:39.70 leading off the 800 free relay, which marks a new IU program record and Big Ten record. Alex Shackell’s 1:41.47 800 free relay split was very encouraging for the rest of her swims this week.
The biggest winner of the day sort of flew under the radar, but performed incredibly well. Florida was +19 versus their seeded score, racking up 31 points and ended the day in 11th. In the 200 medley relay, Florida rose from the 20th seed all the way to 11th. The Gators also went from the 14th seed in the 800 free relay to 11th. If they can keep the momentum rolling, Florida could be battling for a top 10 finish, which would be great, since they were seeded to finish 12th.
From the biggest winner to the biggest loser, Cal was the biggest underperformer of the day, going -20 versus their seed. That was due to their DQ in the 200 medley relay, which has put them in a hole. Cal was seeded to finish 5th in this meet, but with the DQ, they’re going to have to swim very well, especially in prelims, to contend for a top 5 finish.
Stanford had a good opening day, scoring 1 more point than they were seeded to. The Cardinal does have an interesting choice on their hands, however. Superstar Torri Huske swam on both relays tonight. Her appearance on the 800 free relay was somewhat unexpected, but it seems to have paid off, as she clocked a 1:41.41 on the 2nd leg of the relay, which was critical to Stanford’s 6th place finish in what was a very fast 800 free relay heat. The interesting thing now is that Huske will have to miss one of the remaining relays. It seems most likely that it would be the 200 free relay, since, even though she’s Stanford’s fastest 50 freestyler, they have plenty of sprinters on the roster. That, coupled with how critical she is to the 400 medley and 400 free relays, makes it seem like Stanford will go on with Huske in the 200 free relay tomorrow.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Women’s NCAAs Day 1 Scoring Analysis: Texas, Indiana, and Florida Among the Biggest Winners
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