By James Sutherland on SwimSwam
The calendars have flipped to September, which means that Division I NCAA programs are gearing up for the start of the 2026-27 season. As always, we’ll rank in reverse order from #16 to #1. But before we get started, we’ve got a few honorable mentions.
See Also:
Individual Recruit Rankings: Boys Final StandingsA few important notes on our rankings:
The rankings listed are based on our Class of 2026 Re-Rank. “HM” refers to our honorable mentions and “BOTR” refers to our Best of the Rest section for top-tier recruits. Like most of our rankings, these placements are subjective. We base our team ranks on a number of factors: prospects’ incoming times are by far the main factor, but we also consider potential upside in the class, class size, relay impact, and team needs. Greater weight is placed on known success in short course yards, so foreign swimmers are slightly devalued based on the difficulty in converting long course times to short course production. Transfers are included, though they are weighed less than recruits who arrive with four seasons of eligibility. For the full list of all verbally committed athletes, click here. A big thank you to SwimSwam’s own Anne Lepesant for compiling that index – without it, rankings like these would be far less comprehensive. Some teams had not released a finalized 2026-27 team roster at the time these articles were published, meaning it’s possible we missed some names. Let us know in the comments below.NCAA Swimming and Diving Recruiting Classes – Men’s Class of 2026: Honorable Mentions
MINNESOTA
The Golden Gophers have a relatively big class with 10 newcomers in 2026-27, led by BOTR recruit Dawson Walters and Turkish distance standout Emir Batur Albayrak. Walters is a versatile sprinter who’s best events are in butterfly (46.8/1:44.9), which is key given the loss of Jacob Johnson. Walters is also 20.1/43.7/1:36.6 in the freestyle events and 21.0/47.0 in the 50 and 100 back, making him a likely relay contributor in his freshman year. Albayrak has been as fast as 3:51.2/7:56.3/15:00 in the distance freestyle events in long course, though this past season he was 3:53.6/7:56.4/15:10.
Bolstering the distance group will be Findlay transfer Sebastián Camacho, a top-three finisher in the 500 (4:15.9), 1000 (8:51) and 1650 (15:03) at the 2026 Division II NCAAs.
Along with Walters, other domestic additions include Chase Grisi, a 20.0/44.6/1:36.3 freestyler who also goes 48.1 in the 100 fly, Joey Zelen, a sprinter with 19.8/43.7 freestyle bests, and Luca Ignatescu, who’s versatile across back (1:47.8), fly (1:47.0) and IM (1:48.5/3:50.5). They’ve also got Bulgarian backstroker Daren Kirilov (52.5/1:52.2 SCM) and Swedish diver Folke Barenius joining the fold.
HARVARD
Harvard’s got a deep international class that also includes BOTR recruit Owen Lin from the Greensboro Swimming Association. Lin is versatile across IM (1:45.7/3:50.8), freestyle (20.1/44.2/1:37.6) and butterfly (47.8/1:45.3). He was 6th in the 200 fly and 7th in the 200 IM this past season at Winter Juniors – East.
Another domestic recruit in Harvard’s class is George Dovellos, a strong freestyler (43.7/1:36.0/4:24.3) and butterflier (46.8/1:47.0) from the Bolles School Sharks who won the FHSAA 1A state title last season in the 100 fly.
The foreign members of the class also excel in freestyle: Turkey’s Arda Akkoyun (22.8/51.3 LCM), Bulgaria’s Alex Naydenov (52.0/1:51.5/3:56 LCM) and Deyvid Naydenov (51.6/1:50.8/3:57 LCM), Greece’s Konstantinos Geramanis (1:52.3/3:55 LCM) and Estonia’s Mark Iltsisin (3:49/7:54/15:06 SCM).
Akkoyun is an even better butterflier (23.7/52.3/1:59 LCM), while Ireland’s Adam Bradley adds some breaststroke pedigree to the class (27.5/1:00.8 LCM).
OHIO STATE
The Buckeyes have a relatively small class, but it deserves a mention with top-20 recruit Mattaus Rammel headlining the class.
Rammel is an elite fly sprinter (20.8/45.8) and will become Ohio State’s best in the 200 this season with his best time of 1:43.50. He’s also 19.9/43.0 in the sprint freestyles, making him a prime candidate to take a sprint relay spot for the Buckeyes.
Jack Wroblewski (54.0/2:00.3) is a good breaststroke addition who has also been 20.7 in the 50 free, while Sawyer Davis (20.4/45.2) and Teagen Renze (20.2/44.2/1:37.2) add more sprint freestyle jam to the group. Renze is also 48.4/1:49.3 in the backstrokes.
Brazilian Cauã Angelotti is a rangy freestyler (1:51.3/3:54/8:05/15:43 LCM) who has converted times just shy of top-16 range at Big Tens.
NORTHWESTERN
Northwestern’s class is highlighted by Brandon Ha, the 19th-ranked recruit in the boys’ high school class of 2026, who has a similar skillset to Ohio State’s Rammel.
Ha’s 1:43.53 best time in the 200 fly ranks him third in the class and puts him #2 on Northwestern’s roster behind Diego Nosack, who’s entering his senior year. Ha is also strong in the 100 fly (46.0) and boasts solid freestyle times (19.7/44.2) that could make him a relay asset.
The domestic class also includes Zack Kusch, a versatile sprinter with impressive bests across free (20.7/45.6), back (48.6), breast (54.1/1:58.5), fly (47.0/1:45.1) and the 200 IM (1:47.7), Jack Chiappetta, a 48.8/1:46.2 backstroker, Ben Whiteford, a 22.3/48.0/1:47.8 backstroker who also excels in sprint free (20.3/44.5), and distance freestyler Cooper Zakorchemny (4:28/9:09/15:24).
Among the internationals, Mike Marder is a good breaststroker (1:02.4/2:18.2 LCM) and IMer (2:02.8 LCM) who can also sprint free (23.1/49.9 SCM) and back (24.7/54.0) at a respectable level, and Caleb Romero is a 25.7/56.1 LCM butterflier.
UNC
UNC brings in a freestyle-heavy class with Honorable Mention recruit Evan Gluck leading the way. Gluck is the third-fastest swimmer in the boys’ class of 2026 in the 1650 free with his PB of 14:55.27, which would’ve ranked #1 on the Tar Heels’ roster last season and is close to earning an NCAA invite.
Gluck, who is also 4:23 in the 500 free and 8:56 in the 1000, will have some strong distance free training partners next season with Sawyer Stolarczyk (1:35.9/4:28) and Jackson DeBruin (4:25/9:07/15:32) also joining the team. Stolarczyk is also a dangerous butterflier (47.4/1:47.0).
Serbian Luka Jovanovic brings more fly pedigree to the table with long course bests of 24.2/53.5 in the 50 and 100, while domestic recruit Yofang Yu can also sprint fly with SCY bests of 21.7/47.2.
Isaac Carsel is a BOTR breaststroker with bests of 52.8/1:57.2, joining a decent group at UNC that includes Ben Delmar and Xavier Ruiz, who were both sub-52 in the 100 last season.
Blake Hill is a versatile addition with strengths in backstroke (48.7/1:46.2), butterfly (48.1/1:45.6) and IM (3:50.4), while Gluck also brings some medley ability with his 400 best of 3:52.2.
KENTUCKY
Kentucky brings in a small but strong international freshman class that’s defined by its freestyle prowess.
Brazilian Stephan Steverink was the 2022 World Junior champion in the 400 free and is coming off setting lifetime bests in the 200 free (1:47.02) and 400 free (3:46.62) at the Pan Pacific Championships in August, which convert down to 1:33.5/4:13.9 in yards.
He’s also been 2:00.1/4:14.9 in the medley events in long course, so he’s got plenty of versatility. However, with the new NCAA age-based eligibility model, Steverink, 22, only projects to have two seasons of eligibility.
Italian Filippo Bertoni won bronze in the 400 free (3:48.73) at the 2023 World Juniors and has also been as fast as 1:48.4 in the 200, 7:53 in the 800 and 15:10 in the 1500 in long course, further strengthening the Kentucky distance group. Though his 400 free best time still stems from 2023, he was close (3:48.90) this past April.
Estonian Siim Keskula adds some sprint panache to the mix with bests of freestyle bests of 22.7/49.8 in long course (50/100) and 48.2/1:47.0 in short course meters (100/200). He’s also been 24.5 in the 50 fly in long course.
Latvian Nikolass Deicmans also has some potential in freestyle (51.1/1:52.8 LCM) but will probably focus more on backstroke, where’s the Latvian Record holder in both the long course (2:00.54) and short course (1:53.47) 200 back. He’s also been 52.4 in SCM and 55.7 in LCM in the 100 back. Those SCM times indicate he can step in and immediately be an NCAA qualifier, and potentially even challenge to score in the 200.
GEORGIA TECH
Georgia Tech has a small five-swimmer class joining the team this season, but they’ve got each discipline covered in some regard.
The headliner of the class is Turkish breaststroker Kerem Ilyem, a semi-finalist in the 200 breast at the 2025 SC European Championships who owns SCM best times of 27.1/58.7/2:05.2. With converted times of 52.9/1:52.8, Ilyem could push for an ‘A’ final at ACCs and maybe an NCAA berth in the 200, while in the 100, he’s within range of a top-16 conference finish.
The breaststroke group also gains Christopher Koch, who has been 56.1/2:00.4.
Anthony Rulkowski finished off his short course season with a bang in March, winning Illinois Senior titles in the 50 fly (21.90), 100 fly (47.87), 200 fly (1:48.39) and 200 IM (1:48.99), and he also set best times in the 50 free (20.61) and 200 free (1:38.27) while producing a 44.89 relay split in the 100. He’ll give the team some butterfly punch with their medley relay flier from last season Stephen Jones graduating.
Aiken-Augusta Swim League’s George Groves is a solid freestyler (1:38.0/4:26) and has some potential in the 200 back (1:46.9), and James Sorensen also brings some backstroke pedigree to the mix (22.3/48.0/1:45.4) along with a 48.7 100 fly.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Ranking The 2026 Men’s NCAA Recruiting Classes: Honorable Mentions
Hence then, the article about ranking the 2026 men s ncaa recruiting classes honorable mentions was published today ( ) and is available on swimswam ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Ranking The 2026 Men’s NCAA Recruiting Classes: Honorable Mentions )
Also on site :