2025-26 NCAA Women’s Power Rankings: Pre-Invite Edition ...Middle East

By Sean Griffin on SwimSwam

As in previous years, SwimSwam’s Power Rankings are somewhere between the CSCAA-style dual meet rankings and a pure prediction of NCAA finish order. SwimSwam’s rankings take into account how a team looks at the moment, while keeping the end of the season in mind through things like a team’s previous trajectory and NCAA scoring potential. These rankings are by nature subjective, and a jumping-off point for discussion. If you disagree with any team’s ranking, feel free to make your case in our comments section. 

James Sutherland, Braden Keith, Madeline Folsom, Robert Gibbs, Sophie Kaufman, Anya Pelshaw, and Terin Frodyma contributed to this report.   

Previous Rankings: 

It’s been just over a month since our last Power Rankings, and although we’ve already seen plenty of fast swimming, there hasn’t been much movement at the top. NC State jumped two spots, Louisville moved up one, and Indiana dropped one, but the rest of the top 12 remained steady.

Further down the list, there were some significant changes: Duke rose three spots, Wisconsin moved up two, and Alabama climbed one. Meanwhile, Kansas, Virginia Tech, and Miami all fell three spots, North Carolina dropped two, and Purdue slipped one. Louisiana State and Arizona State made the rankings this time around after just missing the top 25 in our early-season polls.

Princeton and Minnesota fell out of the rankings after previously sitting 20th and 23rd, respectively. This is more a reflection of other teams swimming more meets since our early-season rankings, providing additional data on depth, rather than an indication that these teams are significantly underperforming.

We anticipate the upcoming invites to provide more clarity on team standings, so additional movement—especially at the top—could come once those meets wrap up in early December.

Honorable Mentions: Princeton, Texas A&M, Pitt, Akron, Rutgers, Minnesota, and UCLA.

#25: Kansas Jayhawks -3 (Previous Rank: 22)

The Jayhawks are heavily reliant on junior diver Shiyun Lai, who helped carry the team to 25th place at last year’s NCAA Championship meet and was their only NCAA qualifier last season. – S.G.

#24: Auburn Tigers — (Previous Rank: 24)

The Tigers’ 10-strong freshman class, along with their transfers, has been swimming well. NCAA diving scorer Emily Hallifax, who placed 13th in platform last season, also gives them a reliable source of postseason points. – S.G.

#23: Wisconsin Badgers +2 (Previous Rank: 25)

Losing Phoebe Bacon is hurting the Badgers, but their sister duo of Maggie and Abby Wanezek are doing their best to fill those gaps. Sophomore Maggie currently ranks 3rd in the country in the 100 back and 6th in the 200 back, and she split a 47.9 on the 400 freestyle relay. – M.F.

#22. Virginia Tech Hokies -3 (Previous Rank: 19)

Carmel Weiler Sastre has been swimming well; she scored all 25 of the team’s individual points last season and helped lead them to a pair of 14th-place relay finishes, which accounted for all of their remaining points. Emily Claesson has proven to be a clutch relay contributor and has been within striking distance of her PBs, but there’s still a gap to fill following the departure of Emma Atkinson. – S.G.

#21. South Carolina Gamecocks — (Previous Rank: 21)

South Carolina has been a surprise this season, and they just keep winning meets. They notched their first win over Georgia since 1985 and followed it up with another victory over Alabama, also their first since the ’85 season when they went 10-0 and finished 11th at the NCAA Championships. Diver Sophie Verzyl has been a huge factor, and the team has swept the 200s of stroke at all of their meets so far. Don’t count out the Gamecocks for a top-15 finish if they can find some speed at the sprint end. – M.F.

#20: LSU Tigers — (Previous Rank: NR)

LSU jumps onto the rankings after they swept Alabama and Florida State in dominant fashion to start November. They currently sit 8th in the country in the 200 medley relay with a time faster than they swam at last year’s NCAA Championships. – M.F.

#19. Purdue Boilermakers -1 (Previous Rank: 19)

Divers Avery Worobel and Daryn Wright continue to put on for the Boilermakers, cementing themselves as potential NCAA champions on the boards later this season. – T.F.

#18. Miami (FL) Hurricanes -3 (Previous Rank: 15)

Aside from a narrow victory over Rutgers, there is not much to go off of for this Hurricanes team. The SMU Invite will be a nice test to see what sort of potential this team has going forward, outside of diving. – T.F. 

#17: Arizona State Sun Devils — (Previous Rank: NR)

The defending Big 12 Champion in the 100 fly Julia Ullmann is being counted on a lot by the Sun Devils this season, and so far she’s coming through. – B.K. 

#16: Alabama Crimson Tide +1 (Previous Rank: 17)

Alabama junior Cadence Vincent is one of the biggest difference-makers on the team, and her 50 and 100 free times both rank in the top 15 so far this season during one of the fastest Octobers ever in the NCAA. Backstroker Emily Jones is also making a huge impact, winning the 100 back against Texas and leading off Alabma’s 3rd ranked 200 medley relay (which Vincent was also on). – M.F.

#15: UNC Tar Heels -2 (Previous Rank: 13)

The Tar Heels are dealing with the massive loss of superstar diver Aranza Vazquez Montano, who scored more than 60% of their points last year en route to placing 17th at NCAAs. However, they are returning three scorers, led by sophomore diver Lanie Gutch, and some of their swimmers have turned in strong early-season swims. Mary Macaulay could be an IM scorer, and Sophia Frei and Emma Karam have looked good early in the backstrokes. – J.S.

#14: Georgia Bulldogs — (Previous Rank: 14)

Freshman Kennedi Dobson is making a huge impact for the Bulldogs just a month into her college career, and she currently leads the country in the 500 heading into mid-season. She is joined by a strong collection of returning swimmers that are filling the gaps from swimmers they lost nicely. – M.F.

#13. Duke Blue Devils +3 (Previous Rank: 16)

Duke has managed some gritty wins to start the season, notably over in-state rivals North Carolina, and big time win over Northwestern. Tatum Wall has already established herself as an early top-10 sprint freestyler in both the 50 and 100. Ali Pfaff has also given the Blue Devils a major boost in the backstroke department. – T.F. 

#12. Ohio State Buckeyes — (Previous Rank: 12)

The Buckeyes only competed in one meet so far, the Raleigh Rumble, so it’s hard to get a full grasp of what the roster looks like this season. – A.P.

#11. USC Trojans — (Previous Rank: 11)

Minna Abraham already looks strong for the Trojans. – A.P. 

#10: Florida Gators — (Previous Rank: 10)

Anita Bottazzo is a revelation for the Gators, but graduations and the transfer of Bella Sims has left a lot of gaps in their lineup. – B.K. 

=#8. Michigan Wolverines — (Previous Rank: 8)

Michigan is my sleeper top 5 pick. The Wolverines look good this season, with Brady Kendall already being better in the 50 free than she was at Big Tens last year. Bella Sims seems to be locked in with her new program, and while it’s not a super deep team, their 400 medley relay ranks #2 in the NCAA this season. The three legs of Bella Sims, Leticia Sim, and Stephanie Balduccini are a great start to a medley, and Lexi Greenhawt is way ahead of schedule on the fly leg. – B.K. 

Bella Sims helps offset the team’s freestyle losses, and the addition of a backstroker is huge; she seems to have adjusted well so far. – A.P.

=#8. Louisville Cardinals +1 (Previous Rank: 9)

The Louisville women, behind the strength of Julia Dennis and lowkey the #2 or #3 sprint group in the country, pulled off a big upset over Tennessee. Remember that the Cardinals are historically among the best at hitting their NCAA Championship taper, so that bumps them up relative to what you might expect on paper. -B.K. 

=#6. Indiana Hoosiers -1 (Previous Rank: 5)

The transfer Miranda Grana is keeping the Hoosiers afloat. Ella Roselli is off to a good start in diving this season, but I’m not sure there’s any big diving bailout this season to get them into the top 5. -B.K.

=#6. Tennessee Volunteers — (Previous Rank: 6)

Dual meet scoring is way different than NCAA scoring, and the Vols benefit from NCAA scoring. – A.P.

Tennessee has a very hot hand in recruiting right now, which gives the program some energy. A loss to Louisville exposed the hunt for depth for the Volunteers. They have some real stars in Camille Spink, Ella Jansen, and McKenzie Siroky, but they need some development to fill out their NCAA roster (especially a butterflier). – B.K.

#5: NC State Wolfpack +2 (Previous Rank: 7)

Eneli Jefimova is a star, and will have some huge and will add to an exciting breaststroke field for this year’s NCAA Championship meet. Erika Pelaez’s #3 event this year so far is the 500 free (4:42.21), all while splitting 21-mids on relay anchors. – B.K.

#4: California Golden Bears — (Previous Rank: 4)

The Cal women have been building for years, and seem to be right on schedule early in the season as they ascend back to the top. They’re already knocking on the door of their arch rivals from Stanford. -B.K.

#3: Texas Longhorns — (Previous Rank: 3)

Eva Okaro’s seamless transition to the NCAA and short course swimming fills a huge gap for the Texas women in sprinting and should be enough to seal them into this #2 spot ahead of Stanford. Neither team is really built around sprinting or relays, which does leave a small gap for a darkhorse program – though really among the top 5 programs, only Virginia has a big electric sprinting group, so Okaro gives the Longhorns some firm footing to hold off the likes of Tennessee, Louisville, etc. – B.K.

#2: Stanford Cardinal — (Previous Rank: 2)

The transition to the Chris Lindauer era seems to be going well for the Cardinal. Their big 3, Huske, Bricker, and Bell, are all swimming well early in the year. Going to be tough to compete with the depth of Virginia and Texas. – B.K.

#1. Virginia Cavaliers — (Previous Rank: 1)

And you thought this was going to be a rebuilding year for Virginia. Boom Sara Curtis, boom Tess Howley, boom Claire Curzan and Aimee Canny, boom Anna Moesch, and the really fun surprise, boom Bryn Greenwaldt. This team isn’t as good as the one that won the title last year, but neither is Texas. Virginia still is an incredibly-deep team, and if they can get a little more out of Leah Hayes this season, it should be a runaway come March. – B.K.

No more of the Walshs, but this team has already developed some talent—especially on the sprint end, with Sara Curtis and Bryn Greenwaldt helping to fill in relay gaps. – A.P.

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