2026-27 College Swimming Previews: 11 Alabama Women Relying on Veterans to Stay in Top-12 ...Middle East

By Madeline Folsom 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 2026 NCAA Championships. Follow along with the College Swimming Preview Channel. Want to read even more? Check out the latest edition of the SwimSwam magazine.

Women’s #11: Alabama Crimson Tide

Key Losses: Tessa Giele (7 NCAA points, 4 NCAA relays), Mackenzie Brandt (1 NCAA relay), Charlotte Rosendale (3 NCAA relays), Ella Jones (1 NCAA relay)

Key Additions: BOTR Emma Bronson (OR — fly), Zara Zallen (Mizzou transfer — breast), Avery Luedke (Tennessee transfer — distance free), Iman Avdic (Bosnia and Herzegovina — free)

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.

We’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.

The final note is that we are not including athletes who graduated last spring after exhausting their college eligibility despite ongoing lawsuits against the NCAA regarding the new “Five-for-Five” rule.

2025-26 Lookback

Alabama earned its highest NCAA finish since 2022 last season, scoring 100.5 points to earn the 11th overall ranking at the meet, just 25 points behind Florida.

This was a four spot improvement from their 15th place finish in 2025 after they had three individual scorers and scored points in four of their five relays.

Cadence Vincent, who was a junior last season, led the team with 14.5 points after she finished 14th in the 50 free and 7th in the 100 free. She was followed closely by Emily Jones and her 11 points after she earned an 8th place finish in the 100 back.

The only other individual scorer at the meet was mid-season addition Tessa Giele, who scored seven points after she finished 10th in the 100 fly.

The only relay the Crimson Tide did not score points in was the 800 free relay (20th). They finished 9th in the 200 free relay, 10th in the 400 free relay, 8th in the 200 medley relay, and 10th in the 400 medley relay.

Jones, Vincent, and Giele were the highest scoring swimmers at the SEC Championships, but they were followed closely by junior Gaby Van Brunt, who brought in 44 points and qualified to swim the 100 fly at NCAAs, where she finished 34th.

Junior Victoria Raymond was their other NCAA team member, and she finished 25th in the 200 fly.

Sprint Free: ★★★

Alabama’s top sprint freestyler Cadence Vincent is back for another season with the program, and after finishing 14th in the 50 free and 7th in the 100 free as a junior, she will be aiming to earn ‘A’ final swims in both events this season.

Last year, she set a personal best time of 46.87 in the 100 free at NCAAs, two tenths faster than the 47.06 she swam at the SEC Championships. In the 50 free, she swam 21.66 at NCAAs to finish 14th. At SECs she set a season best 21.58 to finish 4th which was one hundredth off the 21.57 she swam at the 2025 NCAAs. If Vincent can get back to that time in the 50, she could easily score double digit points in both events.

Vincent was also their top 200 freestyler in 1:44.19, which was just two tenths off the NCAA cutline of 1:44.00. She is their best bet to add a scoring swim in the 200 free this season with 16th place sitting at 1:43.46 in prelims.

Incoming Mizzou transfer Zara Zallen has a lifetime best of 1:46.02 in the 200 free from the Mizzou vs Louisville dual meet in January. She is also a 47.87 in the 100 free. Both swims are outside the NCAA cutline, but will likely make her a strong relay contender.

Distance Free: ★

Alabama graduated their top two distance freestylers after last season including Mackenzie Brandt, who swam the 500 free and the 1650 free at the 2026 NCAA Championships finishing 17th and 18th respectively.

In the 500 free, Tennessee transfer Avery Luedke has a lifetime best 4:48.42, which would have been second on last year’s team to Ella Jones, who graduated. She is outside the 2026 cutline of 4:41.47 and would need to see a significant drop to qualify and score in 2027.

Luedke will be their top miler on paper with her pre-college best of 16:30.28. Her fastest mile time last season came in at 16:33.91 from the Speedo Winter Junior Championships – West. This puts her just inside of SEC scoring position. The NCAA cutline stood at 16:15.74 last year.

Lolly Milbaum will be a sophomore this year, and she finished 24th at SECs in the mile after swimming a time of 16:49.27. Her lifetime best is 16:25.32 from December of 2024, which is still outside the cutline, but would have been been much closer than she was this past season.

Overall, Alabama has a few distance weapons and has been known to develop distance swimmers in the past, but they will need some significant drops if they want to score in either event this season.

Backstroke: ★★½

Emily Jones is back for one more season with Alabama after taking a redshirt year earlier in her career. She scored 11 points with her 8th place finish in the 100 backstroke in 2026, and she will be trying to crack the top five this year.

At NCAAs, she swam 50.47 in prelims to qualify 7th for the final before swimming 50.97 in the final. While women’s backstroke keeps getting faster, Jones feels like a very safe bet to qualify for one of the two finals this year.

When it comes to the 200 backstroke, Jones has qualified for NCAAs both of the last two seasons and her 1:52.35 from the 2026 SEC Championships would have been just outside the 1:51.97 it took to score. Despite this, Jones has opted not to race the event at NCAAs in either of the two years she has qualified making her kind of a wild card in 2027.

The Crimson Tide will also retain Ella Menear, who was 2nd on the team in both backstroke events with her 52.11 and 1:54.88 from the 2026 SEC Championships.

Breaststroke: ★

The top breaststroker on last year’s Alabama team, Charlotte Rosendale, graduated after finishing 12th at the SEC Championships in the 100 breast last season in 59.68.

The top returning breaststroker is senior Jada Scott, who finished 18th in the 100 breast at 1:00.31 after swimming 59.80 at the UGA Fall Invitational. The NCAA cutline last year was 59.53, and Scott will be vying to earn an individual invite in the event.

Mizzou transfer Zara Zallen will come in as the top breaststroker on the team after she swam 59.41 at the Mizzou invite last November. This earned her an individual invite to the NCAA Championships, where she finished 37th in 1:00.38. If she can match her time at NCAAs, she could be a potential scorer for Alabama this season.

Alabama will also return their top 200 breaststroker from last season, Sydney Sanders, who swam 2:12.46 at the UGA Fall Invite, four seconds off the NCAA cutline of 2:08.77.

Butterfly: ★★

While Tessa Giele graduated, Alabama has a number of athletes that could earn invites and score points in both butterfly events.

Victoria Raymond and Gaby Van Brunt both qualified to swim butterfly events at last year’s NCAA Championships. Raymond finished 25th in the 200 fly at 1:56.23, a three-tenth add from the 1:55.93 she swam at the Alabama vs Auburn meet that would have been 22nd.

Van Brunt finished 34th in 52.03. Her lifetime best is 51.01 from the UGA Fall Invite, which is well within the 51.33 it took to score points at the 2026 NCAA Championships. That swim would have been 12th at NCAAs, pushing Alabama towards three star territory.

The Crimson Tide also picked up BOTR ranked butterflyer Emma Bronson, who has a lifetime best of 52.60 from the Winter Junior Championships. This is about six tenths off the invite time of 51.99, but after a year at an NCAA program, she could work her way under that 52-second barrier.

In the 200 fly, they will add Iman Avdic from Bosnia and Herzegovina, who is coming in with a converted 200 fly time of 1:58.46, two seconds off the NCAA Invite time of 1:56.22.

Emily Jones is another potential point scorer in the 100 fly with the 51.13 she swam at the SEC Championships last season. Just like the 200 back though, she elected not to swim the event at NCAAs.

IM: ★

Alabama did not have any individual IMers at the 2026 NCAA Championships and they would need to see some significant drops if that number is going to change this year.

Sydney Sanders, their top 200 IMer from 2026, will be a senior this year after she finished 22nd in the 200 IM at SECs in 1:59.96. She is stronger in the 400 IM, where she swam 4:12.80 to finish 13th at SECs, a seven tenth add from the 4:12.07 she swam at the UGA Fall Invite.

Sanders’ time from midseason was a little over three seconds off the Invite time of 4:08.80.

Isabella Chavez-Varela and Kate Christian will also be back this year. Chavez-Varela will be a sophomore, and she sits at 2:00.08 in the 200 IM and 4:18.66.

Christian will be a senior this season, and she owns respective best times of 2:00.72 and 4:14.23.

Diving: ★

There were two divers on Alabama’s scoring roster at last season’s SEC Championships and both are back for this season.

They also added freshman diver Aime Cano Lira from Mexico.

None of their returning divers qualified for the NCAA Championships.

Relays: ★★★

The Alabama relays lost a few major relay players in Tessa Giele and Charlotte Rosendale.

Giele swam on four relays, and was a major member of all four. The 200 free relay will suffer the most without her, as it also lost Charlotte Rosendale, who split 21.67. Giele was 21.60 on the third leg of the relay.

They have a few options to add with incoming transfer Zara Zallen, who has a lifetime best of 22.45 from the 2025 SEC Championships. Jada Scott was 23.34 at the UGA Fall Invite and is also a potential replacement. Gaby Van Brunt has a lifetime best of 22.64 from December of 2022, but her 100 free best is 47.93 which points to more in the tank for her 50.

The 400 free relay will only lose Giele, and Scott and Zallen can battle for that spot with Scott’s lifetime best sitting at 47.94 and Zallen’s at 47.87.

Zallen is another contender for the 800 free relay that lost Ella Jones and Mackenzie Brandt. Her best of 1:46.02 will be the 2nd fastest on the team next season, but she might run out of relay swims at NCAAs. There are a few other athletes who could also contend: Scott’s best is 1:48.62, Avery Luedke has a best time of 1:47.83, and Avdic’s time converts to 1:47.10.

The medley relays will both lose Giele and Rosendale, and both relays have similar athletes who could earn their way on.

Zallen and Scott will continue to battle for the open breaststroke spot left by Rosendale, but if Zallen can match her times from Mizzou it seems like the spot is hers to lose.

Gaby Van Brunt is the clear choice to take over the fly leg from Giele, but freshman Emma Bronson could have significant improvements to challenge for the spot as a freshman.

Overall, their medley and sprint free relays seem to be in okay shape and the relay that is hurting the most, the 800 free relay, is the one relay they didn’t score in last year.

Performing well on the relays will be crucial for the team, however, if they want to stay in the top-12 this season.

Total Stars: 15/40

2026-27 Outlook

Alabama’s top-12 finish at the 2026 NCAAs came in large part from the relays rather than single individual swims. That same method will be crucial if they want to repeat that performance this season, which makes a straight star-to-star comparison hard since so many of their points are likely to come from relays.

The addition of Zara Zallen is huge for the program, as she has the potential to be an individual breaststroke scorer as well as a four or five relay swimmer at the NCAA Championships.

With the new five-for-five policy, Alabama could have one or two more seasons with Cadence Vincent, and she will be the biggest contributor this year as well. After swimming five relays in 2026 and scoring the most individual points, Vincent is the backbone of Alabama’s team and their NCAA performance will depend significantly on her.

Emily Jones and Gaby Van Brunt are also big potential scorers and relay swimmers and they will be looking to improve their NCAA finishes this year as well.

WOMEN’S 2026-27 COLLEGE PREVIEW INDEX

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