Ranking The 2026 Men’s NCAA Recruiting Classes: 12-9 ...Middle East

By James Sutherland on SwimSwam

The calendars have flipped to September, which means that NCAA Division I programs are gearing up for the start of the 2026-27 season.

Now that we’ve gone through the Honorable Mentions and the 13th-16th-ranked teams, it’s time to dive into the top 12.

See Also:

A few important notes on our rankings:

Honorable Mentions: Minnesota, Harvard, Ohio State, Northwestern, UNC, Kentucky, Georgia Tech

Previously Ranked:

NCAA Swimming and Diving Recruiting Classes – Men’s Class of 2026: #12-9

#12: Alabama Crimson Tide

Alabama brings in two BOTR-ranked swimmers along with four more domestic recruits and two internationals, making for an intriguing class.

Gunnar Hansen is the fastest 100 breaststroker in the boys’ high school class of 2026 with his best time of 52.46, produced en route to winning the Winter Juniors – West title this past December. Also the Texas UIL 5A state champion in the 100 breast, Hansen recently broke the 28-second barrier for the first time in the long course 50 breast at U.S. Nationals (27.88), showing that his pure speed is in good form entering his first college season.

Sarasota Sharks’ Bogdan Zverev is extremely versatile, though his specialty lies in fly. The reigning FHSAA 4A state champion in the 100 fly (46.99) and 200 IM (1:45.84), Zverev won the 50 fly (21.69) and 200 fly (1:44.71) titles at the Florida Swimming Senior Champs in March, and he’s also strong in the 400 IM (3:52.2) and has impressive freestyle range (45.0/1:36.9/4:26.2).

Joey Stauss has a similar skillset to Zverev, specializing in butterfly (46.6/1:46.5) but also owning decent freestyle abilities (20.5/45.0/1:37.5) and a respectable 1:47.8 200 IM. Carter Wright is a backstroke sprinter (22.0/47.9) who is also 20.3/45.0 in the freestyle events, while Michael Gorey brings some breaststroke pedigree to the mix, owning best times of 54.2/1:58.3 to go along with 1:46.9/3:50.4 IMs.

Romanian Eric Stefan Andries is a rangy freestyler who notably placed 15th at the 2025 SC European Championships in the 400 free, clocking 3:41.61. His SCM bests, which also include a 48.0 in the 100 and a 1:44.0 in the 200, convert to 43.2/1:33.7/4:13.2, indicating he could be an NCAA qualifier and SEC ‘A’ finalist right away in the 500.

Bosnian Kenan Dracic is very similar, having been 1:43.9 in the SCM 200 free, and in long course, 50.0/1:48.5/3:52.8. His conversions come out to 43.6/1:33.6/4:20.8, giving the Crimson Tide plenty of depth in mid-distance free.

Alabama’s entire 800 free relay from last season is returning (from SECs, they didn’t field a team at NCAAs), so there will be some internal competition for relay spots with Andries and Dracic joining the fold.

#11: Virginia Tech Hokies

Virginia Tech brings in a diverse class that’s headlined by a trio of notable domestic recruits, two single-stroke specialist internationals, two divers, and one transfer.

#16 Matthew Wolfle dropped big in his senior season to become the fifth-fastest 400 IMer in the boys’ class of 2026, clocking 3:44.64 at the NCSA Spring Championships. That time would’ve ranked him a close 2nd on Virginia Tech’s roster last season behind rising sophomore Andy Roose (3:44.56), who will make for a good training partner.

Wolfle is also 1:45.25 in the 200 IM, and owns an elite 53.1/1:55.8 breaststroke combo.

Honorable Mention recruit Alex Grocholski is also a good IM pickup (1:46.5/3:46.3), but his best event lies in the 500 free, where he’s been 4:19.98, which ranks him #2 on VT’s depth chart this season. He’s versatile across the 200 free (1:37.0), 200 back (1:47.4), 100 breast (55.8) and 100 fly (49.7).

Alex Parent is more of a pure distance freestyler, owning best times of 4:26.9 in the 500 and 15:14 in the 1650. With Lee Naber graduating, Parent will be the Hokeis’ top miler this season.

One of the more underrated additions to an NCAA roster this season might be Turkish breaststroker Doruk Yogurtcuoglu, who won the European Junior (LCM) title in the boys’ 200 breast in dominant fashion two months ago, clocking 2:09.43. He also goes 2:05.18 in the SCM 200 breast, giving him a yards conversion of 1:52.77 (it took 1:52.05 to score at NCAAs last season).

Yogurtcuoglu is also 59.2 SCM/1:00.9 LCM in the 100 breast. His addition gives Virginia Tech three elite breaststrokers alongside Eli Martin and Oscar Bilbao.

Polish newcomer Olivier Urbaniak doesn’t have the same credentials as Yogurtcuoglu, but is a developing backstroker with LCM bests of 55.1/2:03.8 and SCM times of 24.0/52.4/1:57.7. He’s also been 49.3 in the 100 free (SCM).

Louisville transfer Aidan Paro comes in as an elite butterflier, having set a lifetime best of 45.23 in the 100 fly at the U of L Last Chance Meet this past February, within three-tenths of what was required to score at NCAAs. All three of VT’s sub-46 swimmers from last season have moved on, making Paro a crucial addition for the medley relays.

Paro, who enters his senior year but could have two seasons of eligibility under the new rules, is also 1:42.7 in the 200 fly, 1:44.5 in the 200 IM, 54.8 in the 100 breast and 20.0 in the 50 free, making him a Swiss army knife of sorts for the Hokies.

The Hokies also add two-time Virginia Class 3 state champion Luke Rawlings and Egypt’s Aly Hassan, who was 4th at the World Junior Diving Championships in the 3-meter synchro, to their diving group.

#10: Virginia Cavaliers

Virginia continues to build after a breakthrough 9th-place finish at NCAAs last season with a strong recruiting class that’s headlined by two of the top 11 domestic recruits and a pair of intriguing international additions.

The Cavaliers didn’t race either medley relay at the 2026 NCAAs due to a lack of breaststroke talent, but that will no longer be the case as #9 Ian Heysen Ricci and Romanian Danis Volontir come into the fold.

Heysen Ricci won the Winter Juniors – East title last season in the 200 breast (1:54.61), and he was the runner-up in the 100 breast (52.88), setting best times there that put him atop UVA’s depth chart in both races this season.

Volontir has drop-dead speed, owning SCM best times of 26.93 in the 50 breast and 57.92 in the 100 breast, which give him 24.2/52.1 conversions in yards.

With Heysen Ricci and Volontir, along with some additional help from Gerhardt Hoover (54.2/1:56.2), Virginia’s breaststroke group is in much better shape than it was last season.

In addition to his breaststroke prowess, Heysen Ricci is also an elite IMer, owning bests of 1:44.9/3:43.2, and he’s also been 4:26.6 in the 500 free. Hoover is just a step below in the medley events (1:46.1/3:47.1), but can also fill in some gaps in backstroke (48.5/1:43.8) and sprint free (20.8/45.3) if needed.

Along with Heysen Ricci, the Cavaliers nabbed another top-ranked recruit in #11 Micah Davis, a butterfly specialist who is also an elite sprint freestyler and decent 200 IMer.

Davis is the fastest 200 fly swimmer in the class with his PB of 1:41.90, which is within striking distance of earning an NCAA invite (1:41.26 last season) and cracking the ACC ‘A’ final (1:41.64 last season). In the 100 fly, he lowered his best time to 46.17 last season, and with Thomas Heilman, Hayden Bellotti and Spencer Nicholas on the roster, Davis will have an elite fly group to train with this season.

Nathan Carr will also be joining the fly group with best times of 47.6/1:44.5 making him a factor at the conference level.

Davis is also an emerging 200 IMer at 1:46.2, and has potential to be a free relay contributor with his bests of 20.0/43.6/1:36.7.

The Cavaliers have more sprint free talent joining the team this season in domestic recruit Liam Mac Colla and Frenchman Alexandre Chalendar.

Mac Colla owns bests of 20.0/44.1 in yards, while Chalendar has been as fast as 21.9/47.8/1:44.7 in short course meters and 22.7/49.0/1:48.9 in long course, giving him conversions of 19.7/42.7/1:34.3.

Joining UVA as a transfer this season is Seth Collet, who comes over after his freshman year at UC Santa Barbara, though he didn’t compete last season due to injury. Collet is an all-around talent who’s best events lie in mid-distance free (1:36.0/4:19.7) and IM (1:48.9/3:48.0).

#9: Auburn Tigers

Auburn has a deep international class that’s headlined by the #4 ranked domestic recruit, Mike Rice, who’s coming off an impressive summer.

Rice won bronze in the 100 fly at the recent Junior Pan Pacific Championships in a lifetime best of 53.15, and he also took 5th in the 50 fly (24.24) while winning a pair of relay medals. A few weeks earlier at U.S. Nationals, he posted PBs of 22.51 in the 50 free and 49.07 in the 100—done in a swim-off victory–to give him plenty of momentum entering his freshman year.

In yards, Rice has established himself as a true all-around sprinter, owning impressive best times of 19.28 in the 50 free and 42.48 in the 100 free, which both rank him 3rd in the class. In his best event, the 100 fly, he sits 2nd in the class with his PB of 45.89, making him an immediate contender for an NCAA spot and a top-16 finish at SECs.

Rice is also one of five swimmers in the class sub-1:45 in the 200 IM (1:44.73), one of eight under 1:35 in the 200 free (1:34.96), and owns notable bests in the 100 back (48.17) and 100 breast (54.81) that make him someone the coaches can enter in almost anything at a dual meet.

Along with Rice, Auburn’s sprint free and fly group will have several more key additions with Brazilian Gabriel Machucho, Ireland’s Matthew Hamilton and Hungarian Sebestyen Papp joining the mix, along with Texas transfer Alexey Glivinskiy.

Machuco and Hamilton are very similar, including owning the exact same 100 fly best time in long course, 52.62, which converts to 46.14 in yards. Machuco is also 22.8/49.5/1:49.9 in LCM freestyle, and 47.8/1:46.0 in SCM, giving him conversions of 19.8/43.0/1:35.4, and he has a notable sub-2:00 200 IM in LCM (1:59.74) that converts him to 1:44.99.

Hamilton, who was 9th at the Commonwealth Games in the 100 fly, is also a 22.5/49.7 long course freestyler, converting to 19.6/43.3 in yards.

Papp is at a similar level in the 100 free, owning PBs of 49.95 (LCM) and 48.26 (SCM) that convert to the 43.4 range, and his 52.44 SCM 100 back converts to 45.93 in yards. He was recently a finalist at Euro Juniors in the 50 back, and his SCM best time of 23.84 converts to 20.79, making him the frontrunner to take over medley relay lead-off duties.

As for Glivinskiy, he was 41.86/1:32.23 in the 100 and 200 free last season at Texas, putting him alongside rising sophomore and fellow Israeli Daniel Krichevsky (41.87/1:31.87) atop Auburn’s depth chart.

With the additions of Rice, Machuco, Hamilton, Papp and Glivinskiy, Auburn will surely have new-look free relays this season, with Krichevsky potentially being the only carryover—though Luke Bedsole and Russ Warner were both strong last year.

Glivinskiy also brings a 1:43.2 200 IM to the table, making him the team’s top option in that event alongside Machuco.

Auburn’s breaststroke group is also getting a big boost with the additions of Brazilian Kaua Santos Carvalho and NC State transfer Arsen Kozhakhmetov.

Santos Carvalho is an impressive sprinter, having set a best time of 27.08 in the LCM 50 breast in June, which converts to a blistering 23.49 in yards. He’s also 1:00.87 in the 100 breast in long course, and recently split 59.97 on the 4×100 medley relay at Junior Pan Pacs. In short course meters, Santos Carvalho has been 58.67/2:09.80, converting to 52.8/1:56.9.

Kozhakhmetov, a Kazakhstan native, was 52.1/1:55.8 last season at NC State.

Last season, Auburn had Uros Zivanovic go 51.1 in the 100 breast, and Maston Ballew clock 1:52.1 in the 200 breast, both qualifying for NCAAs.

Santos Carvalho and Kozhakhmetov give them a chance to have four NCAA qualifiers in the breast events, and there will be some good internal competition brewing between Zivanovic and Santos Carvalho for the breast spots on the medley relays. Last season, Zivanovic stepped up with 22.76/50.84 splits at NCAAs.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Ranking The 2026 Men’s NCAA Recruiting Classes: #12-9

Hence then, the article about ranking the 2026 men s ncaa recruiting classes 12 9 was published today ( Thursday 10/09/2026 - 05:11 PM ) 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: 12-9 )

Also on site :

• Yankees likely staring at tight Heliot Ramos-Spencer Jones call in possible playoff battle vs. Red Sox
• Mets hold on to win crazy offensive shootout to sweep Marlins ahead of Subway Series clash vs. Yankees
• Watch Manchester United vs Sabah live today in the UEFA Champions League