Denison Women, Kenyon Men Remain on Top in February 5 CSCAA D3 Poll

Editor’s note: the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA)’s rankings track dual meet strength, specifically. That is, a higher-ranked team is expected to win in a head-to-head dual meet with a lower-ranked team, according to the voters. These rankings aren’t an NCAA finish prediction – for a ranking closer to that model, check out SwimSwam’s Power Rankings (for Division I).

The College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) released their Top 25 Dual Meet Poll today and the Denison women and Kenyon men came out on top once again. This is the last poll before the teams head off to their conference championships later this month; the final poll is scheduled for release on February 27.

On the women’s side, Denison held on at #1, where they had moved in December at the time of the last poll. Also maintaining their previous spots were #2 Emory and #3 Kenyon. The Big Red, Eagles, and Ladies have been in the top-5 for the entire season. Williams moved from #10 to #4, Johns Hopkins slip a spot from 4th to 5th, and MIT made its first appearance in the top-6 moving up 2 spots from #8 to #6.

The Kenyon men earned a unanimous vote for the top position, while Denison remain ranked #2. Johns Hopkins moved up from 5th at the last poll to tie for 2nd with Denison. MIT came in at 4th for the second time in a row while Carnegie Mellon moved into the top 5 for the first time this season, jumping from 10th to 5th. Coast Guard, Gustavus, Merchant Marine, Washington and Lee, Bates, and Cal Lutheran all made this week’s top-25 poll after not having been ranked in the December edition.

Committee chair Jake Taber said, “The Committee saw a little bit of movement this week and had some very healthy dialogue about the poll and its intent. While voting, we try to keep in mind: if the meet took place today, who would win?  We have been intentional to reward the real life wins here.”

Division III Women

Also Receiving Votes:

Middlebury (16), Catholic (7), Wellesley (1)

Division III Men

Also Receiving Votes:

SUNY Geneseo (12), John Carroll (8), WPI (3), Birmingham Southern (3), Swarthmore (1), RPI (1)

Regional Rankings

WOMEN:

CENTRAL: 1. Denison 2. Kenyon 3. Chicago 4. Saint Catherine 5. Case Western 6. Calvin 7. Albion 8. Carthage 9. Hope 10. Franklin

NORTHEAST-NORTH: 1. Williams 2. MIT  3. Tufts 4. New York University 5. Amherst 6. Bates 7. Bowdoin 8. Middlebury 9. Wellesley 10. Vassar

WEST-MIDWEST-SOUTH: 1. Emory 2. John Hopkins 3. Washington University (Mo) 4. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 5. Pomona-Pitzer Colleges 6. Washington & Lee 7. Birmingham Southern 8. Trinity (TX) 9. Mary Washington 10. Centre

NORTHEAST-SOUTH: 1. Carnegie Mellon 2. SUNY-Geneseo 3. Swarthmore 4. Rowan 5. Gettysburg 6. RIT 7. Rochester 8. Franklin & Marshall 9. Allegheny 10. TCNJ

MEN:

CENTRAL: 1. Kenyon 2. Denison 3. Chicago 4. Gustavus Adolphus 5. Case Western 6. Calvin 7. John Carroll 8. Saint Thomas 9. Hope 10. Wabash

NORTHEAST-NORTH: 1. MIT 2. Williams 3. Tufts 4. Amherst 5. New York University 6.  U.S. Coast Guard Academy 7. U.S. Merchant Marine Academy 8. Bates 9. WPI 10. RPI

WEST-MIDWEST-SOUTH: 1. Johns Hopkins 2. Washington University (Mo) 3. Emory 4. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 5. Pomona-Pitzer 6. Washington & Lee 7. California Lutheran 8. Birmingham Southern 9. Mary Washington 10. Trinity (TX)

NORTHEAST-SOUTH: 1. Carnegie Mellon 2. Rowan 3. TCNJ 4. Franklin & Marshall 5. SUNY-Geneseo 6. Swarthmore 7. Gettysburg 8. RIT 9. Ithaca 10. Stevens

Women’s Poll Committee

Jake Taber, Hope (Chair); Meg Sission French, MIT (Chair of NE-N); Dean Brownlee, Centre O(Chair of MWSW); Justin Zook, Saint Catherine’s (Chair of Central); Ben Delia, Franklin & Marshall (Chair NE-S); Shannon O’Brien, RPI; Bob Rueppel, Middlebury; Brad Burnham, Bowdoin; Jon Duncan, Southwestern; Chris Mhyre, Puget Sound; Cori Meyette, Pomona-Pitzer;  Jason Webber, Chicago; Jay Daniels, Kalamazoo; Anne Ryder, UWEC;  Melissa Gates, Elizabethtown; Paul Waas, Catholic; Andy Eaton, Franklin & Marshall

Men’s Poll Committee

Sean Tedesco, USMMA (Chair); Paul Bennett, WPI (Chair of NE-N); Jean-Paul Gowdy, Pomona-Pitzer (Chair of MWSW); Keith Crawford, Rose-Hulman (Chair of Central); Brad Bowser, Rowan (Chair of NE-S); Jason Webber, Chicago; Mark Fino, John Carroll; Nick Stone, Albion; Eleanore Stevens, Wash U; Brent Summers, Willemette; Nate Harding, Redlands; Justin Anderson, Mary Washington;  Matt Emmert, Roger Williams; Peter Casares, Bates; Erica Belcher, Rowan; Pat Smith, Westminster; Michael Kroll, Buffalo State; David Dow, TCNJ; Paul Dotterweich, SUNY Geneseco

A complete list of the Top 25 rankings can be found at: cscaa.org/top25