SwimSwam Pulse is a recurring feature tracking and analyzing the results of our periodic A3 Performance Polls. You can cast your vote in our newest poll on the SwimSwam homepage, about halfway down the page on the right side.
Our most recent poll asked SwimSwam readers who will finish highest at the culmination of the women’s NCAA season:
Question: Which team will finish highest at the 2024 Women’s NCAA Championships?
RESULTS
- Florida – 43.3%
- NC State – 24.4%
- Louisville – 11.3%
- Stanford – 9.5%
- Ohio State – 4.3%
- Tennessee – 4.0%
- Indiana – 3.3%
The top three teams at the Women’s NCAA Championships have remained the same for the past two seasons, with the University of Virginia rolling to dominant national titles while the University of Texas has fended off Stanford in the race for 2nd.
Things will more than likely be shifting this year, with Stanford’s top two scorers last season—Torri Huske and Claire Curzan—taking Olympic redshirt seasons (the Cardinal have also lost Curzan to UVA for the following season), meaning the Cardinal will be hard-pressed to remain in the upper echelon of teams—not entirely unlike what happened to the team in 2021, when they fell to 9th at NCAAs due to multiple redshirts.
The Cavaliers remain well-positioned to vie for a fourth straight championship despite losing superstar Kate Douglass, and Texas returns a very strong squad that looks poised to remain in the top two.
Beyond those two teams, the battle for 3rd appears to be relatively wide open, with Louisville having jumped up to 4th last season, while NC State has been 5th in back-to-back years after finishing as the runner-up in 2021.
Although the Cardinals and Wolfpack both bring back talented rosters expected to contend for a top finish, the top answer in our poll was Florida, which has experienced a rapid rise over the past few seasons.
After hitting rock bottom with zero points in 2017, the Gators had a breakthrough last season, winning their first SEC title since 2009 while cracking the top 10 at NCAAs for the first time in eight years.
Florida’s Finishes – Women’s NCAA Championships
- 2023 – 9th, 179 points
- 2022 – 13th, 115 points
- 2021 – 17th, 84.5 points
- 2019 – 24th, 44 points
- 2018 – 35th, 11 points
- 2017 – NF, 0 points
Florida picked up 43.3 percent of votes due in part to their returning cast, which includes leading 2023 NCAA scorers Emma Weyant and Mabel Zavaros, but the belief the team can make such a big jump up the standings primarily comes from their stacked recruiting class, headlined by Olympic medalist and world champion Bella Sims. They’ve also got four other recruits ranked inside SwimSwam’s top 20, plus the major addition of Cal transfer Isabel Ivey.
NC State was the clear runner-up in the poll with nearly a quarter of the votes, as the Wolfpack critically retained Katharine Berkoff for her fifth season of eligibility while also having someone like sophomore Kennedy Noble poised to take another step forward after a long course breakout.
Louisville picked up just over 11 percent of votes, with senior Gabi Albiero the driving force behind their team performance, while Stanford still earned nearly 10 percent of votes despite the losses of Huske, Curzan and Taylor Ruck.
Below, vote in our new A3 Performance Poll, which asks: Which of these teams will finish higher (and crack the top three) at the Men’s NCAA Championships this season:
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The A3 Performance Poll is courtesy of A3 Performance, a SwimSwam partner.
Stanford, once again, will fall to 9th. The emperor has no clothes. Fire Greg Meehan!
Stanford won’t even finish in the top eight. Stanford’s 4 x 50 relays and 4 x 100 relays will absolutely suck without Curzan, Huske, Ruck let alone Allie Raab, Emma Wheal.
nahhhhh lmfaooooo
Top 3 is a huge stretch. An NCAA collapse where they finish top 8 seems more likely
It was just the year before last where they exceeded their seeds at NCAAs by over 200%. Last year, they saw an opening to finally win SECs and took it, which made their NCAA performance suffer a bit, (mainly also because Weyant didn’t swim midseason so she didn’t get her NCAA qualifying times until SECs), but they did get some surprise scorers too. This year, they are far and away the best team in the SEC and should be able to win easily, so I expect more of a focus on NCAAs.
Coach Nasty is such a great person. Glad to see him picked as Head Olympic Coach, favored to win SECs and expected to have high finishes at NCAAs. His family is solid also. As an opponent of his, there is only respect and admiration.
I also like that he was an Olympic swimmer. That goes a long way. He gets the mental and physical fortitude that elite swimming requires.