Women’s Recruit Ranks: Individual Scoring For All Classes Through 2025 NCAAs

By James Sutherland on SwimSwam

It’s post-NCAA retrospective time, as we look back at recruit rankings through the lens of now-updated NCAA scoring data. We’ve focused in on the senior class (after four NCAA seasons) and the freshman class (after their first NCAA showings), and now it’s time to share all of our data for the four classes currently making up the NCAA field.

Further reading:

• Revisiting recruiting ranks: High school class of 2021
• Revisiting recruiting ranks: High school class of 2024

We’ll also include this year’s freshmen and seniors to have all the data in one post. You can find further analysis of those classes above.

Notes:

• The data included is only individual scoring at NCAAs. That’s not an exact measure of an athlete’s contribution to a program: many of these swimmers (and others not listed) were relay scorers at NCAAs, scored significant points at conference meets and provided great leadership and culture-building for their programs. This data isn’t a perfect analysis of the best recruits – it’s merely a quick look at the data we can compile.
• Some of these athletes haven’t had as many scoring seasons as others in their class. Some redshirted a season and have more remaining seasons. Some deferred their enrollment as freshmen. Some sat out a year with a transfer. Some turned pro early. Some will turn pro early. Some are hard to pigeonhole into a specific class, international athletes especially. We did our best to group athletes where they best fit. Again, this isn’t a hard-and-fast ranking of value – it’s just the best data we can compile.
• The ranks are from our recruit rankings, typically compiled when these athletes were high school juniors. We don’t include internationals in those rankings, as it’s difficult to figure out if and when internationals will join the NCAA and which class they should be grouped with before they appear in the NCAA. Do bear in mind that our rankings were done well over a year before any of these athletes appeared in NCAA competition, so if you do have a quibble with a specific rank, you may want to check how fast that athlete actually was when the ranking was done before you get too livid. Unranked recruits showing massive improvement curves are some of the best stories in the NCAA year-in and year-out, and one reason we rank recruits is so we can better see which athletes had great rises during their college careers.
• All that said, compiling these ranks is a lot of data entry and a lot of research. If we missed anyone, or misclassified anyone with the wrong class or with the wrong domestic/international tag, please let us know in the comments and we’ll update our data as soon as possible!

SENIORS (HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 2021, COLLEGE CLASS OF 2025)

• Read more on this class here.

RANKED RECRUITS

UNRANKED RECRUITS

INTERNATIONAL RECRUITS

DIVING RECRUITS

JUNIORS (HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 2022, COLLEGE CLASS OF 2026)

• Despite sitting out of the 2023-24 season amid her transfer to Virginia, Claire Curzan is the top scorer in this class with 108 points scored in her two NCAA Championship appearances, nearing the maximum of 60 this season with 57. In her first season racing with the Cavaliers, Curzan broke the NCAA Record multiple times in the 200 back, culminating with the NCAA title after winning it as a freshman with Stanford in 2023. She also won the 100 back for the first time and was the runner-up to teammate Gretchen Walsh in the 50 free.
• Joining Curzan above 100 NCAA points in this class is Stanford’s Lucy Bell, who has combined for 89 points the past two seasons after scoring 14 as a freshman. Bell’s career-high 49 points this past season came thanks to her first national title in the 200 breast coupled with a 3rd-place showing in the 400 IM and 6th-place finish in the 200 IM.
• The third-highest scorer in the class is NC State’s Kennedy Noble, though she only scored five as a junior after 42 last season.
• Duke’s Kaelyn Gridley has been a double-digit scorer in all three of her NCAA appearances, posting a career-high 26 points this year with a 4th-place finish in the 200 breast and an 8th-place showing in the 200 breast.
• Among ranked recruits, Stanford’s Kayla Wilson, Indiana’s Kristina Paegle, Louisville’s Ella Welch, USC’s Claire Tuggle and Virginia’s Emma Weber also scored double-digit points this season, with Tuggle and Welch both doing so for the first time. For Welch, it was her first time scoring at NCAAs, earning an ‘A’ final spot in the 100 fly where she placed 7th. Last season, she didn’t even race the 100 fly at NCAAs, instead opting for the 100 breast.
• There were six unranked domestic recruits in this class to score at least 10 points at the 2025 NCAAs, led by BYU’s Mackenzie Miller. Miller, who didn’t qualify for NCAAs in either of her first two seasons. As a junior, Miller had the swim of her life to snag 2nd in the 200 breast, and she added an 8th-place finish in the 100 breast for 29 points. After this breakthrough, she entered the transfer portal.
• The top unranked recruit overall is Louisville’s Julia Dennis, who has steadily progressed through the first three years of her career, scoring five points as a freshman, 14 as a sophomore, and then 27 as a junior this past season. Dennis has evolved into one of the best sprinters in college swimming, placing 3rd in the 50 free and 8th in the 100 free at NCAAs.
• Nebraska’s Gena Jorgenson has been a reliable scorer in back-to-back years, following up an 8th-place finish in the 1650 free as a sophomore with a 6th-place showing this past season for 24 total points.
• Cincinnati’s Joleigh Crye and Washington State’s Emily Lundgren both scored for the first time last year and then hit double-digit points as juniors, with Crye taking 4th in the 100 breast and Lundgren landing a 6th-place finish in the 200 breast (and 16th in the 100 breast).
• Among international recruits, South African Aimee Canny has been the top performer in this class by a wide margin, averaging 21 points through three NCAA Championship appearances. She was 7th in the 200 breast and 9th in the 200 free for UVA this season.
• Spaniard Carmen Weiler Sastre had a breakthrough showing for Virginia Tech after missing the points in her first two seasons, scoring 25 after top-eight finishes in the 100 back (8th) and 200 back (5th).
• Minnesota’s Viviana Del Angel and UCLA’s Eden Cheng are the only two divers in this class who have scored in all three NCAA Championship meets, with Del Angel leading all divers with 55 points after consistent 17, 20 and 18-point showings.
• Indiana’s Skyler Liu pulled within a point of Del Angel’s overall tally after a 36-point showing this season, placing 3rd in the platform event and adding a 15th-place showing on 1-meter.
• Purdue’s Daryn Wright also had a big performance this season, following up her 18 points in 2024 with 26, placing 4th on platform and 8th on 3-meter.

RANKED RECRUITS

UNRANKED RECRUITS

INTERNATIONAL RECRUITS

DIVING RECRUITS

SOPHOMORES (HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 2023, COLLEGE CLASS OF 2027)

• Bella Sims wasn’t as successful at NCAAs as she was in her freshman season, but she still posted 34 points as a sophomore to give her 90 for her career, tops among this class by a wide margin. Sims bounced back from a tough showing in the 500 free prelims to earn a pair of runner-up finishes in the backstroke events, including posting a time of 1:47.11 to rank #2 all-time.
• Sims’ 34 points this season only ranked 4th among sophomore swimmers this season, however, with the #11 recruit in the class, Stanford’s Caroline Bricker, leading the way with 50. Bricker broke through to win the 400 IM and also placed 3rd in the 200 fly and 5th in the 200 IM, playing a key role as the Cardinal earned a surprise runner-up finish.
• Jillian Cox, who redshirted her freshman year at Texas, was an unstoppable force in her first NCAA Championship meet, winning the 500 free and 1650 free in decisive fashion to give her 40 points, which, despite missing the 2024 NCAAs, still ranks her 3rd among ranked recruits in this class for their career.
• Tennessee’s Camille Spink followed up her standout SEC Championship meet with 31 points in her second NCAAs, placing 3rd in the 100 free and 4th in the 50 free after she scored seven as a freshman. It’s worth noting that Spink made the ‘A’ final of the 200 free as a freshman but was disqualified for a false start, so that’s at least 11 points she lost.
• Other ranked recruits scoring double-digit points as sophomores were Texas’ Campbell Stoll and Erin Gemmell, Virginia’s Cavan Gormsen and Tess Howley, and Michigan’s Hannah Bellard, with Gemmell and Bellard hitting 10+ for the first time.
• The #3 ranked recruit in this class, Harvard’s Kiley Wilhelm, redshirted her freshman year and didn’t earn NCAA qualification this past season.
• Among the unranked domestic recruits, Florida’s Catie Choate is the only swimmer who has scored in both NCAA Championship meets, earning seven more this season (10th in the 200 back) to give her 18 total.
• Matching Choate’s total was Alabama’s Cadence Vincent, who didn’t score in her first year but had a breakout showing with top-10 finishes in the 50 free (8th) and 100 free (10th) to score 18 points in her sophomore season.
• Three international recruits have proven to be significant point scorers for their respective teams from this class, led by Texas A&M’s Miranda Grana, who scored 40 this season and has now earned 64 through her sophomore year. Grana was 3rd in the 100 back, 4th in the 100 fly and 9th in the 200 back, setting sizeable best times across the board. She was a top-eight finisher in both backstrokes last year, but was only 25th in the 100 fly.
• USC’s Minna Abraham and Michigan’s Stephanie Balduccini battled for the 200 free title, placing a close 2nd and 3rd, respectively, behind Indiana’s Anna Peplowski. The next night, Abraham took 5th and Baluddcini was 6th in the 100 free, giving them 31 and 29 points for the meet, respectively.
• Tennessee’s Emelie Fast scored 21 points last season, but didn’t race past the midseason invitationals this year.
• Among divers, Kansas’ Shiyun Lai and Texas’ Bayleigh Cranford both had monster performances as sophomores, with Liu earning ‘A’ final berths in the two springboard events for 25 points and Cranford placing 6th on platform and 7th on 3-meter for 29 points.

RANKED RECRUITS

UNRANKED RECRUITS

INTERNATIONAL RECRUITS

DIVING RECRUITS

FRESHMAN (HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 2024, COLLEGE CLASS OF 2028

• Read more about this class here.

RANKED RECRUITS

UNRANKED RECRUITS

INTERNATIONAL RECRUITS

DIVING RECRUITS

BONUS: 5TH YEARS (HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 2020, COLLEGE CLASS OF 2024)

We’ve traditionally ignored the 5th-year seniors in these rankings, but we’ve included how the overall class of 2020 point rankings have been impacted by this past season below.

Alex Walsh finished with 275 career points over five seasons, with Phoebe Bacon and Aranza Vazquez Montano also eclipsing 200 points and Emma Sticklen hitting an impressive 182.5.

ARCHIVES: REVISITING RECRUIT RANKS

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Women’s Recruit Ranks: Individual Scoring For All Classes Through 2025 NCAAs