Swimming World Presents “Men’s NCAA Previews: Swimming World’s Top Ten Team Predictions”

Ryan Hoffer

Catch Cal If You Can: Men’s NCAA Previews

By Dan D’Addona

With all their firepower and depth, Cal’s Golden Bears will be extremely difficult to catch at this year’s men’s Division I NCAAs.

With star power and depth, Cal made a statement last year, unseating Texas for the NCAA title after the Longhorns had won four straight championships. At this year’s NCAAs, March 25-28, at IU Natatorium in Indianapolis, expect another close battle between these two powerhouse programs. Although both teams lost some of their top performers, they retain several NCAA scorers and welcome some emerging new stars.

Here is a look at what to expect from each of our Top 10 teams:

1. CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS
Last year: 1st (560 points) – Returning points: 408.5
Before factoring in any one person or event, take a look at the returning points. Cal returns more than 400 (which has sometimes been about the number of points needed to win a national title). That’s 115 more than Texas…and 260.5 points ahead of the next closest team, Indiana.

Coach Dave Durden’s squad will miss top swimmer Andrew Seliskar, who finished his stellar career winning all three of his individual events, but Cal should still be able to rely on its depth to finish No. 1.

The Bears still have plenty of star power with sophomore Reece Whitley coming off of a 200 meter breaststroke win at last summer’s nationals. Meanwhile, Ryan Hoffer is the defending NCAA champion in the 50 yard free.

Cal also has All-Americans Pawel Sendyk, Trenton Julian, Bryce Mefford, Michael Jensen, Sean Grieshop, Daniel Carr and Zheng Quah—plus Hugo Gonzalez, who redshirted last season following his transfer from Auburn. Simply put, there is no weak spot in this lineup.

2. TEXAS LONGHORNS
Last year: 2nd (475 points) – Returning points: 293.5
Texas is coming off of a second-place performance last year after owning NCAAs for four straight years.

But this is a completely new-look Longhorns team. No Townley Haas. No John Shebat. And the team is a couple of years removed from stars such as Joseph Schooling, Jack Conger, Will Licon and Clark Smith.

Still, Coach Eddie Reese has a ton of talent with 10 point scorers returning—more than any other team—including Drew Kibler, Austin Katz, Daniel Krueger and Ryan Harty.

Perhaps the biggest impact will come from senior transfer Maxime Rooney. The former Florida All-American earned a national title this summer and has been swimming near his best for the past year.

3. INDIANA HOOSIERS
Last year: 3rd (385.5 points) – Returning points: 148
The Indiana Hoosiers have played third fiddle to Cal and Texas the last two years. In 2018, the Hoosiers actually had a shot at the NCAA title on the final day of the meet. Of course, so did Texas and Cal, and Indiana finished third.

Last year, it wasn’t quite the three-way battle as before, but the Hoosiers put together a strong meet and again finished third.

Coach Ray Looze’s team looks poised for another third-place finish, although there are plenty of other teams poised to finish among the top three.

To access the full Top 10 teams of the Men’s NCAA Previews,
Check out the March issue of Swimming World Magazine- Available Now!

Swimming World March 2020 Cover - Louise Hansson
[ PHOTO BY PETER H. BICK ]

Get Swimming World Magazine and Swimming World Biweekly FREE When You
Become A Member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame

Want More? Subscribe With This Special 2-Year Offer!

New! 1-Year Digital Only Subscription for just $39.95 Order Now!

Non-Subscribers Can Download This Issue For Only $5.94

 

FEATURES

016 CATCH CAL IF YOU CAN!
by Dan D’Addona
With all their firepower and depth, Cal’s Golden Bears will be extremely difficult to catch at this year’s men’s Division I NCAAs.

020 MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU
by Dan D’Addona
That’s what Stanford’s swimmers could be saying to each other, as the Cardinal appear to have what it takes to win their fourth straight women’s NCAA championship!

023 THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
by David Rieder
Swedish swimmer Louise Hansson never envisioned herself swimming in college in the United States. But as she prepares for this month’s women’s NCAAs, the University of Southern California senior says that moving to the U.S. was the best thing she’s ever done.

026 TAKEOFF TO TOKYO: “WE WILL SMASH THEM LIKE GUITARS”
by John Lohn
Before the men’s 400 freestyle relay at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, American Gary Hall Jr. proclaimed the United States would “smash (the Australians) like guitars.” However, the Aussies won the race by 19-hundredths of a second, ending the U.S. streak of seven straight Olympic gold medals in the event—and 15 straight victories, counting the World Championships! In the latest installment of our “Takeoff to Tokyo” series, we venture back 20 years to what has become known as the Air-Guitar Race.

030 UPON FURTHER REVIEW…
by Andy Ross

The battle for supremacy for this year’s NCAA Division II and Division III swimming and diving titles might not be such a foregone conclusion as in previous years when Queens dominated D-II, Emory controlled women’s D-III and Denison was the talk of men’s D-III.

COACHING

010 LESSONS WITH THE LEGENDS: CECIL COLWIN
by Michael J. Stott

014 SWIMMING TECHNIQUE CONCEPTS: TECHNIQUE SIMILARITIES ACROSS THE FOUR COMPETITIVE STROKES
by Rod Havriluk
Although there are obvious differences in technique elements across all four competitive strokes, there are many similarities. Knowing about the similarities can help swimmers better understand specific movements and, consequently, make technique improvements more quickly.

040 Q&A WITH COACH BILLY DOUGHTY
by Michael J. Stott

043 HOW THEY TRAIN LUCA URLANDO
by Michael J. Stott

TRAINING

013 DRYSIDE TRAINING: STROKE STRENGTH SERIES—BACKSTROKE
by J.R. Rosania

JUNIOR SWIMMER

045 UP & COMERS: JACE LLOYD
by Shoshanna Rutemiller

COLUMNS & SPECIAL SECTIONS

008 A VOICE FOR THE SPORT 009 BEYOND THE YARDS

019 THE OFFICIAL WORD

032 2020 SWIM CAMP DIRECTORY 044 HASTY HIGH POINTERS

046 GUTTERTALK

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

1 Comment
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Jon Parkhurst
4 years ago

Will Harty be swimming????

1
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x