The postseason begins this week for college swimming and the first step toward the NCAA Championships is the battle for conference supremacy across the country.
This week, the Big Ten Women’s Championships, the ACC Championships and the SEC Championships highlight the postseason swimming competitions that will take place.
Big Ten Women’s Championships
The Big Ten Women’s Championships will be hosted by the University of Wisconsin and will include morning prelims and evening finals Wednesday-Saturday as teams prepare for the NCAA Championships and challenge for conference bragging rights.
It looks to be a battle between rivals Michigan and Ohio State for the championship. The Buckeyes are the defending champions, while the Wolverines won before the Buckeyes.
The Wolverines are led by NCAA champions Maggie Mac Neil and Olivia Carter, who combined to sweep the national championships in the butterfly events.
Meanwhile, the Buckeyes have Hannah Bach and Amy Fulmer who have quietly become two of the top swimmers in the country.
Relays and depth will be the key for either rival to claim the Big Ten title, though others will look to spoil the party, led by Indiana and Wisconsin. Phoebe Bacon leads the way for the Badgers and will have a huge say in the point totals.
ACC Championships
The ACC meet is led by defending NCAA champion Virginia. The Cavaliers are led by Olympians Alex Walsh, Kate Douglass and Emma Weyant as well as Gretchen Walsh, who has become one of the fastest in the country.
NC State finished second at NCAAs last year and they are led by champions Sophie Hansson and Katharine Berkoff.
Louisville, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, Florida State and Duke are also ranked in the top 25, but it there is a lot of separation between the top two and the next six.
For the men’s meet, it will be NC State favored heavily. The Wolfpack have David Curtiss, Ross Dant, Nyls Korstanje and Hunter Tapp leading the way.
Virginia, meanwhile has sophomore freestyler Matt Brownstead, but Virginia Tech and Louisville have also made huge strides and will play big factors in this meet.
SEC Championships
The SEC Championships also begin Tuesday and should prove to be intriguing as far as the team results go as teams prepare for the NCAA meet but aim for bragging rights.
In the men’s meet, Florida looks to have the upper hand in the conference, led by Olympic medalist Kieran Smith. However, the loss of Olympic gold medalist Bobby Finke to health and safety protocols is a huge blow.
Georgia is led by Luca Urlando and could challenge the Gators, while Missouri, Auburn, Tennessee, Alabama and Texas A&M are all ranked on the men’s side.
For the women, Tennessee looks to be the favorite on paper, led by their Irish connection, but Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Florida, Auburn, Missouri and South Carolina are all ranked in the top 25 and could shake things up with a couple of strong relays.
If that wasn’t enough NCAA swimming action this week, the Cal-Stanford men’s dual meet is on Saturday, which always proves to be one of the top dual meets in the country every year with some blistering times that could set up a fast postseason on the West Coast.
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