The CSCAA Division I dual meet poll underwent a facelift this week. Following two weeks of major power showdowns, the pollsters found fit to crown a new number one, enroll a new name into the big five and move seventeen of the twenty-five spots. The men's ranking was a bit more calm. Only one new team (UNLV) was judged fit to join the top twenty five.

With convincing wins over Auburn and Tennessee last week, the Stanford women were able to displace Cal-Berkeley. Arizona with wins over Southern Cal and UCLA moved into the second spot. Texas A&M was rewarded for its win over arch-rival Texas. The Aggies entered the rarefied air of the top five - a domain that only one other non-SEC or non-Pac 10 team has breached in the past few years. Pollsters didn't reward teams that took on a lighter schedule. Despite three wins, Cal-Berkeley fell to fourth, yet retained one first-place vote. Florida, with a 172-128 win, took the biggest tumble, falling from second to sixth.

On the men's side, Auburn was the unanimous choice for the top spot. The Tigers take on cross-state rival Alabama on Friday. Texas and Stanford traded places with the Longhorns moving into second following victories over California, Florida, and Indiana. Southern Cal moved ahead of Arizona following its victory over the Wildcats . Notably, one team - Georgia - has already compiled ten dual-meet victories with still eight more on the schedule for 2005-06.

With large invitationals being held at Minnesota, Maryland, North Carolina, Texas A&M, UC-Irvine and Indiana this weekend, several teams will have an opportunity to strut their stuff once more before the November 30th poll is released. Those teams not swimming this weekend, will have to wait until mid-December to see if their invitational swims influence voters' impressions of their dual-meet prowess.

This year’s poll will be published nine times and the champions will be crowned on February 22, 2007. Pollsters representing eight conferences along with two at-large voters have the task of ranking the top dual meet teams in the nation bi-weekly throughout the season. Additionally, the group of pollsters is completely different for the men’s and women’s rankings. This poll should not be confused with the results of the NCAA Division I Swimming & Diving championships that will take place in March.

 

Rank	Women's team	Record	Points	Previous		Rank	Men's Team	Record	Points	Previous
1	Stanford (8)	5-0	269	3		1	Auburn (10)	1-0	300	1
2	Arizona	2-0	256	5		2	Texas	3-0	285	3
3	Auburn	2-1	246	4		3	Stanford	1-0	284	2
4	California (1)	5-0	243	1		4	California	2-1	267	4
5	Texas A&M	4-0	236	9		5	Southern California	3-0	262	8
6	Florida	4-0	231	2		6	Arizona	2-1	250	5 (tie)
7	Southern Methodist	4-0	211	7		7	Minnesota	3-0	238	5 (tie)
8	Georgia	5-1	207	8		8	Georgia	10-0	225	9
9	Southern California	3-1	196	6		9	Northwestern	3-0	224	7
10	Michigan	3-2	191	10		10	Florida	2-3	215	10
11	Texas	1-3	176	11		11	Michigan	3-2	199	11
12	Indiana	4-0	175	14		12	Ohio State	2-0	175	14
13	Florida State	4-0	165	13		13	Indiana	2-3	174	12
14	UCLA	4-1	153	12		14	Tennessee	4-0	172	13
15	Tennessee	2-2	136	15		15	Virginia	4-0	165	15
16	Penn State	4-0	134	16		16	Florida State	2-0	148	16
17	North Carolina	3-1	126	22		17	Notre Dame	4-0	144	17
18	Wisconsin	4-1	112	19		18	Purdue	4-3	132	18
19	Virginia	3-1	111	18		19	Alabama	2-0	117	21
20	Notre Dame	3-0	94	20		20	West Virginia	4-0	102	19
21	Minnesota	1-3	82	17		21	Arizona State	1-3	99	20
22	Rutgers	4-0	77	21		22	North Carolina	1-2	90	22
23	Missouri	5-1	72	25		23	UNLV	2-1	68	NR
24	Arizona State	2-3	61	22		24	Brigham Young	2-1	57	24
25	Princeton	2-1	52	24		25	Texas A&M	1-1	49	25
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES:  Kentucky 39, Oregon State 26, Hawaii 25, Louisville 20, Virginia tech 16, Louisiana State 14, Harvard 11, Northwestern 9, Purdue4, Clemson 3, UMBC 3, Nevada 3						OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES:  Louisiana State 47, Wisconsin 30, Southern Methodist 29, Clemson 23, Cornell 22, South Carolina 19, Missouri 15, Penn State 13, Kentucky 10