Texas Men, Georgia Women Lead Division I

Last March Texas and Georgia both finished second in the men's and women's respective NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships.  Both teams now find themselves atop the College Swim Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) coaches' poll.  Eddie Reese’s Texas Longhorns garnered the most votes in the CSCAA’s inaugural Division I Coaches poll. The Bulldogs of Georgia sit atop the inaugural Division women’s poll. Coaches see this talented and deep team as tough to beat in head to head competition.   

“The closeness of the polls,” explains CSCAA Executive Director Bob Groseth, “Illustrates that the coaches aren’t quite sure yet who the best team would be head to head.”

On the women’s side, Stanford, Cal and Texas gained first place votes but weren’t able to match up with Georgia’s ladies. Stanford, Arizona and Texas are all close by the coach’s votes and picking a winner in a dual meet between those teams would be a flip of the coin. All have great individuals and have strong lineups from the Medley Relay to the Free.

First place votes were sprinkled throughout the men’s poll with Stanford, California, Florida, Auburn and Michigan each garnering at least one nod.  The Pac 10’s Stanford and California are ranked second and third with the SEC represented by Florida and Auburn at number four and five respectively.  Conferences are well represented with all four PAC 10 schools ranked in the top ten.  The Big 10 leads the way with seven followed by the SEC with six and the ACC with four.  

The rankings are based on each team's best dual meet lineup as judged by voting coaches.  Rankings are announced four times. In both polls over 50 teams were represented.  This first time coaches used this method and the participation was high.  

It is important to note that this poll reflects a team’s dual meet strength and is not a prediction of how these teams will fare at the NCAA Championships. All the Conferences are well represented with the SEC and Big 10 having six ranked teams each followed by the PAC 10 and ACC’s four each. Texas A&M joins Poll leading Texas for the Big XII.

CSCAA Division I Dual Meet Poll
November 17, 2009

Men's Poll				Women's Poll
1	Texas (12)	546		1	Georgia (12)	458
2	Stanford (3)	527		2	Stanford (2)	439
3	California (1)	490		3	Arizona (2)	420
4	Florida (3)	486		4	Texas (1)	419
5	Auburn (3)	475		5	Florida	405
6	Arizona	435		6	California (3)	402
7	Michigan	434		7	Auburn	364
8	Virginia	354		8	Texas A&M	339
9	Georgia	333		9	Indiana	300
10	Tennessee	330		10	Southern Cal	278
11	Minnesota	325		11	Virginia	238
12	Southern Cal	279		12	Minnesota	226
13	North Carolina	249		13	Tennessee	205
14	Ohio State	224		14	North Carolina	160
15	Louisiana State	161		15	Louisville	157
16	Purdue	159		16	Wisconsin	143
17	Louisville	151		17	Virginia Tech	73
18	Indiana	136		18	Arkansas	69
19	Kentucky	111		19	Southern Methodist	68
20	Florida State	104		19	Michigan	68
21	Alabama	103		21	Louisiana State	67
22	Texas A&M	93		22	Purdue	62
23	Virginia Tech	70		23	Northwestern	57
24	UNLV	67		24	Penn State	46
25	Penn State	55		25	Florida State	44
Also Receiving Votes: Harvard 54, Princeton 46, Southern Methodist  46, Iowa  41, Georgia Tech  35, Wisconsin  31, Brigham Young 25, Missouri  24, Northwestern  22, Notre Dame  13, Clemson  12, South Carolina  11, Missouri State 11, Cincinnati  8, West Virginia  7, Pittsburgh  6, Pennsylvania 5, Duke  4, Arizona State  3, UC-Santa Barbara 3, North Carolina State  2, UNC-Wilmington 2, Denver 2, Illinois-Chicago 1, Maryland  1, Navy 1				Also Receiving Votes: Alabama 39, Missouri 38, Arizona State 36, Notre Dame 23, Princeton 21, Harvard 19, Ohio State  18, Kentucky  11, Brigham Young 8, Michigan State  5, Hawaii 5, Pennsylvania 4, Clemson  3, Iowa  2, Duke  2, Pittsburgh  2, Maryland  2, Rutgers 1, San Diego State 1