A couple of bonus teams make the top twenty-five owing to the account that Joel and Greg didn't want to waste our writing efforts after some last minute changes bumped a team or two.

Next Five

#25t NC State

NC State was a high energy transformation last year under new coach Braden Holloway and recruits have taken notice.  Holloway’s top recruit is a Lithuanian, Simonas Bilis, who have been 1:51 in the long course 200 free and projects to be a factor in all of the Wolfpack’s free relays.  Holloway also picked up to Pennsylvania High School All-Americans in Christian McCurdy and Jason Deana.  Deana is another sprint freestyle pick-up with bests of 20.5 and 45 low, while McCurdy has the ability to sprint, plus potential in both fly events and the IMs.  Louis Wojciechowski out of La Crescenta is another sprinter that basically gives the Wolfpack a sub 3:00 frosh 400 free relay, like McCurdy he also has great potential in the fly events.  Austin Snyder in the non-sprinter of the group, with a focus on the mid-distance events.  More importantly Snyder is a North Carolina native that Holloway was able to keep in state and away from UNC, a trend we are sure he hopes to continue.

Incoming Freshmen Rank Name State Score 91 CHRISTIAN MCCURDY PA 4.31 111 JASON DEANA PA 4.93 117 Louis Wojciechowski CA 5.30 180 Austin Snyder NC 8.37 195 Reed Wheeler NC 8.91 245 Ryan Wilkinson NC 12.40

Graduating Seniors Name Conference Points NCAA Points Baskwell, Greg 7 Brennan, Conor T 2

#25t - Yale

It is never easy to follow a legend, but Tim Wise has a done a great job so far.  He had a solid group of freshmen this past season and has added a great group for next year.  He obviously has to contend with the more highly ranked Princeton and Harvard classes, but this crew moves the program in the right direction.  Kevin Stang and Victor Stang are backstrokers while Kendrick McDonald is a very good breaststroke recruit.  Brian Hogan is a distance specialist who should help veteran Robbie Harder handle load against the formidable gauntlet in the IVY League.

Incoming Freshmen Rank Name Score 96 Kevin C Stang 4.36 102 Victor Zhang 4.78 133 Kendrick McDonald 5.88 171 Brian Hogan 7.87 289 William Yang 16.90 294 Jake Goldstein 17.41 322 Brian W Clark 20.43

Graduating Seniors Name Conference NCAA Bicer, Goksu 57 Staab, Colton 18 Boone, Matt 8.5

#25 - Notre Dame

Notre Dame always seems to have big classes with overwhelming middle-distance numbers, but this year they have a smaller class led by sprinter Bogac Ayhan out of England as well as backstroke sprint specialist Matthew Buerger out of Pennsylvania.  Buerger will be helped in the backstrokes by Michael Scheid from Kentucky, but he will need to develop in short order.

Incoming Freshmen Rank Name State Score 57 Bogac Ayhan 2.70 69 MATTHEW BUERGER PA 3.30 177 Michael Scheid KY 7.91 206 Andrew Jensen TX 9.89 260 Shane McKenzie PA 13.4

Outgoing Seniors Name Conference Points NCAA Points

#24 - Indiana

Tanner Kurz is a great pick-up for Indiana and as legitimate potential in the 200 IM, sprint frees and fly.  Given what little Indiana loses, he should immediately make up for those losses at Big Tens.  Kurz is joined by the quickly improving in-state breaststroke recruit, Zecariah Banks, who is on a great trajectory as he enters Big Ten competition.  Most importantly for the Hoosiers, they return essentially a second recruiting class with their redshirts coming back following this summer's Olympic Games.

Incoming Freshmen Rank Name Score 22 Tanner Kurz 1.58 144 Zechariah Banks 6.42 191 Brent Aarons 8.89 216 Curtis Goss 10.40 281 Wade Costin 15.43 288 Michael J Stack 16.45 320 Grayson Smith 20.42

Graduating Seniors Name Conference NCAA Shedron, Tyler R 22 Hinshaw, Ryan M 14 Schnittker, John I 6 Taylor, Andrew R 2

#23 Florida State

Florida State has to replace their best NCAA swimmer, and with a  deep class they should be able to do so in a short period of time.  With two Florida recruits as well as two from Georgia and one from Tennessee they stayed close to home.  Derek Pridemore is the heir apparent to De Angulo Mateo in the distance events and will have a great training partner in Robert Graves.  Kingsford is a rock-solid sprinter who will be joined by Anthony Murray out of Georgia in the sprint corps, while Nick Brown is a project in the breastroke and IMs although his 400 IM is probably his immediate best shot to score at ACCs.

Incoming Freshmen Rank Name State Score 45 Derek Pridemore FL 2.25 137 Robert Graves TN 6.36 154 Jacob Kingsford FL 6.91 175 Nick Brown GA 7.88 249 Kyle Doxtater MD 12.41

Outgoing Seniors Name Conference Points NCAA Points De Angulo, Mateo 57 19

#22 Louisiana State

Head Coach Dave Geyer and recruiting coordinator Lance Asti cast the net wide to catch this small, but top-notch class.  Gabriel Rooker out of Oregon is a breaststroke and sprint free athlete who they can coach up quickly into a SEC and NCAA scorer.  Swede Alexander Linge is a fly and sprint freestyler with good potential as his best converted times of 47 and 1:47 in the flys come from the more easily translatable to NCAA success short-course meters.  Grant Grenfell is the top-ranked Louisiana swimmer with potential in the backstrokes and fly, he will be a project but has great upside.

Incoming Freshmen Rank Name State Score 50 Gabriel Rooker OR 2.35 54 Alexander Linge 2.63 148 Grant D Grenfell LA 6.87

Outgoing Seniors Name Conference Points NCAA Points Vieke, Matt 18 Diefenthal, Simon J 13 Jungfleisch, Martin G 6

#21 Tennessee

Tennessee joined the rest of the SEC by combining their program under one head coach.  Matt Kredich has done wonders with women in Knoxville and now he will get a chance to form a unified identity for this newly merged athletic department and team.  His best recruit is a Bill Schalz Academy Bullets product, Sean Lehane.  Lehane is a backstroke, fly and sprint freestyler who for good measure has also been 3:55 in the 400 IM.  His backstroke sprint speed may be where his potential lies, but he certainly has the versatility to develop in several different directions.  Many Mendoza is a Distance swimmer out of Texas, who will be joined in the D-Lane with Ben Miller out of North Carolina and Ryan Signorin, although Sigorin may trend more towards a middle-distance future.  Timothy Whylie is another Texas product whose best success has been in the backstroke and sprint free events.

Incoming Freshmen Rank Name State Score 45 Sean Lehane IL 2.25 146 Manny Mendoza TX 6.85 150 Ben Miller NC 6.88 171 Timothy Wylie TX 7.87 180 Ryan Signorin NJ 8.37 210 Adam Cornett TN 9.93 261 Trevor Leland NJ 13.41 379 Connor Shores AZ 29.94

Losses Name Conference Points NCAA Points Helms, Ryan 45 19 Henahan, Richard 17.5 4 Epperson, Jake 24 Jones, Carl 17