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#10 Wisconsin

While at Wisconsin Eric Hansen’s teams had NCAA Champions and Big Ten record-holders.  It seems in his first year, however, Whitney Hite was able to do something Hansen couldn’t – he stemmed the flow of Badger State talent crossing over the St. Croix into Minnesota.  The top four swimmers from Wisconsin (the state) will call Madison home for the next four years.  Wisconsin always landed a kid or two from in-state but the top men always left town.  Luke Bushman was one of those.  He went to Penn State, but little brother John opted to stay home.  Each of the O'Donnell's went to Madison and Ryan is the latest.  Those two alone can form the Badgers Medley's of the future.  Max Grodecki also elected to stay close to home and gives the Badgers a sprinter they can build around.  After that the Badgers stockpiled the depth of talent that hasn't been seen in Badgerland for some time.  If Hite can help these guys develop - something that hasn't always been guaranteed at UW - the Badgers are going to have something good going. 

Incoming Freshmen Rank Name State Score 19 John Bushman WI 1.56 27 Ryan O'Donnell WI 1.71 52 Max Grodecki IL 2.59 98 Jacob M Mandli WI 4.41 105 Austin Byrd WI 4.85 124 Joshua D Anderson TX 5.82 277 Travis Thompson WI 14.92

Graduating Seniors Name Conference Points NCAA Points Lagerhausen, Wes 2

#9 North Carolina

It’s a tough call for the top class in the ACC.  The Tarheels knew they’d have their hands full in replacing Steve Cebertowicz, but they didn’t have to look far in landing Logan Heck from nearby Huntersville.   In 2008 a rival coach noted that guys like Cebertowicz and Evan Reed helped usher in a new attitude that helped make UNC relevant again.  Heck continues that legacy as a guy who swims much bigger than his 5’10” (maybe) frame would indicate.

Sam Lewis could prove the second-coming of Tommy Wyher and if so it will free the Tarheels up to plug Nic Graesser in wherever needed.  Those two plus Heck and Sean Sullivan should put UNC’s relays in the hunt for the NCAA meet, though some changes in the selection process would be welcome in their freshman year. 

Canadian IM’er Matt Kwatyra is probably the biggest individual pick-up.   He won’t have the relay impact like the above, but he should be able to collect buckets of points at ACC’s and also make his mark at the NCAA meet.  Ben Colley and Mitch DeForest are a little longer shot for a NCAA bid, but their development into multi-event top-eight scorers will take the Tarheels a few steps closer to an ACC title.

Incoming Freshmen Rank Name State Score 44 Matt Kwatyra 2.24 62 Logan R Heck NC 2.75 72 Kurt Wohlrab NC 3.38 90 Mitch DeForest NC 4.28 92 Sam Lewis GA 4.32 95 Ben Colley VA 4.35 114 Sean Sullivan DC 4.94 406 Chris Gondek NC 35.43

Losses Name Conference Points NCAA Points Cebertowicz, Steven 34 25.5 MacDonald, David 42 3 Singley, Wil 33 Reed, Evan 24 Lane, Sean 11 Flannery, Jim 3.5 Park, Nicolaas 1

#8  Michigan

With just a pair of Seniors playing significant roles this season, Michigan was one team that entered the recruiting year without much money to spread around.  That constraint was perfectly timed considering this year’s in-state prospects were among the weakest in years and the fact that the Wolverines graduated just one NCAA scorer – Senior Dan Madwed.   Somehow Michigan found a way to do more with less and picked up a pair of skilled underwater kickers in Reid Elliott and Peter Brumm who can hold the fort until next year’s class moves on.  Matthew McNamara isn’t on the level of say a Zechariah Banks (Indiana), but coming from in-state he was within the Wolverine’s budget and will strengthen Michigan’s thinnest area – breaststroke.  As if that wasn't enough - consider that the Wolverines also picked up Kenyon sprinter and Division III record-holder Zach Turk for a year as he enrolls in graduate school.

Incoming Freshmen Rank Name State Score 28 Reid Elliott TX 1.72 37 Peter Brumm NC 2.01 94 William Raynor NE 4.34 125 Aaron M Ghiglieri OR 5.84 230 Paul Corbae TX 10.93 239 Nicholas E Killeen IL 11.90

Losses Name Conference Points NCAA Points Madwed, Daniel 57 33 Vanderkaay, Dane 18 Konarzewski, Jan 16 Sreenan, Casey 1.5

#7 Texas

We know it can get hot in Texas, but are the Longhorns starting to feel some heat as they press for a NCAA title?   We originally had this class 12-14th, but then the Longhorns did something that will leave Eddie's Patriotic defenders backpedaling - he imported a breaststroker.  Israeli Imri Ganiel has been 1:00.9 in the long course 100 breaststroke, and single-highhandedly moved this class from 14th to 8th.  Sprint-wise, it's impossible to replace Jimmy Feigen, but John Murray will do just fine, he nearly make the 19 club with a 20.00 and has 43 100 speed ranking him in the top 3 in both the 50 and 100 Free.  Murray will get some help from transfer Caleb Weir who has dipped below 20.0 and has been 44 low in the 100.  Martens may be the distance swimmer of the future at Texas, but the rest of this class is mostly one that is big on potential and Eddie will need to coach ‘em up to reach the Texas standard of excellence.  Given the class that just graduated, these young men better listen up quick.  (Aaron Gustafson will give Nick D’Innocenzo another Patriot fan in the locker room).

Incoming Freshmen Rank Name State Score 29 John A Murray TX 1.74 32 Imri Ganiel 1.90 75 John T Martens CO 3.67 86 Liam Lockwood TX 3.91 104 John Lewis TX 4.84 116 Frederick I Lemaistre TX 5.28 151 Aaron J Gustafson MA 6.89

Graduating Seniors Name Conference Points NCAA Points Feigen, James 56 54 Livingston, Drew 57 52 Cooper, Matt 46 29 Caskey, Neil 53 24.5 Friedland, Eric 42 22 McNeilis, Kyle 42 4 Wilcox, Jackson 47 Johnson, Timothy 36

#6 Harvard

Hard to deny the talent that Harvard recruited an excellent class.  The question is, how does it fit in?  They got some numbers but are there enough to overcome Princeton in a league that scores 24 deep?  They also got talent, but can they get them to the big show?   And finally, how many breaststrokers and IM’ers can you get into the big final?

What we can say is the Crimson easily have the best 3x100 Breaststroke relay among all freshmen classes.  Christian Carbone, Ryan Fortin, and Leo Lim are the breaststroke trio.   Their choice of Harvard is unique considering the Crimson’s top two breaststrokers are a freshman and sophomore.  Carbone is also an excellent IMer which will help ease the loss of Niall Janney.

Carbonne will get some help from Christian Yeager and Steven Kekacs.  The pair are excellent IM’ers with Kekacs also facing a choice between the 200 Fly and 1650 Freestyle.  In addition to the IM’s Yeager steps in with times ahead of the outgoing backstroker Robert Newell. 

Flyer Jacob Luna arrives on campus with times capable of scoring among the Ivy’s top eight and faster than anything on Harvard’s current roster.   He will get some pressure from Lim for the medley relay spots however.  Robert Doles and Tyler Rocca are both excellent additions.  Doles would be an excellent IM addition any other team, but with guys like Carbone and Yeagar he might be better suited developing his sprint events.  Rocca, a backstroker, could be in the same boat. Neither is a front-line sprinter just yet but with Harvard returning their being four in Chris Satterthwaite, Griffin Schmacher, Oliver Lee and Zach Walters, they will have some time to develop.

Incoming Freshmen Rank Name State Score 39 Christian J Carbone IA 2.08 59 Leo Lim NJ 2.73 62 Steven Kekacs SC 2.75 66 Christian Yeager NY 3.23 80 Jacob Luna NV 3.82 105 Ryan Fortin MA 4.85 128 Tyler Rocca FL 5.85 182 Robert Doles GA 8.38 233 Adejia Boutte GA 11.39

Losses Name Conference Points NCAA Points Janney, Niall 67 Newell, Robert 59 McLean, Matthew 35