The College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) has released their women’s preseason poll, with Virginia and Stanford leading the way. The defending champion Cavaliers received 12 of 15 first place votes and the reloaded Cardinal received the other 3 first place votes. NC State, Michigan and Texas rounded out the top five.
While some teams have begun competition, as the ‘preseason’ poll, pollsters were instructed to not penalize teams that have not yet competed.
Note: the CSCAA polls are designed to reflect dual meet strength, not necessarily a projection of NCAA Championship meet finish.
The poll reflects what is likely to be a tight two-team race between Virginia and Stanford throughout the season. At last year’s NCAA Championship, Virginia won handily with 491 points, ahead of 2nd place NC State and 3rd place Texas. Stanford, which was hit hard by multiple redshirts and deferments last season, finished in ninth with 159 points.
From last year’s NCAA results, Stanford is the biggest riser, moving up from 9th to 2nd. Two programs also had significant drops from last season’s NCAA finish, as Alabama dropped from 5th to 14th, and Texas A&M fell from 14th to 21st.
Some notable Top 10 matchups are set to take place this weekend, as #1 Virginia travels west to take on #6 Cal, and #3 NC State heads to Knoxville to take on #7 Tennessee.
NCAA Division I Poll
| Rk | Prv | Team | Points |
| 1 | Virginia | 372 | |
| 2 | Stanford | 363 | |
| 3 | NC State | 333 | |
| 4 | Michigan | 331 | |
| 5 | Texas | 325 | |
| 6 | California | 293 | |
| 7 | Tennessee | 276 | |
| 8 | Georgia | 267 | |
| 9 | Florida | 250 | |
| 10 | Ohio State | 243 | |
| 11 | Indiana | 242 | |
| 12 | Kentucky | 203 | |
| 13 | Louisville | 187 | |
| 14 | Alabama | 168 | |
| 15 | North Carolina | 156 | |
| 16 | Northwestern | 143 | |
| 17 | Southern California | 141 | |
| 18 | Virginia Tech | 111 | |
| 19 | Wisconsin | 106 | |
| 20 | Missouri | 94 | |
| 21 | Texas A&M | 88 | |
| 22 | Arizona State | 79 | |
| 23 | Auburn | 35 | |
| 24 | Duke | 31 | |
| 25 | Notre Dame | 22 |
Also Receiving Votes
Florida State (8), San Diego State (3), Miami (FL) (2), Southern Methodist (1), South Carolina (1)
Women’s Poll Committee
Jen Betz, Kansas; Niko Fantakis, Brown; Naya Higashijima, Southern Methodist (Chair); Andrew Hodgson, Northwestern; Lars Jorgensen, Kentucky; Nathan Lavery, Drexel; Ben Loorz, UNLV; Sergio Lopez, Virginia Tech; Jonathan Maccoll, Rutger; Lea Maurer, Southern California; Jeana Kempe, South Carolina; Jos Smith, Utak; Mike Stephens, Boston College; Braden Keith, SwimSwam; David Rieder, Swimming World.