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It’s that point of the yr once more. SwimSwam will probably be previewing the highest 12 males’s and girls’s groups (after which some) from the 2026 NCAA Championships. Follow together with the College Swimming Preview Channel. Want to learn much more? Check out the newest version of the SwimSwam journal.
Key Losses: Guy Brooks (6 NCAA factors — free), Jackson Millard (9 NCAA factors — IM), Tommy Bried (IM/fly), Aidan Paro (Virginia Tech switch — fly), Charlie Crush (dash free/again)
Key Additions: BOTR Chase Knopf (KY — again) Ethan Gover (KY — dash free), Aidan Kaplan (IL — dash free/fly), Lucas Jue (CA — free/IM)
Over the years, we’ve gone forwards and backwards on venture factors, starting from largely subjective rankings to extra data-based grading standards based mostly on ‘projected returning points.’ We like being as goal as attainable, however we’re going to stay with the method we’ve adopted post-Covid. The “stars” will rely closely on what swimmers truly did final yr, however we’ll additionally give credit score to returning swimmers or freshmen who’ve posted instances that may have scored final yr.
Since we solely profile the highest 12 groups on this format, our grades are designed with that vary in thoughts. In the grand scheme of school swimming and in comparison with all different school applications, high 12 NCAA applications would just about all grade properly throughout the board. But within the curiosity of creating these previews informative, our grading scale is hard – designed to indicate the tiers between the nice stroke teams, the good ones, and the 2015 Texas fly group varieties.
We’ll grade every occasion self-discipline: dash free (which we outline to incorporate all of the relay-distance freestyle occasions, so 50, 100 and 200), distance free, IM, breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly and diving. Use these grades as a jumping-off level for dialogue, somewhat than a motive to be offended.
Also, needless to say we’re publishing many of those previews earlier than groups have posted finalized rosters. We’re making our assessments based mostly on the very best data we’ve got out there on the time of publication, however we reserve the proper to make modifications after publication based mostly on any new data that will emerge concerning rosters. If that does occur, we’ll make sure to notice the change.
The last be aware is that we’re not together with athletes who graduated final spring after exhausting their school eligibility regardless of ongoing lawsuits towards the NCAA concerning the brand new “Five-for-Five” rule.
The Cardinals completed Twelfth on the 2026 NCAA Championships with 83 factors, solely three behind Eleventh-place Virginia Tech, after taking 4th on the ACC Championships. That Twelfth-place end was their greatest since 2022, when in addition they completed Twelfth.
Nikita Sheremet was a revelation in his freshman marketing campaign, scoring 17 factors, whereas Jackson Millard and Guy Brooks rounded out the Cardinals’ high three scorers.
As has been the norm the final decade or so, the Cardinals demonstrated sturdy relay depth, ending eighth within the 200 free relay, Eleventh within the 200 medley relay, fifteenth within the 400 medley relay and the 400 free relay, and twentieth within the 800 free relay,
The Cardinals in all probability have an uphill climb to return to the highest 10 after dropping Millard, Brooks, and NCAA qualifier Tommy Bried, however Arthur Albiero & Co. have made a behavior out of exceeding expectations.
This group begins with Nikita Sheremet, who arrived in Louisville with a World Junior title within the 50 freestyle and instantly turned one of many nation’s greatest collegiate sprinters.
Sheremet entered NCAAs at 18.71 within the 50 free and 41.39 within the 100 free. At NCAAs, he made the 50 free last and in the end positioned seventh (18.65), and he additionally put factors on the board within the 100 free in Twelfth (41.41). That provides Louisville a legit ‘A’ last risk within the 50 and scoring potential within the 100 earlier than contemplating any sophomore enchancment.
Matias Santiso returns after posting bests of 42.94/1:34.63 within the 100/200 free final season, whereas Aiden Musso provides the Cardinals one other high-end dash choice with a 19.26 50 free and an 18.52 relay cut up. Ethan Chauliaguet provides some returning dash depth after dropping to 19.56 within the 50 free as a freshman. That may put him within the combine for Louisville’s 200 free relay because the Cardinals look to interchange Guy Brooks and Charlie Crush.
Incoming freshman Aidan Kaplan provides one other younger dash choice after dropping to twenty.05/44.06 within the 50/100 free throughout his senior season. Additionally, in-state freshman Ethan Gover made important progress throughout his highschool senior season, dropping to twenty.14/44.15/1:36.79 within the 50/100/200 freestyles.
Although the Cardinals have had a long way freestyle success over time, distance was not a significant supply of NCAA manufacturing final season, though they do return one NCAA splash.
That swim got here from Gregg Enoch, who completed forty second within the 500 free with a 4:21.55, 4 seconds off his better of 4:17.52.
Oscar Isberg might be probably the most attention-grabbing developmental piece. As a freshman final season, he hit bests of 4:14.90/15:11.65, with that 500 free time not far off from what it took to qualify for NCAAs.
Kayden Lancaster provides Louisville one other returning distance choice after going 15:14.78 within the 1650 at ACCs, simply behind Isberg. Max Hatcher provides extra depth with lifetime bests of 4:21.06 within the 500 free and 15:10.41 within the 1650.
Freshman Lucas Jue may additionally contribute to Louisville’s distance depth; his 500 free time of 4:21.66 is nearly two years previous, and he’s been 15:28.98 within the 1650.
Filip Kosinski leads the group after dropping to 1:39.72 within the 200 again at Louisville’s Last Chance meet, placing him virtually in vary of NCAA qualifying, and never far off of the 1:39.29 it took to attain final yr. He’s additionally been 45.82 within the 100 again, however that truly places him at #2 on the depth chart, as Rian Graham went 45.67 final yr and led off the Cardinals’ 400 medley relay.
Nate Thomas may develop within the 200 again after going 1:43.82 late final season together with a 47.42 within the 100.
Incoming freshman Chase Knopf provides depth with bests of fifty.18/1:46.67. Those instances don’t put him within the NCAA image but, however give the Cardinals one other younger backstroker to develop.
Jake Eccleston led the way in which for the Cardinals on this self-discipline, qualifying individually for NCAAs as a sophomore with a 1:52.10 200 breast, then completed 14th nationally to attain three particular person factors in 1:51.96. That makes him certainly one of solely three returning Louisville swimmers who scored individually on the 2026 NCAAs.
Behind Eccleston, sophomore Finnley Conklin provides Louisville one other intriguing choice after dropping to 51.94/1:53.43 final yr. He additionally earned Second Team All-America honors because the breaststroke leg of the Cardinals’ 200 medley relay with a 23.30 cut up. Conklin continued to enhance over the summer time, posting lengthy course bests of 1:00.32 within the 100 breast and a pair of:08.94 within the 200 breast on the US Nationals, making him a legit candidate for a major sophomore bounce.
Behind Eccleston and Conklin, Ryder Hicks offers some youthful depth after dropping to 1:55.75 within the 200 breast as a freshman.
Louisville loses Aidan Paro to Virginia Tech, however the Cardinals nonetheless return a pair of sub-45 100 flyers in Rian Graham and Aiden Musso. Graham leads the way in which after dropping to 44.93 at Louisville’s Last Chance meet, the second-fastest efficiency in program historical past, whereas Musso was simply 4 hundredths behind at 44.97. Neither raced the occasion individually at NCAAs, however each have been essential items of Louisville’s NCAA relay lineup.
Bryan Lombardi provides Louisville one other younger choice behind Graham and Musso within the 100 fly after dropping to 46.52 on the Cardinals’ Last Chance meet.
The greater query comes within the 200 fly, the place Louisville loses Tommy Bried and doesn’t have the identical apparent national-level depth. However, each Gregg Enoch (1:42.00) and Aidan Paro (1:42.76) have ACC-scoring instances.
Freshman Aidan Kaplan additionally provides Louisville one other developmental piece within the 100 fly, the place he owns a 46.89 in yards and dropped to 53.54 in lengthy course over the summer time.
The IM group takes maybe the most important hit from Louisville’s offseason departures. The Cardinals despatched three swimmers to NCAAs within the 400 IM final season, led by Jackson Millard’s 3:39.11, with Tommy Bried (3:40.15) and Gregg Enoch (3:40.21) shut behind. With Millard and Bried gone, Enoch is the lone NCAA qualifier coming back from that trio.
Enoch additionally provides Louisville some upside right here. He scored a degree within the 200 IM at NCAAs final season and, after arriving at Louisville as one of many extra versatile swimmers in his recruiting class, has more and more discovered a house within the IM occasions. Now coming into his junior season, he’ll have the chance to maneuver from being one piece of a deep IM group to its clear chief.
The query is what develops behind him. Louisville had the posh of placing three swimmers below 3:41 within the 400 IM final season; changing that depth will probably be tough.
The Cardinals’ diving crew performed an enormous half in Louisville’s postseason. The divers scored 105 diving factors at ACCs, a major piece of their 844-point workforce complete.
Louisville in the end scored 4 diving factors at NCAAs, with these factors coming from junior Rayce Winn‘s Thirteenth-place end within the 1m occasion.
Ray Preas received the ACC platform title and certified for NCAAs, ending thirty fifth in that occasion.
Louisville has historically been a robust relay workforce, and final season was no exception. The Cardinals scored 42 relay factors at NCAAs, accounting for greater than half of their 82-point complete, they usually return many of the items from these relays.
The greatest loss is Guy Brooks, who cut up 41.39 on the 400 free relay and led off the ACC 800 free relay in 1:31.91. Charlie Crush can be gone after splitting 18.76 on the NCAA 200 free relay and main off the 200 medley relay in 20.81.
Even with these losses, the dash relays ought to stay a power. Louisville returns three sub-19 legs from its eighth-place 200 free relay in Nikita Sheremet, Aiden Musso and Rian Graham, together with Musso’s 18.52 cut up. Matias Santiso, who has beforehand cut up 19.13, is one choice to interchange Crush, and the Cardinals can have a number of different younger sprinters competing for that spot.
Santiso may additionally step into Brooks’ spot on the 400 free relay after splitting 42.58 final season. Sheremet, Musso and Graham all return from the NCAA quartet, so Louisville actually solely wants to search out one leg there.
The 400 medley relay is much more easy, as Louisville returns all 4 swimmers from the three:02.83 quartet of Graham, Jake Eccleston, Musso and Sheremet. There may nonetheless be some shuffling. Graham cut up 45.96 on backstroke final season, however has since dropped to 44.93 within the particular person 100 fly. If Filip Kosinski or one other backstroker can take over the leadoff leg, Louisville would have the choice of shifting Graham to fly, though Musso was already 44.68 on that leg at NCAAs.
The shorter medley has a extra apparent gap to fill after dropping Crush and his 20.81 backstroke cut up. Finnley Conklin cut up 23.30 on breaststroke, Musso was 20.05 on fly and Sheremet anchored in 18.06 as Louisville completed Eleventh at NCAAs. All three return, so as soon as once more the query is whether or not Louisville can discover a sturdy backstroke leadoff. Rian Graham could possibly be the reply, although, as he went 21.16 main off in a twin meet towards Notre Dame within the fall.
The 800 free relay has extra work to do. Brooks led off in 1:31.91 at ACCs, properly forward of Oscar Isberg (1:33.23), Santiso (1:34.02) and Gregg Enoch (1:33.54). All three of these swimmers return, however the Cardinals will want some enchancment there, particularly after the relay completed solely twentieth at NCAAs.
Overall, Louisville isn’t dealing with a significant relay rebuild. The Cardinals want to interchange one leg on the 200 free, 400 free and 200 medley relays, whereas all the 400 medley returns. The 800 free relay stays the most important query mark, however with Sheremet main a younger dash group and Musso and Graham each coming off sturdy sophomore seasons, the relays ought to as soon as once more account for a good portion of Louisville’s NCAA scoring.
Total Stars: 16/40
Those losses go away Louisville with fewer confirmed NCAA scorers than it had a yr in the past, however there may be nonetheless loads of upside among the many swimmers coming again.
Nikita Sheremet leads that group after scoring 17 NCAA factors as a freshman. Jake Eccleston has already confirmed he can rating at this stage, together with a sixth place end within the 200 breast as a freshman, whereas Gregg Enoch returns after qualifying in each IM occasions final season. Filip Kosinski is knocking on the door of an NCAA invite within the 200 again, and Aiden Musso has proven he can fly on the relays. There are additionally swimmers like Oscar Isberg farther down the lineup who nonetheless have loads of room to develop.
That provides Louisville a path again towards the highest 10, however it would require a number of of these youthful swimmers to show potential into NCAA factors.
Put all of it collectively, and Louisville in all probability has a wider vary of outcomes than we’re accustomed to seeing from the Cardinals. They don’t have apparent replacements for all the factors they misplaced, and the incoming class doesn’t seem possible to offer a bunch of quick NCAA scoring.
What they do have is a younger returning group that has already proven flashes on the NCAA stage, together with a program that has constantly developed swimmers into nationwide scorers. If just a few of these swimmers take the following step, Louisville ought to be proper again within the battle for the highest 10. If not, there are sufficient factors strolling out the door that the Cardinals may simply get swallowed up in a crowded group combating for spots within the high 15.
| RANK (2026) | TEAM | SPRINT FREE | DISTANCE FREE | BACK | BREAST | FLY | IM | DIVING | RELAY | TOTAL |
| 1 | ||||||||||
| 2 | Florida Gators | |||||||||
| 3 | Indiana Hoosiers | |||||||||
| 4 | Arizona State Sun Devils | |||||||||
| 5 | ||||||||||
| 6 | NC State Wolfpack | |||||||||
| 7 | Cal Golden Bears | |||||||||
| 8 | Michigan Wolverines | |||||||||
| 9 | Virginia Cavaliers | |||||||||
| 10 | Stanford Cardinal | |||||||||
| 11 | Virginia Tech Hokies | |||||||||
| 12 | Louisville Cardinals | ★★★ | ★ | ★ | ★★ | ★ ★ | ★★ | ★★ | ★★★ | 16/40 |
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its authentic location you’ll be able to go to the hyperlink bellow:
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This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its authentic location you'll…
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its authentic location you…
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its authentic location you'll…
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its authentic location you…
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