Who Moved Up, Who Moved Down, & Which Teams Set Program Highs?

2025 NCAA Division I Swimming & Diving Championships

With the 2025 NCAA Championship meets in the rearview mirror, it’s time to take a look at how teams finished at nationals relative to how they did last year, in addition to where their placement this season stacks up in program history.

2025 WOMEN’S STANDINGS VS 2024

Let’s start with the women’s meet, which saw Virginia roll to a fifth straight title and Stanford earn an upset runner-up finish ahead of Texas, which had placed 2nd behind the Cavaliers the past three seasons.

Below, find the final women’s team standings along with where they finished in 2024 and how far they either jumped up the rankings or fell relative to last year’s finish.

• Five of the top-12 teams moved up three spots from last year, led by Stanford which jumped into 2nd after last season’s 5th-place showing. Indiana, Cal, Michigan and Wisconsin also moved up three spots.
• Miami (FL) shot up a staggering 27 places to take 13th this year after they scored just three points in 2024. The Hurricanes had their key divers redshirt last season, but Chiara Pellacani and Mia Vallee returned in 2025 and combined for 69 points, which was good for over 91% of their points.
• Alabama, Arizona State and Virginia Tech also made big moves up the rankings in the top 20, while South Carolina and Kansas moved up seven spots each to get in the top 25.
• Scoring after they didn’t last year were BYU, Pitt, Arizona, Princeton, Ohio and Fresno State.
• In the top 10, Florida fell the most, down from 3rd to 6th, while USC and Ohio State fell out of the top 10, down from 8th to 11th for the Trojans and 9th to 14th for the Buckeyes.
• Eight teams dropped five or more spots from last year, including Texas A&M falling 12 spots from 14th to 26th, Auburn dropping 16 spots from 19th to 35th, and UCLA falling from 22nd to 37th.

Teams That Scored In 2024 But Didn’t This Year

• There were five teams that dropped out of the team standings with zero points in 2025 after they were on the board last year, with Utah being the top team from 2024 that fell out. The Utes were 25th last season behind the points from two divers, and one, Emilia Nilsson Garip, didn’t compete past October this season, while Holly Waxman didn’t score.

2025 WOMEN’S NCAA STANDINGS – PROGRAM BEST FINISHES

A total of 13 women’s teams had their best finish in at least five years this season, including six that had their best finish since 2000 and one that set a new record.

Below, we’ll look at the 2025 Women’s NCAA standings alongside the year the team last finished that high at the meet. If the team finished higher last season, they have a dash.

Teams in green had their best finish in 10+ years, while those in blue had their best finish in 5-9 years.

• Indiana set a new program record with their 4th-place finish, with their previous highest having been a trio of 7th-place showings in 2016, 2023 and 2024.
• Stanford’s 2nd-place finish was their best showing since they won the title in 2019, having placed 9th, 3rd, 3rd and 5th in each of the past four championships (2021-24).
• The diving performances of Pellacani and Vallee led Miami (FL) to their best finish since 1992.
• BYU’s 23rd-place finish was not only their best since taking 11th in 1991, it was their first time scoring since 2010.
• The Ohio Bobcats scored at NCAAs for just the fifth time in program history, last doing so in 2000.

2025 MEN’S STANDINGS VS 2024

The men’s championships turned out to be an exciting three-way battle, with Texas emerging with the title ahead of Cal and Indiana to earn the Longhorns their first national championship since 2021.

Below, find the final men’s team standings along with where they finished in 2024 and how far they either jumped up the rankings or fell relative to last year’s finish.

• Texas had its lowest finish since 2005 last season, but rebounded by winning the title in their first year under Bob Bowman, improving six spots from their 7th-place finish in 2024.
• Other big movers in the top 10 were Georgia, which moved up to 7th after taking 11th in 2024, Arizona State, which fell to 6th after winning last year, and NC State, which dropped four spots into 9th. The Sun Devils’ finish was as predicted after their team lost several key swimmers after Bowman’s departure.
• Michigan, Texas A&M, Alabama and USC all made big improvements in the top 15, with the Crimson Tide improving six spots into 13th and the Trojans jumping up from 22nd into 15th.
• Wisconsin and UNC, 31st and 33rd last season, made big moves to land in 22nd and tied for 23rd, respectively.
• Among teams that scored, Auburn, Virginia and SMU were the biggest droppers, with the Tigers falling 20 spots, from 12th to 32nd, after scoring zero swimming points. Virginia had no individual scorers, just relays, and SMU got their points from diver Luke Sitz.
• Seven teams scored after they didn’t last year: Yale, Kentucky, Georgia Tech, Army, Cornell, Cal Baptist and South Carolina.

Teams That Scored In 2024 But Didn’t This Year

• Six teams didn’t score after they did last year, including Notre Dame which was suspended for the entire season last August.
• Towson was 29th last season but notably lost star breaststroker Brian Benzing to Indiana, while Penn State, BYU and George Washington also didn’t have any qualifiers (like Towson) this season.

2025 MEN’S NCAA STANDINGS – PROGRAM BEST FINISHES

A total of 14 men’s teams had their best finish in at least five years this season, including five that had their highest in over a decade and one that set a program record.

Below, we’ll look at the 2025 Men’s NCAA standings alongside the year the team last finished that high at the meet. If the team finished higher last season, they have a dash.

Teams in green had their best finish in 10+ years, while those in blue had their best finish in 5-9 years.

• Jumping off the page is Brown’s 26th-place finish, their highest since taking 16th way back in 1958. It was also their first time scoring since 2012.
• Tennessee’s 5th-place finish was their best since taking 3rd in 2001, while Yale and Kentucky tied for 20th for their best showing in 17 and 15 years, respectively.
• Army’s 30th-place showing was their best in 38 years, and it was also their first time scoring since 1987.
• Cal Baptist scored for the first time at Division I NCAAs, though they notably only reclassified to Division I prior to the 2018-19 season.