Nine Under-the-Radar Returners Who Could Impact NCAA Women’s Swimming This Season
A significant swath of talent has departed from college swimming. Sisters Alex and Gretchen Walsh are done at the University of Virginia after leading the Cavaliers to a fifth consecutive team title. Emma Sticklen concluded her Texas career after winning a third straight national championship in the 200 butterfly, while Olympic and 200 freestyle champion Anna Peplowski wrapped up her time at Indiana.
Emma Weyant and Phoebe Bacon are both two-time Olympians who ran out of college eligibility, and Tennessee’s Mona McSharry was the Olympic bronze medalist in the 100-meter breaststroke. Further top-three individual finishers from last season’s NCAA Championships to move on include Stanford distance standout Aurora Roghair, versatile Cal swimmer Lea Polonsky and Peplowski’s Indiana teammates Ching Gan and Brearna Crawford.
Those changes mean there are significant openings for opportunistic swimmers to take the next steps in their career over the next five months. It is no secret that Virginia is well positioned for another title with versatile star Claire Curzan returning and swimmers like Anna Moesch, Katie Grimes, Leah Hayes and Tess Howley positioned to take on stronger roles. Stanford has the trio of Torri Huske, Caroline Bricker and Lucy Bell while Texas is building around Jillian Cox and Erin Gemmell. Cal adds star freestyler Claire Weinstein to its roster while NC State’s Leah Shackley is likely to build off her five-gold-medal performance at the World University Games.
But it’s not just the established favorites sitting in a good position. Plenty more swimmers could use their 2024-25 results as experience as they seek to lift their respective squads following another year’s worth of experience. And this list is not comprehensive, with talent from all over the country poised for strong years on the conference and national level.
Miranda Grana & Kristina Paegle, Indiana
Following an impressive fourth-place finish at last year’s NCAA Championships, the Indiana women have a rebuilding effort in front of them with so many high-profile losses. But Grana and Paegle represent an excellent starting point.
Grana, a native of Mexico who previously swam for Texas A&M, finished fourth in the 100 fly and third in the 100 backstroke at last season’s NCAA meet, getting under the 50-second barrier in backstroke and just missing at 50.01 in butterfly. She also won the 200 back B-final in 1:48.73, giving her the fifth-best time of the competition. Without Gretchen Walsh and Sticklen in butterfly and Bacon in backstroke, Grana could finish even higher this time.
Paegle was a B-finalist in both sprint freestyle events last year, and she could exceed or match those finishes (10th and 12th) in her senior season. Paegle also steps into an even larger relay role; specifically, a medley relay with Mya DeWitt on back, Grana on fly and Paegle anchoring has strong potential.
Ella Jansen, Tennessee
Ella Jansen — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
The Lady Vols have huge holes to fill with McSharry, Josephine Fuller and Sara Stotler all graduating off last season’s fifth-place team, but Camille Spink returns to hold down the freestyle events while McKenzie Siroky could take another step in breaststroke. Jansen, a Paris Olympian for Canada, should join them in scoring big points on the national level after she won a pair of B-finals at the 2025 NCAA Championships.
As a freshman, Jansen clocked 4:34.62 in the 500 free at the NCAA Championships, which would have placed sixth in the final. That race graduated four A-finalists (Roghair, Peplowski, Gan and Rachel Stege). Her 400 IM mark of 4:02.53 was also the sixth-best of the meet, and a big obstacle is out of that event with Weyant’s graduation.
Julia Dennis & Ella Welch, Louisville
Here is another pair of Louisville sprinters ready for big senior seasons in the post-Gabi Albiero era. Dennis is the second-fastest returning swimmer in the 50 free, with no Gretchen Walsh looming anymore, and she also placed eighth in the 100 free at last season’s national meet. She has already begun the season in strong form based on her swims at the SMU Classic. Welch, meanwhile, is one of only three 100 fly A-finalists from 2025 back in the college ranks this year, joining Huske and Grana.
Stephanie Balduccini & Hannah Bellard, Michigan
While the Wolverines said goodbye to Lindsay Flynn, a sprinter central to her team’s success the past four seasons, the team now adds Olympian and multi-time NCAA champion Bella Sims to go along with senior sprinter Brady Kendall and this surprising duo from last season.
Balduccini made an enormous jump from 2024 to 2025, from 11th to third in the 200 free, and her time of 1:40.89 puts her in the title mix this year. She also placed sixth in the 100 free at last year’s meet. Bellard, meanwhile, swam a time of 1:51.89 for a surprising fifth-place finish in the 200 fly. With Sticklen and Alex Walsh gone, Howley and Bricker will be the big national favorites this season, but Bellard has to be considered in the mix.
Sienna Angove & Mila Nikanarov, Ohio State
Ohio State is the only team noted here that did not finish top-10 at last season’s national meet, but the reigning Big Ten champions have a couple swimmers quickly encroaching on the national standings based on their performances as freshmen. Angove is a Canadian IMer who won the Big Ten title in the 400 IM last season before reaching the national final in the event. Entering 2025-26, she is the only returning swimmer from that heat who does not attend Stanford or Virginia.
Nikanarov, meanwhile, is coming off a phenomenal season in the distance events. She placed sixth in the 500 free and seventh in the 1650 last year, but so much has changed in the landscape of those races. Yes, Weinstein is entering the picture, but four experienced milers graduated, meaning that Cox and Gena Jorgensen (Nebraska) are the only swimmers who beat Nikanarov last year and are set to race again this March.
