It’s Full Steam Ahead For #5 Stanford Women

It’s that time of the year again. SwimSwam will be previewing the top 12 men’s and women’s teams (and then some) from the 2024 NCAA Championships. Follow along with the College Swimming Preview Channel. Want to read even more? Check out the latest edition of the SwimSwam magazine. 

#5 STANFORD CARDINAL

Key Losses: None

Key Additions: Torri Huske (Olympic redshirt – free/fly/IM), #7 Levenia Sim (AL – back/fly), #10 Emily Thompson (NJ – IM/fly/back), #15 Addison Sauickie (FL – free), #17 Annika Parkhe (IL – fly/free), BOTR Lila Heffernan (CA – free), Bailey O’Regan (FL – free/IM), Anna Lemkin (CA – diving)

Returning Fifth Years: None

GRADING CRITERIA

Over the years, we’ve gone back and forth on how to project points, ranging from largely subjective rankings to more data-based grading criteria based on ‘projected returning points.’ We like being as objective as possible, but we’re going to stick with the approach we’ve adopted post-Covid. The “stars” will rely heavily on what swimmers actually did last year, but we’ll also give credit to returning swimmers or freshmen who have posted times that would have scored last year.

Since we only profile the top 12 teams in this format, our grades are designed with that range in mind. In the grand scheme of college swimming and compared to all other college programs, top 12 NCAA programs would pretty much all grade well across the board. But in the interest of making these previews informative, our grading scale is tough – designed to show the tiers between the good stroke groups, the great ones, and the 2015 Texas fly group types.

• 5 star (★★★★★) – a rare, elite NCAA group projected to score 25+ points per event
• 4 star (★★★★) – a very, very good NCAA group projected to score 15-24 points per event
• 3 star (★★★) – a good NCAA group projected to score 5-14 points per event
• 2 star (★★) – a solid NCAA group projected to score 1-4 points per event
• 1 star (★) –  an NCAA group that is projected to score no points per event, though that doesn’t mean it’s without potential scorers – they’ll just need to leapfrog some swimmers ahead of them to do it

We’ll grade each event discipline: sprint free (which we define to include all the relay-distance freestyle events, so 50, 100 and 200), distance free, IM, breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly and diving. Use these grades as a jumping-off point for discussion, rather than a reason to be angry.

Also, keep in mind that we are publishing many of these previews before teams have posted finalized rosters. We’re making our assessments based on the best information we have available at the time of publication, but we reserve the right to make changes after publication based on any new information that may emerge regarding rosters. If that does happen, we’ll make certain to note the change.

2023-2024 LOOKBACK

From a bird’s eye view, Stanford took a bit of a step back last season, falling to 3rd at the Pac-12 Championships after winning the title in 2023, and then placing 5th at NCAAs after a 3rd-place showing the year before.

However, given the Cardinal lost their three top scorers from the 2022-23 season, Torri Huske, Claire Curzan and Taylor Ruck, there was a lot to like about what the team did last year.

Caroline Bricker emerged as a force during her freshman year, including sweeping the IM events at Pac-12s, and there was also significant progress made by the likes of Aurora Roghair, Lucy Bell, Gigi Johnson, and Natalie Mannion, to name a few.

Roghair won the 1650 free at Pac-12s, Bell led the team in scoring at NCAAs, and Johnson was a double-digit NCAA scorer who took on a big relay role in the absence of Huske. Mannion had some breakout swims during the season and also stepped up on the relays at NCAAs.

So despite dropping two spots in the standings at both Pac-12s and NCAAs, Stanford performed relatively well last season given the key losses they dealt with.

SPRINT FREESTYLE: ★★★★

Stanford is incredibly deep in the 100 and 200 free, and the return of Torri Huske only boosts their prospects across the board, all the way down to the 50.

The strongest of the three distances for the Cardinal has to be the 200, where they had four swimmers finish inside the top 18 last year at NCAAs. Aurora Roghair (1:42.44) and Kayla Wilson (1:42.88) both went sub-1:43 last season, something only 13 swimmers in the nation did in 2023-24, and Natalie Mannion (1:43.67) and Amy Tang (1:43.95) were right there in 1:43s and ended up on the outside looking in with respective 17th and 18th-place finishes at NCAAs.

Wilson was 6th and Roghair was 12th last season at NCAAs, but Roghair’s PB from the team’s early February dual with USC would’ve been good enough for the ‘A’ final.

In addition to that quartet, which finished 3rd at NCAAs in the 800 free relay, the Cardinal bring back Huske, who has a best time of 1:41.93, and also have Lillie Nordmann (1:44.87), Gigi Johnson (1:45.72) and Anna Shaw (1:45.75) with elite times in the 200.

Annika Parkhe (1:45.21) and Addison Sauickie (1:45.35) figure to make an impact in the event as freshmen, and Lila Heffernan (1:46.3) is right there as well.

In the 100 free, the team’s depth is similar with four swimmers in the fold who are sub-48, led by Huske who has been as fast as 46.46 in short course yards and it’s reasonable to expect she’ll be even faster after what she did this summer in long course.

Tang was the fastest swimmer for Stanford last season at 47.48, placing 12th at NCAAs, and Johnson also made the consolation final and set a best time of 47.75. There’s also Nordmann (47.94), Shaw (48.40), Wilson (48.41) and Roghair (48.67) sub-49, and there’s even more depth with names like Bell (49.01) and Janelle Rudolph (49.04) with times that can be competitive in various meets through the season.

Parkhe will be the leading candidate to take over one of the spots on the 400 free relay with her lifetime best of 48.47—though there might not be room with Huske coming back. At NCAAs, the relay was 7th with Johnson, Nordmann, Shaw and Tang.

Other first-years Sauickie (48.90), Levenia Sim (49.26) and Heffernan (49.41) add even more depth to the 100 free group.

The clear weak point of the three events is the 50, as Tang was their lone sub-22 swimmer last season at 21.75, a performance that earned her a spot in the NCAA ‘B’ final where she placed 15th.

Despite only one sub-22 swimmer, the Cardinal still put together a respectable 200 free relay with Johnson, Tang, Shaw and Nordmann placing 11th, and Johnson (22.07) and Lucy Thomas (22.52) both raced the 50 at NCAAs.

Huske figures to give the 200 free relay a giant boost, but she has opted to race the 200 IM instead of the 50 free through her first two NCAA Championship meets despite owning a blistering best time of 21.39.

The Cardinal are well-positioned here with three likely scorers in the 100 (Huske, Tang, Johnson) and 200 free (Wilson, Roghair, Mannion), plus Tang in the 50, assuming Huske races the 200 IM.

DISTANCE FREESTYLE: ★★★★

Aurora Roghair‘s breakout alone made Stanford distance a four-star group last season, as she scored 32 points after placing 2nd in the 1650 and 4th in the 500.

Roghair’s best time in the 500 stood at 4:39.77 coming into last season, and she dropped down to 4:36.32 to finish as the runner-up at Pac-12s before blasting a 4:34.26 in the NCAA final to take 4th, just over half a second back of 2nd place.

In the 1650, she swam the only three sub-16:00 swims of her career last season, descending from 15:52.83 at the Texas Invite to 15:41.11 at NCAAs, with a conference-winning 15:46.35 sandwiched in between.

Her momentum carried over into the long course season, going four-for-four in best times at the U.S. Olympic Trials and placing 4th in the 800 free and 5th in both the 400 and 1500 free. Heading into this season, Roghair is a title contender in the mile and will be in the mix for another top-five finish in the 500.

Things aren’t particularly deep behind her, though Mannion (4:39.18) and Wilson (4:40.21) both had solid performances last year in the 500. Mannion’s fastest time was just shy of the NCAA scoring cutoff (4:38.87), but she added and finished 42nd, while Wilson was 28th. Given the steps both swimmers took last year in the 200, it’s well within reason to believe they could be scorers in the 500.

Nordmann (4:44.01) and Sophie Duncan (4:44.81) were both under 4:45 last season, and Sauickie (4:46.79), Bailey O’Regan (4:47.39) and maybe even Parkhe (4:45.67) bolster the 500 group with depth and potential for more down the line.

In the 1650 it looks like it’s only going to be Roghair doing any damage, while O’Regan is a project with a PB of 16:44 from December 2022. Sauickie has also been 16:38 but should be focusing more on the 100/200.

BACKSTROKE: ★★

Stanford’s lone swimmer who raced backstroke last season at NCAAs was Natalie Mannion, who was a borderline scorer coming in after finishing as the 200 back runner-up at Pac-12s in 1:52.47 (having set a best time of 1:52.42 at the Texas Invite). Mannion ended up on the outside looking in, 20th, at NCAAs in 1:52.78, 16 one-hundredths shy of the ‘B’ final.

Mannion (52.34) and Gigi Johnson (52.86) were the two top 100 backstrokers on the team last year, and the lack of sprint backstroke prowess clearly hurt the medley relays. The Cardinal had the slowest lead-off times among scoring teams in both medley relays last season at NCAAs, and could see a big change in that aspect this season with the addition of Levenia Sim.

Sim is one of the fastest backstrokers in this year’s freshman class despite her PB in the 100 of 51.03 coming all the way back in March 2021 when she was 14 (the old 13-14 NAG record).

Sim’s focus this past year has been almost exclusively on long course, having represented Singapore this summer at the Olympics in Paris. She hasn’t raced the 100 back in yards since March 2023, but notably did go 51.3, 51.4 and 51.7 during the 2022-23 season.

If Sim can rediscover the form she showed a few years ago, Stanford’s backstroke group will get a big boost. Not only is her 14-year-old time in the 100 back right on the cusp of making the NCAA ‘A’ final, her 200 back best (1:53.53) is within a second of the ‘B’ final cut-off and her 50 back best of 23.75 will boost the 200 medley relay.

With Torri Huske (52.45) returning and Annika Parkhe (52.94) joining the team, the Cardinal will have five sub-53 100 backstrokers this season after only two last year, and another freshman Emily Thompson adds depth with 53.57/1:55.01 best times.

BREASTSTROKE: ★★★

During their freshman seasons, Lucy Thomas and Caroline Bricker produced times that would’ve been fast enough to score at the NCAA Championships, but both ended up adding and missing out. With one year under their belts, both are poised to push through into the top 16 and maybe even the top eight.

Thomas was the fastest swimmer in the girls’ high school class of 2023 in the 100 breast (58.65), and went as fast as 58.93 last season during a January dual against ASU. Aside from that swim, she was consistently churning out 59s, culminating with a 59.76 clocking to place 29th at NCAAs—it ultimately took 59.23 to earn a second swim, a mark Thomas is capable of achieving.

Thomas has been as fast as 2:09.1 in the 200 breast, and had a season-best of 2:10.8 in 2023-24 before going 2:11.7 at NCAAs.

Bricker was on fire early last season, setting a 200 breast best time of 2:07.15 in late October and then following up with a 2:06.85 clocking at the Texas Invite in November. In the postseason, she was 2:07.20 to finish 2nd at Pac-12s and then missed the mark with a 2:08.74 prelim at NCAAs.

Bricker’s time from the Texas Invite would’ve cruised into the ‘A’ final of NCAAs, so she’s got what it takes to put double-digit points on the board in this event.

Bricker and Lucy Bell won’t race the 100 breast at NCAAs (conflict with 400 IM) but were both quick with 59.39 and 59-flat clockings, respectively. Bell also split 58.11 on the 400 medley relay at NCAAs.

In the 200 breast, the Cardinal also had Samantha Tadder in the NCAA field (2:11.42 season-best, 2:12.16 at NCAAs).

The incoming freshmen don’t figure to make much of an impact here, though IMer Emily Thompson adds depth for dual meets with her bests sitting at 1:00.93/2:15.36. Levenia Sim is also 1:01.1 in the 100.

Look for Bricker to take a big step this season and fight for a top-eight finish in the 200 breast, and Thomas should slide into the top 16 given her pedigree coupled with a year of experience.

BUTTERFLY: ★★★★★

An area of strength last season, Stanford’s butterfly group gets a massive shot in the arm from the return of Torri Huske, the reigning Olympic champion in the women’s 100 fly.

Despite being the Olympic gold medalist, Huske will be hard-pressed to take down Gretchen Walsh, the defending champion and Olympic silver medalist, but regardless Huske is a near lock for a top-two finish and a minimum of 17 points. She’s one of only four women in history to break 49 seconds, but Walsh put herself in a completely different stratosphere last season after clocking a stunning 47.42.

Even without Huske, the Cardinal had two women earn second swims in the 100 fly at the 2024 NCAAs, with Gigi Johnson (50.99) placing 7th and Lillie Nordmann (51.26) taking 12th.

Charlotte Hook (51.89) also raced the event at NCAAs, and they’ve got four others on the roster who have been 51-point: Lucy Bell (51.76), Emily Thompson (51.47), Annika Parkhe (51.58) and Levenia Sim (51.69).

Not all of these swimmers will have the 100 fly as part of their postseason schedule—though potentially all but Bell will—but there’s no disputing there’s a chance for a windfall of points. If it’s Huske and Johnson in the ‘A’ final and Nordmann and one of the recruits in the consols, they could be pushing 40 points in this event alone.

In the 200 fly, Caroline Bricker was the team’s top performer last season at 1:52.07, a time she produced in a Pac-12 time trial. The event doesn’t fit into her NCAA schedule if she keeps with the 200 breast.

They had two other 1:52s in Nordmann (1:52.38) and Bell (1:52.62), who placed 8th and 9th at NCAAs, and Hook was 13th after setting a season-best of 1:53.23 in the prelims.

The 24 points they scored last season in the 200 fly are coming back, and we could very well see Thompson add this as her third event to go along with the IMs. Thompson’s lifetime best is 1:54.63, two-tenths under what it took to score last year. Huske has also been as fast as 1:53.71, though she won’t race this in the postseason.

All-in, this group scored 41 points in the two fly events last year, and adding Huske makes it a bonafide five-star squad.

IM: ★★★★★

The medley outlook is healthy with Lucy Bell returning after scoring 31 points across the two IMs last year, having placed 3rd in the 400 IM (4:01.23) and 4th in the 200 IM (1:52.64) at NCAAs.

Caroline Bricker put up 22 points in her freshman year with a 4th-place showing in the 400 IM (4:02.14) and a 10th-place finish in the 200 IM (1:53.87). Bricker’s season-best of 1:53.31 would’ve pushed her up into the ‘A’ final.

Those two alone makes this a five-star group, but they’ve also got Torri Huske coming in as a favorite to place 1st or 2nd in the 200 IM. At her last collegiate meet, she was the runner-up to Kate Douglass in a time of 1:50.06, edging out defending champion and pre-season favorite Alex Walsh.

There’s also the addition of first-year Emily Thompson, who is just over a tenth shy of scoring territory in the 400 IM with her best time of 4:08.28. She’s 1:56.41 in the 200 IM, and there’s also Charlotte Hook (1:57.79), Samantha Tadder (1:58.26), Levenia Sim (1:58.45) and Annika Parkhe (1:59.08) with solid 200 IM times.

Tadder raced both medleys last season at NCAAs, notably finishing 21st in the 400 IM (4:09.80). She scored in 2023 and has been 4:07 multiple times, so there’s another potential scorer for this elite group.

DIVING: ★★

The two divers Stanford had on its roster last season were NCAA qualifiers, with Emilie Moore and Lauren Burch both recording their highest finishes on 1-meter, placing 23rd and 35th, respectively.

The Cardinal are bringing in one of the best 10-meter divers in the country, Anna Lemkin, who placed 8th on platform at the U.S. Olympic Trials in June. At least in that event, Lemkin figures to factor into the scoring.

Rejoining the team this season is British diver Maria Papworth, who took a redshirt year in 2023-24. Papworth missed qualifying for NCAAs in 2023 but was there in 2022, finishing one spot shy of the points on 3-meter.

All four divers on Stanford’s roster are likely to qualify for NCAAs, and given Lemkin’s pedigree, there are likely at least a few points coming.

RELAYS: ★★★★

Note that the grading system doesn’t align perfectly for relays as double points.

Relay grading system:

• 5 star (★★★★★) – 31+ points per relay event
• 4 star (★★★★) – 22-30 relay points per event
• 3 star (★★★) – 12-21 relay points per event
• 2 star (★★) – 5-11 relay points per event
• 1 star (★) – 0-4 relay points per event

Compared to the other top teams, Stanford lost some ground last year on the relays. They had a solid start on the opening night, placing 8th in the 200 medley and 3rd in the 800 free relay, but were outside of the top 10 in the 200 free (11th) and 400 medley (14th).

They wrapped things up by placing 7th in the 400 free relay for 96 relay points, not bad by any stretch, but less than a few teams behind them in the standings, Louisville (104) and USC (120), and a far cry from those ahead of them: Virginia (190), Florida (150), Tennessee (148) and Texas (130).

2024 NCAA Standings

The return of Torri Huske will be massive for the relays. She was a member of the 800 free relay in 2023, but it’s possible she flips back to the 200 medley this season since the 800 free is already incredibly strong.

The difference may be negligible over 50 yards of fly—Gigi Johnson split 22.46 last year, faster than Huske was in 2022—compared to the 200 free, where Huske’s been 1:41.9, so who knows which relay she ends up doing.

Regardless, at 21-low or maybe even 20-point, Huske brings the 200 free relay down by one second, which bumps them up from 11th into the top five. In the 400 free and 400 medley, it’s probably a two-second improvement, which pushes them into the top three in free and top eight in medley.

Stanford’s 2024 NCAA Relays

As we previously mentioned, backstroke was the Achilles’ Heel for the Cardinal last season on the medleys, and Levenia Sim‘s 23.7/51.0 pedigree gives them a nice bump there. Chopping one second off the 200 medley from last year, where Natalie Mannion led off in 24.83, gives Stanford a time of 1:34.10 and a 3rd-place finish.

All of a sudden, Stanford can realistically finish in the top five of all the relays. On paper, there’s the possibility we’ve got a five-star group here, but the lack of sprint free depth and uncertainty on backstroke in the medleys keeps them at four stars entering the season.

Total Stars: 29/40

2024-25 OUTLOOK

Confidence is high. Repeat, confidence is high.

Stanford has had a few down years after their dominant 2018 national title victory, but this is arguably the best team they’ve had since. Without Huske and Curzan in the fold, several swimmers really stepped up last year and became NCAA scorers and conference champions.

Last year’s group has room for improvement after some roster members weren’t at their best at NCAAs. Perhaps the most important thing for this squad is that they are losing zero athletes who qualified for the NCAA Championships last year, so there’s no subtraction going on, just addition.

Huske is a 50-plus point scorer, and the freshman class is strong with plenty of depth in some key events like the 100 and 200 free.

There aren’t really any weak spots on the team, except possibly diving. If we want to be pessimistic, there are a few areas where success is reliant on one swimmer, such as Roghair in distance free and Sim in sprint backstroke, but this team promises to be significantly better than last year.

Moving past Tennessee in the NCAA standings shouldn’t be an issue, and Florida will be in Stanford’s crosshairs. Virginia and Texas are on a different level until proven otherwise, but everyone should watch out for this Cardinal team.

Another layer to the Stanford story this season will be the introduction to the ACC, where Virginia reigns supreme and there’s been a clear 2-3 for years with NC State and Louisville. The Cardinal promise to shake that up.

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