Re-Rank: Top 20 NCAA Swimming Recruits In The Boys’ High School Class of 2025 ...Middle East

By Sam Blacker on SwimSwam

NCAA recruiting churns on, and so do our yearly recruit rankings. Before we get to ranking out the top recruits in the current high school sophomore and junior classes, it’s time to revisit our recruiting ranks of the graduating seniors.

As recruiting classes get closer to actual NCAA competition, we start to weigh certain factors more heavily: NCAA scoring times become more important, and we tend to value one or two standout events a bit more heavily (compared to a wide range of just decent events) than we would for a high school sophomore who has more time to develop across the board. Having already ranked this class about a year ago, we also get a clearer picture of momentum and trajectory: which recruits are continuing to drop time through their senior seasons, and which have stagnated.

You can look back on our original ranks for this class below, but do remember that those ranks are merely a snapshot in time – we didn’t have a working crystal ball then, nor do we now:

Ranks As Juniors (from June 2024) Ranks As Sophomores (from June 2023)

THIS CLASS

Very limited sprint fly/back depth A lot of elite breaststrokers but not tons of depth behind them An historically deep distance class – seven men under 15 minutes in the mile A lot of good but not elite sprint freestylers, generally without an top-tier third event

We noted last year that the weakness of this class was a lack of pure sprint specialists in the 100 back and 100 fly, and that is the case again this year.  There is still only one swimmer to have broken 46 seconds in either the 100 fly or back – Thomas Heilman in the 100 fly – and only seven sub-47 in the 100 fly and eight sub-47 in the 100 back. 

In distance freestyle however the depth is tremendous. There are two new swimmers to break 15 minutes in the mile this year in Ryan Erisman and Noah Mudadu, although only one of those who had done so by our last rankings dropped time this year. The reclassification of Aiden Hammer from the Class of 2026 to this one only strengthens that group too, as he holds the second-fastest time in the 500 free..

There is a clear top two in Heilman and Williamson, and the lack of any true stroke standouts in fly or back outside of Gavin Keogh makes it difficult to decide where the cutoff for the top 20 would be. Towards the bottom of these rankings there are some elite long course swimmers who haven’t quite translated that to fully yards so far that we can’t quite ignore, and the phenomenal strength in depth of the distance swimmers makes it tough to draw a line; especially so when these are events where we tend to see big drops in college.

There are multiple elite breaststrokers, with five swimmers under both 54 in the 100 and 1:55 in the 200,  however the depth does fall off after them. All five of those also bring strong times in other strokes, with no pure elite breaststroker in the class. – that versatility is a theme elsewhere, with few stroke absolutely pure stroke specialists at all.

TOP TIMES IN THE CLASS OF 2025

Event Time Time 50 Free Maximus Williamson 19.08 100 Free Maximus Williamson 41.54 200 Free Maximus Williamson 1:30.46 500 Free Ethan Ekk 4:13.55 1000 Free** Luke Ellis 8:44.62 1650 Free Luke Ellis 14:29.48 100 Back Gavin Keogh 46.28 200 Back Gavin Keogh 1:40.53 100 Breast Campbell McKean 51.28 200 Breast Campbell McKean 1:53.54 100 Fly Thomas Heilman 43.86 200 Fly Thomas Heilman 1:38.95 200 IM Maximus Williamson 1:40.81 400 IM Maximus Williamson 3:39.83

THE METHODOLOGY

Our goal in these rankings is to reflect what college coaches look for in recruits, based on many years of conversations and coverage.

We focus only on American-based athletes, simply because there is so much uncertainty with international recruits – if they’ll come to the United States, when they’ll come to the States and with what graduating class they should be ranked. Projecting international recruits often becomes more of a discussion of when they’ll first join a college program and not which program they’ll join.

A few other factors that weigh heavily in our rankings:

Relay Value – Relay points count double in college swimming, and any program needs a strong stable of quality sprinters to fill out all 5 relays with stars. Obviously, a special distance swimmer can easily rank ahead of a very good 100 freestyler, but college swimming generally values a sprint freestyler over a distance swimmer, all other factors being equal. Improvements – Actual times carry the most weight by a longshot. But we also keep an eye on a swimmer’s trajectory, especially in deciding between two swimmers with relatively even times. Short Course over Long Course – while every club and every swimmer will have a different balance of focus between short course and long course swimming, the NCAA competes in short course yards, and that’s going to be the main factor considered in these rankings. Long course times are another data point for consideration, but we mainly view them through the lens of what a big long course swim could mean for an athlete’s future in short course. NCAA scoring ability – NCAAs are the big show for college teams, so we’ve weighted NCAA scoring potential very highly. Swimmers who already have NCAA scoring times wind up mostly filling out the top our of rankings. Since college athletic directors – and by extension coaches – also place high value on conference championships, scoring ability at conference meets is also a factor in our rankings. Relative depth in the NCAA and recruiting class – a wealth of elite depth nationwide in one stroke discipline makes a big difference in what times are considered more valuable in that event. Events rise at different rates in the NCAA, but when one event gets extremely deep and fast at the college level, it makes high school prospects in those events a little less valuable, relatively, with lots of other veteran options. In the same way, a recruiting class stacked with swimmers in butterfly, for example, would make each butterflyer a little less sought-after in the market, with lots of other recruiting options able to provide similar production.

Of course, there’s no way to predict the future, and the most concrete data we have to go on are cold, hard times. These rankings in no way mean that all of these 20 swimmers will be NCAA standouts, and they certainly don’t mean that no swimmer left off this list will make big contributions at the NCAA level.

Disclaimer: there are a lot of high school juniors in the country, and no really good, complete, 100% accurate listing of them all. If you don’t see your favorite swimmer on the list, feel free to politely point them out in the comments. There’s a chance that we disagree with your assessment of their spot in the top 20, and so long as it’s done civilly, there’s no problem with differences of opinions. There’s also a chance that we’ve simply missed a no-brainer (we’ve taken every precaution to avoid that), and if that happens, we want to make sure we correct it.

Sprint Free

Preston Kessler (19.8/43.2) **Navy** Seth Crow (19.4/44.0) **ASU** Andy Kravchenko (19.8/43.0) **Stanford** Mason Francis (19.6/43.5) **OSU** Jack Boysen (19.7/43.5) **Wyoming** Noah Powers (19.8/43.3) **Virginia** Alex Thiesing (20.0/43.5/1:34.7) **Michigan** Jordan Falls (19.8/43.5, 47.5 1FL, 1:46.8 2IM) **Air Force**

Distance Free:

Chase Maier (1:35.9/4:17.6/15:09.6)**Navy** Max Carlsen (4:18.8/14:59.4) **NC State** Jiarui Xue (4:20.5/15:06.7) **Princeton** Norvin Clontz (1:35.1/4:17.2, 3:47.0 4IM) **Cal** Seth Collet (1:36.0/4:19.7) **UCSB** Eli Rolfsen (4:23.9/15:06.8) **Miami (OH)**

Backstroke:

Andrew Chou (47.3/1:43.5, 47.2 1 FL) **Dartmouth** David Melnychuk (47.9/1:42.5) **UNC** Andy Baklanov (48.2/1:42.3) **SMU** Connor Johnson (46.8/1:42.9) **Virginia Tech** Hayden Meyers (47.3/1:42.4) **Georgia** Andy Roose (47.4/1:42.4, 1:47.1 2IM) **Virginia Tech** John Simmons (46.71, 47.3 1FL, 43.8 1FR) **Texas A&M**

Butterfly:

Maximus Buff (46.9/1:45.5, 47.3 1BK) **NC State** Andrew Shackell (47.0/1:44.8) **Indiana** Connor Jones (47.0/1:45.7, 3:49.5 4IM) **Stanford** Henry Guo (47.1/1:44.8) **Penn** John Rusnock (47.4/1:45.3, 1:45.9 2IM) **Princeton** Caiden Bowers (46.6/1:46.7, 1:46.5 2IM) **Cal** Biko Hooper-Haviland (47.7/1:45.7) **Purdue** Alex Townsend (46.7/1:45.3, 1:45.9 2IM, 20.0 50FR) **Princeton**

Breast:

Jordan Willis (53.7/1:55.3) **Florida** Kiefer Roemer (53.4/1:57.3) **Missouri State** Maston Ballew (53.3/1:57.1, 1:47.1/3:48.2 2IM/4IM) **Auburn** Drew Gaerthofner (53.9/1:56.6) **Wisconsin** Raphael Wang (54.0/1:56.6) **Duke** Keian Lam (53.7/1:57.1) **Princeton**

IM:

Abe Astle (1:44.3/3:50.0, 20.0 50FR) **BYU** Ian Stutts (1:45.0/3:47.0, 54.0/1:56.6 1BR/2BR) **NC State** Tyler Bardak (1:46.6/3:45.4, 1:45.1 2FL) **NC State** Mach Schumann (1:47.5/3:45.9, 4:21 500FR) **Auburn** Jake McCoy (1:46.4/3:47.4) **Tennessee** Grant Murphy (1:46.0/3:48.1, 47.5/1:43.6 1BK/2BK) **Virginia**

Honorable Mentions

Zack Oswald (Previous Rank: HM) — Suburban Seahawks Club — The Haverford School — Newtown Square, PA **Committed to Notre Dame**

Best Times:

100 back: 46.38 200 back: 1:43.10 200 IM: 1:47.61 20 free: 20.47 100 fly: 47.39

Oswald has had a mix of nice drops and events standing still, but thankfully, those drops have come in his main events. The two backstrokes have come down nicely as he maintains his position at third in the class in the 100, now only a tenth off Gavin Keogh’s class-leading time. His 200 is starting to pop a bit more, but he still only ranks tenth in class, and he doesn’t have an elite third event yet. The 100 fly is probably closest after he dropped 1.5 seconds this year to go 47.39, but that doesn’t line up too well for an NCAA schedule.

He’s got a nice 200 IM of 1:47.6, which could be a Day 1 event, but at the moment, you’d imagine he’ll focus on a 100 back/100 fly/200 back lineup for ACCs, where he would have scored this year in the 100 back. He’ll likely be a key relay contributor for the Fighting Irish, and with Jack Armour, should be part of some freshman-led medley relays.

Nathan Szobota (Previous Rank: #4)— NOVA Of Virginia — Freeman High School — Richmond, VA **Committed to Virginia**

Best Times:

1650 free: 14:53.83 1000 free: 8:50.44 500 free: 4:18.38 200 free: 1:36.48 200 back: 1:42.00 100 back: 47.45 400 IM: 3:49.93

Szobota has not swum the mile this year at all, was 4:19.8 in the 500, and only dropped time in the 200 freestyle (from 1:36.9) and both backstrokes. If his focus going forward is on backstroke rather than the distance freestyles, he’s a radically different prospect to the one we’ve ranked the past two years. It’s tough to ignore his 14:53 mile time, but he’s two years removed at this point, yet to show that he can return to that form, and Virginia doesn’t have a track record of developing distance freestylers. His backstroke times alone make him a challenger for the top 20, but there are several faster in the 100, and his 200 time, whilst fourth in the class, isn’t enough to displace those ahead of him. 

Ethan Reniewicki (Previous Rank: N/A) — Scottsdale Aquatic Club — Chaparral High School (AZ) — Scottsdale, AZ **Committed to Ohio State**

Best Times:

50 free: 19.80 100 free: 43.09 200 free: 1:36.39 100 fly: 47.48 200 fly: 1:47.85

There are swimmers we’ve left off here close to Reniewicki’s sprint times of 19.8/43.0, but he has a couple of other strong events that separate him from the pack. He’s dropped 1.4 seconds this year to go 1:36.3 in the 200 free, and has a 47.4 100 fly that could make him useful on medley relays. His main value though comes in the 50 free and 100 free, where he’s sub-20 and nearly sub-43 after starting the season at 20.59 and 45.28. Those are huge drops in sprint free, and make him an enticing pickup for OSU’s relays. A schedule of 50 free/100 fly or 200 free/100 free fits together well at NCAAs and Big Tens, too.

Blake Amlicke (Previous Rank: 13) — Nashville Aquatic Club — Pope John Paul II High School — Clarksville, TN **Committed to Virginia**

Best Times:

50 free: 19.71 100 free: 43.63 100 back: 46.45 200 back: 1:43.24

Just like Reniewicki, Amlicke’s sprint freestyle times alone are not enough to be here, but he adds a 46.45 100 backstroke that ranks fourth in the class. That’s a slight drop from last year, but he has fallen from second when we last ranked the 2025 class. That’s a solid sprint backstroke time, though, especially so in a class without any standouts in the 100, and he was 21.77 leading off Nashville’s 200 medley relay at Winter Juniors.

He’s not too shabby in the 200 back either with a 1:43.24, although there are nine swimmers to have broken 1:43 and he ranks 12th, having only dropped half a second this year. Still, his backstroke is intriguing at a minimum, and he should be able to slot into at least the 200 free relay as a rotation piece in his freshman year.

Aiden Hammer (Previous Rank: N/A – reclassified from 2026) — King Aquatic Club — Gig Harbor High School — Fox Island, WA **Verbally committed to Texas**

Best Times:

200 free: 1:35.85 500 free: 4:14.21 1000 free: 8:55.18 1650 free: 15:10.49 200 fly: 1:47.95 200 back: 1:46.02

Hammer’s value in short course comes in distance freestyle, which is a massive strength of this class already. He’s stronger in the 500 and dropped down from 4:23.80 to 4:14.21 this year to rank second in the class; however, a mile time of 15:10 is strong. He could also be an intriguing option in the 200 backstroke or fly with some more development there. Hammer has also improved from 1:37.95 to 1:35.85 in the 200, and although that isn’t quite in third-event territory yet, he’s going to just about the best place he could for mid-distance free. He’ll probably go with a 500 free/200 free/1650 free schedule, and if he continues the improvements he’s shown this year, he could make this ranking look low.

Whilst these rankings are primarily about short course, Hammer had a fantastic U.S. Nationals in long course at the start of June. He placed third in the 1500 in 15:05, and that should translate to a much faster mile than the 15:10 he went back in March – quite possibly down near the 14:48.80 it took to make NCAAs this year.

 Noah Mudadu (Previous Rank: N/A)— Sandpipers of Nevada — Faith Lutheran High School — Las Vegas, NV  **Verbally committed to ASU** 

Best Times:

1650 free: 14:53.49 1000 free: 8:54.97 500 free: 4:16.84

Committed to ASU, Mudadu has a different profile to a lot of their recent recruits with him being a pure distance freestyle specialist. He’s dropped huge amounts of time this year in the 500/1650 freestyle but doesn’t really have a third event outside of those two yet. He’s within 1% of the 2025 invite time in the mile and 2% in the 200, and after being 4:27.1 and 15:26 last season, now ranks well within the top-ten for both events (seventh and fourth). In a year with so much distance freestyle depth, he doesn’t quite make the top 20 despite his huge improvements. His lack of a third event does knock him down slightly, and he’s only been under 4:20 twice and 15:20 once. He should, however, be a great recruit for ASU – he just doesn’t yet have the consistency or the long course prowess be a surefire top-20 pick.

Marvin Johnson (Previous Rank: #10) — McCallie GPS Aquatics — McCallie School — Chattanooga, TN **Verbally committed to Florida**

Best Times:

50 free: 19.55 100 free: 43.04 200 free: 1:37.06 100 fly: 48.88

Johnson falls down our rankings here for two reasons, as the rest of the class catches up to him on the 50 and 100 free and he is still yet to develop a third event. He hasn’t beaten his bests in the sprint freestyles this year, and although 19.55/43.04 is enough to rank him fourth in both distances, there are a few swimmers within a tenth or two. He has dropped a second in the 200 for the second year in a row, but both that and his 100 fly have yet to develop to the same calibre as his sprints. He is hundredths of a scoring time at last year’s SECs in the 50,  and it wouldn’t take much for him to be a two-event scorer and a relay piece there.

Ian Platts-Mill (Previous Rank: BOTR) — North Caroline Aquatic Club —  Durham Academy — Chapel Hill, NC **Verbally committed to Cal**

Best Times:

1650 free: 15:01.86 400 IM: 3:45.23 200 IM: 1:47.34 500 free: 4:23.09 200 free: 1:37.77 200 back: 1:44.99

15:01 in the mile and 3:45 in the 400 IM would normally be enough for a top-20 spot, but with the depth in both events this year, he only ranks eighth and sixth. He doesn’t yet have a third event on the calibre of those two, with his 200 IM of 1:47.34 ranking the closest. His 400 is 4.7 seconds quicker than last season, he’s dropped 13.5 seconds off his mile, and he’s taken chunks out of his 200 and 500 free bests as well. He would have scored in his two best events at last year’s ACCs, in events where Cal finds itself without many proven NCAA scorers.

20. Alejandro Michelena (Previous Rank: N/A) — Cypress Fairbanks Swim Club — Klein Cain High School — Spring, TX **Verbally committed to Texas A&M**

Best Times:

100 fly: 46.42 200 fly: 1:43.82 50 free: 19.95 100 free: 44.21

Michelena comes in as the third-fastest flyer behind Heilman and Williamson, and has dropped chunks of time this year to go from 47.9/1:45.8 to 46.4/1:43.6. He has a nice 50 free as well after cracking 20 seconds this year to go 19.95, and a 44.2 100 free is not bad as a developmental event. He’s not quite a plug and play relay contributor yet, but he does have a nice three event schedule developing of 50 free/100 fly/200 fly, and would have scored in the latter two of those at last year’s SECs. He is still over two seconds off the 2025 NCAA qualifying time in the 200, but his improvement curve is promising after slicing more than two seconds off this year. Add in that the Aggies have developed sprint freestyle and fly swimmers recently in Ben Scholl and Connor Foote, and his freshman season looks to be an intriguing one.

19. Kenneth Barnicle (Previous Rank: HM) — Greater Somerset County YMCA — West Morris Mendham High School — Mendham, NJ **Verbally committed to Cal** 

Best Times:

100 free: 43.04 200 free: 1:35.15 100 fly: 47.66 100 back: 46.99 200 back: 1:43.22 200 IM: 1:45.07

Barnicle is an incredibly versatile swimmer and suffers slightly from being a jack of all trades here. His 100 freestyle is joint-4th in the class and 43.0 as a high schooler is incredibly quick, but he doesn’t have another event on par with right now, but rather a couple just below. He’s sub-47 in the 100 backstroke and dropped two seconds in the 200 IM this year to go 1:45.0, both of which rank in the top-10 in the class. He dropped time in all of his main events this year, with several PBs this calendar year too which is an encouraging sign.

With his speed in the 100, which featured a 20.7 opening split, you have to think he can be faster than 20.54 in the 50. With the assumption that he can crack 20 seconds and become a potential relay piece for Cal, he’s a solid pick here.

18. Noah Cakir (Previous Rank: 12) — Team Suffolk Swim Club — Saint Anthony’s High School — Deer Park, NY **Verbally committed to Indiana**

Best Times:

100 breast: 52.34 200 breast: 1:54.45 100 free: 44.86 200 free: 1:37.72 200 fly: 1:45.30 200 IM: 1:45.27 400 IM: 3:46.29

Like Josh Bey and Gabe Nunziata ahead of him, Cakir is a breaststroke specialist who would be in the conversation even without taking his breaststroke times into consideration. In breaststroke, he’s dropped just over a second in the 100 and half a second in the 200, ranking third in the 100 and fifth in the 200, but is strong in the 200 fly and 200/400 IM as well. He’s dropped from 1:47.3 to 1:45.3 in the 200 fly this season to rank tenth in the class, and  whilst his medley times have stagnated slightly, they still rank him just outside the top 10.

He doesn’t quite have the freestyle speed of the breaststrokers ahead of him and hasn’t dropped any time in the 100/200/500, but he has five events that would have at least made ‘B’ finals at Big Tens last year. He’s within 1% of the NCAA invite time from last year in both the breaststrokes as well, and should have no difficulty fitting in at Indiana with his lineup. It will be interesting to see whether he pursues the 200 fly over the 200 breast, with both strong in long course as well (2:00.3/2:13.5), but anything outside of the breaststroke and IMs is a bonus for him at this point. He’s knocked down slightly by his freestyle times compared to the other breaststrokers, but will start this fall as Indiana’s fastest freshman 100 breaststroker after overtaking Josh Bey and could be the go-to man on relays for them.

 17. Xavier Sohovich (Previous Rank: N/A) — Bolles School Sharks — Bolles School — Jacksonville, FL **Verbally committed to Navy**

Best Times:

500 free: 4:15.46 200 free: 1:34.66 100 free: 43.86 200 back: 1:44.99

Sohovich has made huge strides this year in the 500, dropping 14 seconds to rank fourth in the class. He pairs a knockout 100/200 free combo with that, slicing off 2.6 seconds in the 200 and 0.6 in the 100 to go 43.6/1:34.6, plenty to vault himself onto the Navy relays next season as they look to reclaim their conference crown from Army. He’s got a perfectly defined schedule set out for him of the 100/200/500 free, and would have won both the 200 and 500 at the Patriot League champs this year. Add to that the fact that he split 19.7/42.9/1:33.9 at Winter Juniors East, and he’s one of the best three-distance freestylers in the class and is a threat on the 50 too.

16. Ryan Erisman (Previous Rank: HM) — Laker Swimming — Windermere High School — Windermere, FL **Verbally committed to Cal**

Best Times:

1650 free: 14:57.76 500 free: 4:14.50 1000 free: 9:03.80 200 free: 1:36.13 100 free: 44.40 400 IM: 3:46.35 200 IM: 1:47.60 200 fly: 1:46.59

Erisman suffers slightly from this class being so deep in his best events in yards, but he has had some big drops this year. He’s taken five seconds off his 500 to sit just outside the 2025 invite time and has a sub-15 mile to go with that after hacking off 27 seconds this year. Having made our way-too-early ranks in part due to his versatility, Erisman has zeroed in on the freestyles in his senior season. His IMs are still intriguing, especially the 400 IM, where we often see big drops in college, and he’s dropped two seconds this year, but his main focus for a third event might be the 200 freestyle. He’s not dropped in the event since last years rankings, but also did not swim it at Winter Juniors – East, where he swam big PBs in the 500 and mile. He did split 1:34.8 anchoring Lakeside’s relay there, so definitely has space to drop.

He’s had a phenomenal long course season, and times of 1:47.52/3:46.01 in the 200/400 free indicate that there is much more to come in yards, and he may well be Cal’s top distance freestyler for next year. The 3:46.0 is simply incredible in the 400 free, and a big reason why he ends up this ranked high. It wouldn’t be a shock to see him develop into a two-event scorer even in his freshman year, especially when you consider the progress Lucas Henveaux, a similar swimmer, made under Dave Durden.

15. Jason Zhao (Previous Rank: #5) — Mason Manta Rays — Indian Hill High School — Cincinnati, OH **Verbally committed to Stanford**

Best Times:

500 free: 4:19.96 200 free: 1:33.51 100 free: 43.46 50 free: 20.05 100 breast: 53.50 100 fly: 47.54 200 IM: 1:46.11

Zhao has stagnated in all his main events this year, dropping two-hundredths in the 50 free but standing pat elsewhere. He retains his spot in the top 20 thanks to the speed he’d already shown, especially so in the 200 free. He’s been 43.56/1:34.22 in the 100/200 free this season, both of which are still excellent times, but he’s been caught by several others in the class in the 100 and his 200 is no longer the clear third in the class it was last year (he now ranks fourth). He still stands out for his freestyle, where he has almost unparalleled range from the 50 up to the 500, but a lack of senior year improvement significantly hurts him here. He did split 19.47 and 19.17 at Winter Juniors – the second of which is already good enough to put him on Stanford’s relays this year.

He hasn’t quite been at his best in long course this season either, with times of 49.8/1:50.2 in the 100/200 free, but split 48.61 in the 100 and was 1:48.98 individually at last summer’s Junior Pan Pacs. Zhao still has both the speed and the potential to develop into a great swimmer for Stanford, but his future looks a little murkier than it did at this point last year

14. Luke Bedsole (Previous Rank: HM) — Huntsville Swim Association — Huntsville High School — Owen Cross Roads, AL **Verbally committed to Auburn**

Best Times:

50 free: 19.67 100 free: 42.91 200 free: 1:36.06 100 fly: 47.20 200 fly: 1:44.68 100 back: 47.33 200 back: 1:45.34

Bedsole is the only swimmer to have broken 43 seconds in the 100 free outside the top two, and pairs that with 19.6 speed in the 50 and a solid 1:36.0 in the 200. He’s dropped time in all three this season, and is the only swimmer outside of Heilman and Williamson to have broken 43 in the 100 free. His value outside the sprint freestyles comes in butterfly, where 47.2/1:44.6 makes him one of the more well-rounded swimmers in the class, as that 200 ranks fifth, although a 47.3 100 backstroke is a solid incoming time and makes him an option for relays with the graduation of Nate Stoffle. He’s already shown relay chops with a 19.35 50 free split at Winter Juniors in 2023.

His best lineup looks to be 50 free/100 fly/100 free right now, although that depends on his continued development in the 200 fly, where he’s dropped nearly two seconds this year. He also brings tremendous relay value to a squad that’s built its recent success in that area, and should be in line to score some individual points at SECs in his freshman season with all four of his best events just outside what it took to make the ‘C’ finals last year.

13. Enzo Solitario (Previous Rank: N/A) — Nu Wave Swim Club — Jesuit High School (LA) — New Orleans, LA **Verbally committed to Wisconsin** 

50 free: 20.05 100 free: 43.12 200 free: 1:34.18 100 fly: 47.74 200 fly: 1:45.04 100 back: 47.85 200 back: 1:45.96

There are other swimmers in the class who are 19-high/20-low in the 50 free and 43-low in the 100 free, but very few of them can go up to the 200 like Solitario. He is 20.0/43.1/1:34.1 which makes him a real three-distance freestyle threat, and are huge improvements from last year where he was 20.9/44.4/1:39.4. He’s had a great year of drops across all his main events actually, including by four seconds in the 200 fly to go 1:45.0, and he’s quick enough to have made the ‘B’ finals in the 200 free and 200 fly at 2025 Big Tens. Those are some huge drops, and the number of different events they have come in indicates that Solitario is a swimmer well on the rise.

He’ll have options in fly and backstroke as well, where he’s 47.7/47.8 in the 100s and brings an intriguing relay option. He’ll go straight onto the Badgers’ 400 and 800 freestyle teams and could be a boon for the 400 medley as well in a year or two.

12. Thomas Mercer (Previous Rank: #9) — Lakeside Swim Team (KY) — Saint Xavier High School — Louisville, KY **Verbally committed to Virginia**

Best Times:

200 IM: 1:43.51 400 IM: 3:46.31 100 back: 47.22 200 back: 1:43.14 100 fly: 47.43 200 fly: 1:43.88 200 free: 1:37.27

Mercer hasn’t dropped too much time since last year and has been caught slightly by the rest of the class, but he’s still a wonderful all-around swimmer who has a wealth of lineup options available to him. He’s already fast enough to score at ACCs, with his 200 IM being ‘B’ final-worthy and his 400 IM and 200 fly being good enough for the ‘C’ final. He’s not too far away from NCAA qualification in the 200 IM either, being within 1%,  and has shaved at least some time off all his main events other than the 400 IM this year. A 46.0 split at Winter Juniors in the 100 fly indicates that he’s got time to drop there again, as does a 20.7 50 fly split.

He ranks in the top-10 in three events: 200 fly (4th), 200 IM (5th) and 400 IM (10th), with his 100 backstroke being just 0.03 away from 10th as well. That versatility and the all-around improvements he’s had this year mean that he doesn’t drop too much, even though he’s yet to truly nail down his best events.

11. Gabe Nunziata (Previous Rank: HM) — Old Dominion Aquatic Club — StoneBridge School — Suffolk, VA **Verbally committed to Tennessee**

Best Times:

100 breast: 52.47 200 breast: 1:53.73 200 IM: 1:44.97 400 IM: 3:48.74 100 free: 44.19 200 free: 1:35.94

After being an Honorable Mention last year, Nunziata is well inside the top 20 this time around. He’s dropped chunks in his breaststroke events after ending last season at 54.0/1:56.5, and is now just two tenths away from the top in the class on the 200.  He’s even better in long course, with bests of 1:00.36 and 2:09.71 – that indicates that he should be even faster than his 1:53.7 in the 200, which is already less than a second of the 2025 NCAA invite time. His 200 IM is possibly more intriguing, however. He was 1:44.9 in March, having come into the season at 1:49.2, and the list of college breaststrokers who have an elite 200 IM is a long one. The fact that he has 44/1:35 freestyle speed is fantastic for a breaststroke specialist as well. He’ll step in as the main breaststroker for Tennessee, but he’s intriguing enough in other events to warrant a look before specialising too far.

10. William Mulgrew (Previous Rank: #6)— Shamwut Aquatic Club — Xavieran Brothers High School — Walpole. MA **Verbally committed to Harvard**

Best Times:

1650 free: 14:48.26 1000 free: 8:56.24 500 free: 4:19.25 400 IM: 3:53.55

Whilst Mulgrew did not improve his mile time this year, he will still enter college with a time just about fast enough to qualify for NCAAs. His 14:48.26 is the second-fastest in the class and just under the 2025 NCAA invite time of 14:48.80, although he is one of seven under the 15-minute mark in a historically deep class in distance free. Mulgrew is a pure miler in the vein of Charlie Clark, and he is hurt in the rankings here by a lack of a tertiary event – He’s been 4:19 in the 500, but has no real other event where he could make an NCAA impact right now. Points are always valuable regardless of where they come from, but it seems unlikely right now that Mulgrew will contribute in that area in either secondary events or relays.

He is great in long course with  15:11 1500 free, and was only 2.7 seconds off his mile best in short course this year. He’ll make a big impact at Ivy’s for the Crimson Tide, where he would have made three ‘A’ finals this year and scored 79 points at a championship Harvard finished second in by 67.5 points.

9. Sean Green (Previous Rank: #7)— Long Island Aquatic Club — Archbishop Molloy High School — Garden City, NY **Verbally committed to Georgia**

Best Times:

1650 free: 14:49.33 1000 free: 8:55.64 500 free: 4:16.78 200 free: 1:34.86 200 back: 1:44.33 200 fly: 1:47.78 200 IM: 1:47.64 400 IM: 3:46.26

Green is the only one of the four sub-15 milers from last year to have dropped time, having taken eight seconds off to go 14:49.33, half a second outside of the NCAA 2025 invite time. He’s improved in his other freestyle events as well, with 1:34.8/4:16 speed in the 200/500, and has set best times in both IMs and the 200 backstroke this year. He dropped over a second in the 200 free and nearly two in the 500 to go along with his big drop in the mile, and is within a second of the 2025 NCAA qualifying time in the 1650. He’d have scored in the 200/500/1650 free at SECs, and instant conference scorers with relay potential are always valuable.

As Georgia has shown with Jake Magahey, mid-distance freestylers can thrive there. His best three events fit together well, and he stands a good chance of making the 800 free relay team for the Dawgs at the conference level at a minimum. His improvement curve is promising, especially so in events where we tend to see big drops from high school to college like distance freestyle. Despite his versatility, he should settle into a well-defined role for Georgia as a three-distance freestyler.

8. Jack Armour (Previous Rank: N/A) — Texas Ford Aquatics — Wakeland High School — Frisco, TX **Verbally committed to Notre Dame** 

Best Times:

100 breast: 51.86 200 breast: 1:55.18 200 IM: 1:43.34 50 free: 20.17 100 free: 44.06 200 free: 1:36.61 100 fly: 48.11

Armour has had a huge year to jump into the top 10 after not being ranked last time around. His 100 breast has dropped from 54.29 to 51.86 – second fastest in the class and less than three-tenths off an NCAA invite. He’s seen an even bigger drop in the 200 IM, where he’s gone from above 1:50 to 1:43.34, which is fourth-fastest in the class. That is also under the Notre Dame school record, and his 100 breast is only a quarter of a second away. He had a great U.S. Nationals to boot,  dropping a second in the 100 and three in the 200, and has shown no sign of slowing down this season. The 200 breast fits in nicely as a third event, but he’s got good freestyle speed as well – look for him to be a feature on Notre Dame’s relays.

The breaststrokes and medleys are events we tend to see swimmers drop a lot of time in at college. If that holds true for Armour, he’ll prove to be a phenomenal pickup, and even without any drops, he’s a weapon at the conference level. At the 2025 ACC Championships, Armour would have made the ‘A’ final in the 100 breast, ‘B’ final in the 200 IM and ‘C’ final in the 200 breast – good enough for around 40 points. That, paired with his huge improvements this season and the relay value he’ll add in both the 200 and 400 medley, makes him incredibly valuable.

7. Gavin Keogh (Previous Rank: #17) — Flatiron Athletic Club — Monarch High School — Erie, CO **Verbally committed to NC State**

Best Times:

100 back: 46.28 (best in class) 200 back: 1:40.53 (best in class) 200 IM: 1:47.33 400 IM: 3:50.79 100 free: 43.87 200 free:1:36.27

Keogh has dropped again this year in both backstrokes to rank as the best swimmer in the class in the stroke, and has added some nice freestyle speed as well. He’s overtaken Maximus Williamson for the fastest in the class at both backstroke distances after dropping a second on the 100 and more than two in the 200 to go 46.29/1:40.53, and is only four-tenths off the 2025 NCAA invite time in the latter of those. That’s a fantastic time in the 200 for a high schooler, especially when we tend to see freshmen drop chunks of time in this event.

That 100 time gives him some good relay value for the Wolfpack, and his 43.87 in the 100 free only adds to that. His IM times have come down as well, by two seconds in the 200 and four in the 400, and could be his best avenue for a third event. Even without one, his backstroke times already make him a potential freshman invite for NCAAs in 2026.

6. Josh Bey (Previous Rank: #8) — Highland Hurricanes Swim Club — Hinsdale Central High School — Hinsdale, IL **Verbally committed to Indiana**

Best Times:

100 breast: 52.68 200 breast: 1:53.74 200 IM: 1:43.96 400 IM: 3:42.61 100 free: 43.53 200 free: 1:35.16

Bey has earned his spot on these rankings in the last two years based primarily on his breaststroke times, but his position this year owes far more to his improvements elsewhere. After two years of being the fastest two-distance breaststroker in the class, he only ranks fifth in the 100 and 3rd in the 200 this year. He has shown progression from last year, getting under 1:54 in the 200 and 53 in the 100, and Indiana knows a thing or two about getting the best out of breaststrokers. In the IMs, however, he’s dropped nearly a second in the 200 (1:43.96) and more than seven seconds in the 400 to go 3:42.61. That’s exactly a second outside of the invite time for the 2025 NCAAs and ranks him third in the class. That gives him four top-10 events, and he’s just 0.01 outside the top 10 in the 200 free

There’ll be a decision to make on Day 3 of NCAAs for him, but right now his best lineup looks to be 200 IM – 400 IM – 200 breast. He would have made the ‘A’ final in the 400 IM at Big Tens, with his best being good enough for fifth, and looks to already be a 50-60 point scorer at the conference level. Bey has freestyle chops as well, with best times of 43.5/1:35.1 in the 100/200, giving the possibility of relay berths down the line. Bey gives Indiana a lot of options, but with his main strengths being in breaststroke and IM, he’s a near-perfect fit for the program.

5. Ethan Ekk (Previous Rank: #16) — Area Tallahassee Aquatic Club — Lawton Chiles High School — Tallahassee, FL **Verbally committed to Stanford**

Best Times:

200 free: 1:33.49 500 free: 4:13.55 (best in class) 1000 free: 8:44.69 200 back: 1:41.25 100 back: 47.13 100 free: 43.59 200 IM: 1:48.54 400 IM: 3:49.26

Ekk has jumped up the rankings yet again here, after a breakout senior season where he’s dropped time in all of his main events. He is now the fastest 500 freestyler in the class after dropping six seconds in 2024-25, and his 4:13.55 makes him the only swimmer in the class with a time that would have qualified for NCAAs in the event last year. He brings great speed all the way down to the 100, and may already have a place on Stanford’s 800 free relay team with his excellent 200 free time of 1:33.49. That would normally be fighting for top spot in a high-school class, and the fact it only ranks third is more an indication of the level of the top two in this one than a knock on Ekk.

He’s 47.1 and 1:41.3 in the backstrokes as well, ranking tenth in the former and third in the latter after taking two seconds off in the 200 this year. In long course, he just went 1:56.54 to break the Canadian Record in the 200 back, qualifying for the World Championships, and brings 49.7/1:48.5 freestyle speed. He should be a boon for Stanford’s relays and is a more than promising mid-distance freestyle/backstroke prospect for the Cardinal.

4. Luke Ellis (Previous Rank: #3) — Sandpipers Of Nevada — Homeschooled — Las Vegas, NV **Verbally committed to Indiana**

Best Times:

1650 free: 14:29.48 (best in class) 1000 free: 8:44.62 (best in class) 500 free: 4:15.54 200 free: 1:37.44 400 IM: 3:42.94 200 back: 1:44.35 200 fly: 1:46.47

Luke Ellis has not dropped in the mile since last year, but when being 11 seconds off your PB is still an NCAA scoring time, that isn’t the end of the world. A high schooler with a sub-14:30 mile is unheard of, and he’s been 14:40 this season – that alone would be fastest in the class by eight seconds and more than enough for the top 10. His best would still score double-digit points in the event at NCAAs, even with the event becoming much faster this year. He’s dropped a second and a half in the 500 free and more than two in 400 IM this year to fall within 1% of the NCAA qualification times, and would have scored big points at Big Tens this year. His best three events fit together perfectly at NCAAs, too, with a clear path to a 500 free/400 IM/1650 schedule. 

An instant NCAA scorer and conference-level weapon, Ellis drops slightly due to a lack of relay value and stagnation in his best event, both in yards and meters. He’s only 1:37 in the 200 free and has been well off his 1500 best this year. However, he was the junior Pan Pacs runner-up in the 1500 last summer, 4th in the 400 IM, and is a generational miler in yards – he just needs to return to NCAA-top-5 form to cement that. 

3. Campbell McKean (Previous Rank: #14) — Bend Swim Club — Caldera High School — Bend, OR **Verbally committed to Texas**

Best Times:

100 fly: 46.46 200 fly: 1:46.75 200 IM: 1:41.19 400 IM: 3:42.54 100 breast: 51.28 (best in class) 200 breast: 1:53.54 (best in class) 200 free: 1:35.84 100 back: 47.58 200 back: 1:44.32

One of the biggest risers from last year’s top-20, McKean has had a fantastic year. He comes in with a pair of scoring times in the 100 breast and 200 IM, with a strong 200 breast looking like his best bet for the third event. He ranks first in the class in the 100 breast (51.28), first in the 200 breast (1:53.54), second in the 200 IM (1:41.19), and second in the 400 IM (3:42.54). He’s had huge drops in all of those: his breaststrokes were 53.3/1:59.6 last year and IMs were 1:44.2 and 3:46.5. He’s a phenomenal long course swimmer as well, setting times of 26.90/58.96 when winning U.S. Nationals at the start of June, and will almost certainly have time to drop in yards once he gets to Texas. Scoring times in high-school breaststrokers are few and far between as well, with McKean the fastest we’ve ranked since Reece Whitely back in 2018.

His versatility across both strokes is reminiscent of Andrew Seliskar –  every one of his 200s is solid as a minimum – and he has freestyle speed to boot with a 1:35.9. A 46.46 100 fly ranks him fourth in the class and is a 1.5 second drop from last year, showing that he’s continued with the butterfly that led to us ranking him 14th on the way-too-early ranks, even as his breaststroke becomes a clear priority. He featured on the 4×100 freestyle relay for Team USA at Junior Pan Pacs last year (50.22 split), and could grow to be a handy relay weapon for Texas much as Caspar Corbeau was.

2. Maximus Williamson (Previous Rank: #1) — Lakeside Aquatic Club — Keller High School — Southlake, TX **Committed to Virginia**

Best Times:

400 IM: 3:39.83 (best in class) 200 IM: 1:40.81 (best in class) 200 free: 1:30.46 (best in class) 100 free: 41.54 (best in class) 50 free: 19.08 (best in class) 200 back: 1:40.88 100 back: 46.29 500 free: 4:16.84 200 fly: 1:42.17 100 fly: 46.27

Williamson doesn’t quite maintain his stranglehold on the top times in the class that he had last year, but with five, he still has more than double anyone else. He’s dropped time in all three sprint freestyles after being 19.4/41.8/1:31.3 last year, and remarkably will enter the NCAA as the fastest 200 freestyler. However, he’s not dropped any time in the 200 IM or 400 IM this year, which were two of his calling cards when this class was ranked back in 2023, especially in the 400, where his best is from Winter Juniors in 2022. In fact, his season bests stand at 1:44/3:51, and it’s a similar story in the 200 backstroke, where he hasn’t cracked 1:44 this year. His sprint freestyle times are superlative, but looking only at his best times gives an inflated view of his current form.

The real dealbreaker with Williamson’s drop to #2 this year is consistency. Heilman has turned up to Trials, U.S. Nationals, and Winter Juniors and swum absolutely lights out over the last two years; Williamson ebbs and flows. In long course, he hasn’t managed to hit the heights of 2023 in the last couple of years, and his relay value for Virginia may be exclusively in freestyle, despite his drops in butterfly this year. He’s still a projected three-event scorer with his best times, but he’s not quite the do-everything superstar he was. He doesn’t need to be the top star at Virginia, but the uncertainty of which Williamson will turn up at ACCs and NCAAs is certainly something to consider.

1. Thomas Heilman (Previous Rank: #2) – Cavalier Aquatics/Piedmont Family YMCA – Crozet, VA  **Verbally Committed to Virginia** 

Best Times:

100 fly: 43.86 (best in class) 200 fly: 1:38.95 (best in class) 50 free: 19.24 100 free: 42.00 200 free: 1:32.26 200 IM: 1:41.26 400 IM: 3:43.63

Heilman retakes the top spot this year after some incredible drops in fly and phenomenal consistency in long course, where he’s just made his third consecutive international team. In yards, he’s already a podium threat with 43.86/1:38.95 fly speed, drops of 0.8 and 1.7 from last year, and marries that with some wicked freestyle speed of 19.2/42.0/1:32.2. The freestyle times alone would normally be enough to put him near the top of the class, and while he’s not dropped in either the 50 or 100 this year he’s still only tenths away from the NCAA cut last season in both. A 200 IM good enough to ‘B’ final gives him six potential events to pick from for NCAAs.

He’ll instantly become Virginia’s top flyer and is already under the school records at both distances, and it’ll be tough to choose which of the five relays to leave him off. He’s a lock for both medleys and is in the top-five-splits-in-the-field conversation, but he’s improved every one of the Cavaliers’ freestyle relays as well.  His schedule will look something like 200 IM or 50 free/100 fly/200 fly, and he’s already got three scoring events. Heilman would have scored 92 out of a possible 96 points at ACCs and taken home 33 points at NCAAs this year – more than Virginia scored as a whole. Add to that his long course prowess, where he’s 50.7 and 1:53.8 to own both 17-18 NAG Records, and he’s an out-of-this-world recruit who consistently throws down phenomenal swims.

BONUS LOOKBACK:

Feeling nostalgic? Here’s a look back at our historic recruiting class rankings, plus our retrospectives of those classes after four NCAA seasons:

BOYS Recruiting Class High School Class of 2025 Way Too Early Ranks As Sophomores Ranks As Juniors High School Class of 2024 Way Too Early Ranks As Sophomores Ranks As Juniors Re-Rank As Seniors High School Class of 2023 Way Too Early Ranks As Sophomores Ranks As Juniors Re-Rank As Seniors High School Class of 2022 Way Too Early Ranks As Sophomores Ranks as Juniors Re-Rank As Seniors High School Class of 2021 Way Too Early Ranks As Sophomores Ranks as Juniors Re-Rank As Seniors Post-college retrospective High School Class of 2020 Way Too Early Ranks As Sophomores Ranks as Juniors Re-Rank As Seniors Post-college retrospective High School Class of 2019 Ranks as Juniors Re-Rank As Seniors Post-college restrospective High School Class of 2018 Ranks as Juniors Re-Rank As Seniors Post-college retrospective High School Class of 2017 Ranks as Juniors Post-college retrospective High School Class of 2016 Ranks as Juniors Post-college retrospective High School Class of 2015 Ranks as Juniors Post-college retrospective High School Class of 2014 Ranks as Juniors Post-college retrospective High School Class of 2013 Ranks as Juniors Post-college retrospective

 

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Re-Rank: Top 20 NCAA Swimming Recruits In The Boys’ High School Class of 2025

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