Overview
After rewriting the record books and recording a program-best finish at the NCAA Championships last year, Duke swim and dive is once again ready to make a splash. Head coach Brian Barnes starts his second year at the helm with high hopes for the Blue Devils, describing this year’s team as one filled with potential and imagination.
The Blue Devils broke ten school and four pool records last season, with the women’s team recording both a program-high 779.5 points at ACC Championships and program-high 16th place finish at NCAA Championships. Margo O’Meara returned to the diving board after a sophomore-year injury without missing a step, while Kaelyn Gridley and Ali Pfaff cemented themselves as Duke’s dominant breaststroker and backstroker after competing at Olympic Trials this summer. Though the men’s team failed to capture similar program accolades, Milo Shue and Kalen Anbar showed significant promise in their freshman seasons.
The men’s and women’s teams have since graduated several top point scorers — including Sarah Foley and Seamus Harding Jr. — but added a host of talented freshmen. New Blue Devils Clare Logan, Colin Mikulecky and Samir Elkassem will certainly be looking to fill those gaps during their inaugural collegiate seasons, while veterans Jack Smith and Amaya Hanley will eye larger contributions off the blocks.
“We’re coming together on many fronts, and it’s a competitive team,” Barnes said. “They’re passionate about Duke. I’m just psyched about it.”
Early season competition already saw the men crush Marymount 209-52 and the women defeat Virginia Tech 165-135, with O’Meara shattering a decade-old pool record in the 3-meter dive. As the Blue Devils look ahead to a demanding schedule, they’ll aim to continue building on last season’s success. – Abby DiSalvo
New athletes to watch: Clare Logan, Samir Elkassem
As the Blue Devils have already competed against Marymount and Virginia Tech, new members of their team have had early opportunities to showcase their impact.
Westfield, N.J., native Clare Logan has begun to make her mark at Duke as part of the 200-yard freestyle relay that placed first overall against Virginia Tech last weekend. Logan, a freshman, tagged along with Tatum Wall, KyAnh Truong, and Pfaff to clock a time of 1:32.86 in the relay. Individually, she scored a third-place finish with a time of 55.30 in the 100-yard backstroke, which contributed to the women defeating Virginia Tech 165-135. On her journey to Duke, Logan qualified for the 2024 Olympic Trials in the 100-yard backstroke and was a 2021 Olympic Trials qualifier. While captaining her high school swim team, Logan led her squad to gain the title of 2023 New Jersey High School State Champions. With her endurance as a backstroke and freestyle swimmer, Logan will be a powerful addition to the women’s team this season.
Shifting to the men’s side, freshman Samir Elkassem is an addition to the Blue Devil swim team who was an All-American in highschool in the 100-yard butterfly, 200-yard IM, 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle. Even more impressively, Elkassem swam for the Moroccan National Team, representing the country at the 2022 Arabian Nationals in Egypt. Back in his hometown of Potomac, Md., he was a vital contributor to the 2022 and 2023 Metro Championship winning teams and a member of the 2022 State Championship team. Elkassem’s determination as a swimmer continues at Duke, where he placed first overall in the 200-yard butterfly and 200-yard IM against Marymount. As a strong swimmer in a combination of butterfly, freestyle and IM, Duke fans should keep watch on Elkassem’s progress this season. – Ava Guglielmo
Returners to watch: Margo O’Meara, Michael Jiang
All throughout her Duke diving career, O’Meara has been a dominant force for the Blue Devils, and she comes into this season with an impressive 2023-24 campaign in her trail. Just this summer, Margo earned a spot in the finals of the U.S. Olympic Qualifier, finishing 11th. Last season, she made first-team All-American at the NCAA Championships after finishing in eighth in the 1-meter dive and won a silver medal in the ACC Championships with a score of 355.35 in the 3-meter dive. O’Meara is already making waves this season, having broken the Taishoff pool record in the 3-meter dive with a score of 380.18 points against Virginia Tech. She also earned recognition as ACC Diver of the Week for her performance against the Hokies — cementing her as the returner to watch.
Senior Michael Jiang has been delivering fast times for the Blue Devil men, and will look to build upon his performance last season. Jiang competed for Duke in four events at the most recent ACC Championships, achieving a personal best of 1:44.27 in the finals of the 200-yard backstroke. Jiang has already made quite the splash this season, tying for first in the 100-yard backstroke and winning the 200-yard back with a time of 1:47.70 against Virginia Tech. –Tyler Rogers
Most anticipated matchup: ACC Championships, Feb. 18
Last season, for Duke swimming and diving, was about rebuilding. The Blue Devils lost longtime head coach Dan Colella to cancer in 2022 and then welcomed Barnes as head coach for the 2023 season. The new program leader brought his team back up to where it had been exactly a year before, with the women placing fifth and the men notching 10th at the ACC Championships in both 2023 and 2024.
“Their biggest success was welcoming a brand new coaching staff, and they did it with arms open, and they did it with trust,” Barnes said of last season’s team.
However, with the return of diving star Margo O’Meara from a set of shoulder injuries, and a fiery performance from Gridley, Tatum and Wall at Olympic Trials — in which all three notched their best times — the Blue Devil women look to dominate the scene this year. On the men’s side, the addition of Elkassem and an already impressive performance from Jiang gives Duke hope to make a comeback from the bottom of the rankings, where it landed at last year’s championship. – Kate Reiniche
Best-case scenario
Coming off the excitement of an Olympic year and a strong performance for the Blue Devils at Olympics Trials, the Duke women have the potential to rise to the top of the ACC. The women’s squad is especially well-rounded this year with the addition of Ohio State transfer Kyra Sommerstad filling out the butterfly and individual medley roster. The men’s teams has potential to rise in the rankings if it can gain momentum in its next three dual meets — against South Carolina, Northwestern, and North Carolina — all of whom are also unranked on the men’s side. – Reiniche
Worst-case scenario
With the addition of historically strong swimming schools California and Stanford to the ACC and the success of Virginia’s women’s squad this past summer in Paris, Duke has its work cut out in what is arguably the strongest swimming conference in the NCAA. The Blue Devils face a gauntlet of skilled teams in the coming weeks — especially for the women, where nearly every team they will face is currently ranked. A loss at the upcoming meet against closely-matched No. 17 South Carolina could start the season on a sour note for the 16th-ranked Blue Devils. The men’s team has already struggled to gain momentum and was routed by Virginia Tech earlier in the week. From here, the unranked men only look to take on more difficult opponents, such as No. 9 Tennessee. – Reiniche
Predictions:
DiSalvo: Women fourth at ACCs, 15th at NCAAs; men eighth at ACCs.
Guglielmo: Women fifth at ACCs, 14th at NCAAs; men ninth at ACCs.
Reiniche: Women fourth at ACCs, 14th at NCAAs; men eighth at ACCs
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Abby DiSalvo is a Trinity sophomore and assistant Blue Zone editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.