Duke opens its 2026-27 swimming and diving season Friday night with a trip to Davidson, where the Blue Devils are set for a 5 p.m. meet against the Wildcats.
The women bring some serious momentum into the new year after finishing tied for 21st at last season’s NCAA Championships. Duke’s men also had a strong showing, placing fourth at the CSCAA National Invitational Championships.
A pair of relay squads helped highlight the Blue Devils’ postseason run. Duke’s 200-yard and 400-yard medley relay teams earned Second Team All-America honors at the NCAA Championships, and two returners from those groups are back in senior Ali Pfaff and sophomore Heather White.
Brian Barnes is entering his fourth season leading the program. He carries a 14-8 record with the women and a 5-17 mark with the men.
Last year’s results showed the women handling business across the schedule, finishing 6-2 with wins over East Carolina, Boston College, Davidson, North Carolina, Northwestern and Georgia Tech. The men went 3-5 and picked up victories over Marymount, Boston College and Davidson.
Barnes’ program also kept rewriting the record book. Duke set seven program records last season, with Pfaff standing out as the only female returner who set one of those marks after becoming the fastest Blue Devil in the 100 and 200 backstrokes. On the men’s side, Charlie Kulp established the program record in the 500 freestyle.
Duke’s women open the year ranked No. 21 in the CSCAA Swimming and Diving Poll. The men are unranked. Among ACC teams, Duke is one of seven ranked women’s programs, with Virginia and Stanford occupying the top two spots.
The Blue Devils also added depth to the roster, bringing in 16 freshmen overall - seven men and nine women - along with graduate transfer Alex Seybold, who previously competed for Cal Poly on the men’s side.
Duke made one staff addition as well, hiring Colin Gibson as an assistant coach.
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Dukes Loaded Roster Faces One Question That Could Define The Season
Duke enters the season with the kind of roster that usually makes opposing coaches uneasy and beat writers busy. Seniors Caleb Foster and John Blackwell are back, junior Patrick Ngongba II returns, and freshmen Cayden Boozer and Dame Sarr add even more talent to a group already defined by size and depth. There are multiple players on hand who can credibly take meaningful minutes, which is part of what makes this team so intriguing before the games even start.
The question is how that abundance gets managed once the schedule tightens and the stakes rise. Deep college basketball teams are rare, and even the most talented ones often have to narrow things down when the pressure mounts, which is why Dukes rotation will be one of the defining storylines of the season. The talent is obvious; the challenge is deciding how much of it can actually fit when the biggest moments arrive. [Read more 🡒]
Dukes Bye Week Could Reshape The ACC Race Fast
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North Carolinas home game against No. 3 Notre Dame adds another layer to the league picture, while Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech both enter the week at 4-0 and are positioned to meet the same kind of pressure Duke is temporarily avoiding. When the dust settles, one of those unbeaten ACC peers will have been forced into a tougher spot in the standings, and Dukes quiet week could end up feeling a lot more important than it looks right now. [Read more 🡒]
Duke Has One Rivalry Edge UNC May Not Be Ready For
The early read on the upcoming Duke-North Carolina matchup starts inside, where Duke looks built to lean on size, depth and physicality in a way that should travel well in the ACC. Patrick Ngongba and Drew Scharnowski headline a frontcourt group that also brings Cameron Williams and Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje into the mix, giving the Blue Devils a rotation with enough bodies to play big without sacrificing versatility.
North Carolinas side of the equation is far less settled, with questions swirling around its interior options and several newcomers still needing to prove they can hold up in the leagues most intense games. The Tar Heels can usually count on frontcourt play to be part of the answer in this rivalry, but right now Duke appears to have the cleaner path to winning the paint, and that could shape the matchup long before the shots start falling from the perimeter. [Read more 🡒]