I just wanted to chime in here, even though I know virtually nothing about swimming recruiting. One thing that I think translates across sports though is to realize that coaches don’t always see the same things more casual observers see. I could cite a dozen examples of kids who I thought were exceptional at their sport who ended up either without offers or at schools lower down the athletic ladder than I assumed. I have also seen plenty of kids who I really didn’t think were all that and a bag of donuts go on to sterling careers at big time D1 programs.
I do understand that swimming is a timed sport, but I really think it is dangerous to try and compare one recruit to another. And I say that fully acknowledging that I was as guilty as any one of doing the same thing when my son was being recruited. But the fact is that none of us really know what the coach sees when evaluating a recruit or what he or she is looking for in any given recruiting class. If you let it, it will drive you nuts trying to figure out why kid x is getting the love from a particular school and kid y is not.