I think it is really more of a function that swimming is a Southern and West Coast sport. Those areas produce the most swimmers and I think many swimmers tend to stay close to home due to cost of attending school, especially the men. Top 25 swimmers nationally can go where they want and probably get a full scholly, but after that most tend to stay in state where a partial scholly goes further.

I think we would agree that Ohio State and Michigan have plenty of $ and there swim programs are good, but not elite. Not alot of swimmers coming out of Ohio and Michigan. Cal and UGA are traditional powers in swim and they attract the best plus they have a deep pool to pull from in state. Louisville is good, but note that they placed their first Olympian in these trials.

As an example of staying close to home, Lily King from Indiana University just made the Olympic team. She is a freshman at Indiana and grew up in that state. She stayed home.