The Virginia women’s swimming and diving team entered the fourth and final day of the ACC Championships in second place — 22.5 points behind leader North Carolina. But the No. 8 Cavaliers (3-2, 1-1 ACC) used a dominating performance Saturday to surge past the rival Tar Heels and earn their eighth consecutive conference championship.
Virginia finished the meet with 1,308.5 points, while North Carolina managed 1,255. Virginia Tech placed third with 1,018.
The Cavaliers were sitting at fourth after the first day with 144 points. Still, Virginia put up multiple strong performances, as both the 200-yard medley relay and the 800-yard freestyle relay teams broke ACC records en route to event wins.
Virginia moved up to first at the conclusion of the second day, where sophomore Leah Smith captured the 500-yard freestyle.
On the third day, junior Courtney Bartholomew and Smith won the 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard freestyle, respectively. Sophomore Kaitlyn Jones broke the program record in her second-place finish in the 400-yard individual medley while the 400-yard medley relay team broke the ACC championship record in its event win.
The Cavaliers got off to the strong start they needed on the fourth day, as Virginia went 1-2 in the 1,650-yard freestyle, with Smith taking the event win and junior Hanne Borgersen claiming second. Bartholomew won the 200-yard backstroke for the third consecutive season with a program and conference record time of 1:49.87. Sophomore Laura Simon went on to win the 200-yard breaststroke, allowing Virginia to cruise to a championship clinching a second-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
The title marked the program’s 13th conference crown, and its second under coach Augie Busch.
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