The Virginia swim and dive team traveled to Greensboro, N.C., for the ACC Championships last week, where dominant performances across nearly every event handed the Virginia women their 20th ACC title. Podium finishes from the men’s team helped them overcome a difficult first day to finish fifth overall. Claiming seven victories and four NCAA records, junior Gretchen Walsh was named the ACC’s most valuable swimmer.
Day 1
Tuesday, saw the Virginia women get off to a blistering start with two relay victories. First up, the 200-yard medley relay team of junior Reilly Tiltmann, graduate student Jasmine Nocentini, sophomore Carly Novelline and senior Maxine Parker cruised to victory with a time of 1:33.84.
The Virginia women earned their second victory by swimming a 6:46.28 in the 800-yard freestyle relay, finishing within a second of the NCAA record. Gretchen Walsh set a Virginia record with a leadoff leg of 1.40.23, the third-fastest all-time performance. Senior Alex Walsh, sophomore Aimee Canny and graduate student Ella Nelson rounded out the lineup, helping secure their 17th consecutive victory in the event.
On the men’s side, the 200-yard medley relay team featuring senior Matt Brownstead, senior Noah Nichols, junior Tim Connery and graduate student August Lamb finished sixth with a season-best time of 1:23.46. For the diving squad, junior Elizabeth Kaye finished 9th on the 3-meter.
After Tuesday’s six events, the women sat in third place with 154 points, close behind first-place North Carolina and second-place Louisville. The men’s squad, after a disqualification due to an early start in the 800-yard freestyle relay, sat in last place 11th with 53.5 points, a disappointing opening result.
Day 2
Wednesday yielded much better results for the men. The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Brownstead, Lamb, junior Connor Boyle and freshman Simon Lins swam to a silver medal with a time of 1:15.20. Brownstead also won bronze in the 50-yard freestyle, throwing down an 18.86 out of lane eight. The men earned their third medal when Connery set a school record 1:41.86 in the 200-yard individual medley.
The women surged to first place on Wednesday, triumphing over all four swimming events. In the 200-yard freestyle relay, they downed their own U.S. Open record with a time of 1:23.63. Even more notable was Gretchen Walsh’s leg, where she swam a 19.95, the first woman ever to break 20 seconds. She then obliterated her own NCAA record in the 50-yard freestyle, besting it by 0.20 in the finals with a lightning-fast 20.57. Alex Walsh then won a third ACC title in the 200-yard individual medley, swimming a 1:51.76.
The Cavalier women swept the podium of the 500-yard freestyle, led by freshman Cavan Gormsen who earned gold in 4:38.43, with Canny and sophomore Sophia Knapp following close behind.
After the second day, the women’s squad found themselves, unsurprisingly, in first place with 552 points, ahead of Louisville’s 473.5, while the men took advantage of podium finishes to climb to sixth with 249.5 points.
Day 3
Going into Thursday, the Virginia women were clearly the team to beat, but unfortunately for their competitors, continued their dominance, winning every event.
Nelson won the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:03.80, becoming the first woman to win four titles in the event since fellow Cavalier Mirjana Bosevska, who won it from 2000-03.
Gretchen Walsh yet again broke records, setting the U.S. Open record in the 100-yard butterfly by throwing down a 48.25 in finals for her fourth gold medal of the week.
Five women represented Virginia in the 200-yard freestyle “A” final to close the day. Canny won the event with a time of 1:43.10 after overtaking Louisville senior Paige Hetrick in the third lap. Parker finished third with a time of 1:44.31.
After the third day, the Cavalier women were firmly in first place, their score of 846.5 points, over 150 points ahead of second-place Louisville. The men’s team fell one place to seventh with 344.5 points, but remained close behind sixth-place North Carolina.
Day 4
After falling on the third day, the men’s team needed a strong performance Friday to move up the overall standings. They delivered, earning their first medal of the day in the 100-yard backstroke, where Brownstead clinched his second medal of the week within 45.26 seconds.
After having the fastest time in the preliminaries, Nichols defeated a stacked field in the 100-yard breaststroke. He swam a 50.89 in a close race where four top finishers touched within 0.21 seconds.
Naturally, the Cavalier women recorded multiple victories. Alex Walsh captured another gold medal with a 1:49.16 NCAA record in the 200-yard butterfly. Nocentini earned her first individual gold medal of the week in the 100-yard breaststroke with a personal best 57.01. Tiltmann rounded out the day’s individual medals for Virginia, swimming to bronze in the 100-yard backstroke in 51.82.
Both the men and the women competed well in the 400-yard medley relay to close the day. The men finished fourth in 3:03.78. Narrowly missing out on breaking the NCAA record, set at last year’s ACC Championships, the women's squad cruised to victory in 3:22.49. Gretchen Walsh lowered her U.S. Open Record, with a 48.10 100-yard backstroke lead off.
The performances by the Virginia women on day four extended their overall lead to 309.5 points ahead of second place. Podium performances by the men elevated them to sixth place.
Day 5
The women closed out the week with yet another dominant performance Saturday, bringing their total score to 1637.5, smashing the overall scoring record. The Virginia men’s squad concluded their two-day climb, finishing fifth overall.
Gormsen secured her second gold medal of the meet to open the night in the 1650 freestyle in a dogfight against NC State sophomore Emma Hastings, which Gormsen won in 16:07.50. Tiltmann reclaimed her 2022 title in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:50.64.
Gretchen Walsh put on another masterclass performance, this time in the 100-yard freestyle. She touched in 45.16, obliterating Simone Manuel’s NCAA record of 45.56.
The week’s final individual event, the 200-yard breaststroke, ended in a final medal sweep for the Virginia women. Alex Walsh put down a 2:02.24, the second-fastest time ever to win her third-straight event title, followed by Nelson and Keating.
Both squads closed out the day with the 400-yard freestyle relay. The men earned fourth and an NCAA “A” cut time with a 2:49.64 performance, while the women solidified a Virginia sweep of ACC relays, their time of 3:07.34 just shy of their 3:06.83 meet record.
The Cavaliers will now begin preparations for March’s NCAA Championships. The dive team is up first on March 11-13, when they will compete at the NCAA Zone A Championships, looking to qualify. If this weekend is any indicator of how NCAA Championships, which will take place from March 20-23 in Athens, Ga., will go, the Virginia women may be in for a four-peat title. The men will travel to Indianapolis, Ind. shortly after from March 27-30, where they will look to improve on 2023’s 15th-place finish.
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