For Virginia swimming, Friday’s matchup at Florida presents a collision of past connections, present potential and the promise of a new generation. As the first official competition of the season for the Cavaliers, Coach Todd DeSorbo’s crew will present a reloaded roster.
At last year’s dual against the Gators, Gretchen Walsh claimed four American records in a matter of hours and contributed to relays — making statements in the pool bodylengths ahead of competitors. Key performances on the Gators’ side from former Olympians Bella Sims and Emma Weyant also stood out at last year’s dual. However, they too have since graduated, leaving Florida in a similar boat as the Cavaliers. Both teams have a chance this year to build on past Olympic dynamism with freshman, transfer and returning talent.
“I’m pretty excited to see those closer races and see new people step up in the roles … where they’re contributing even more and elevating themselves to kind of offset what we graduated,” DeSorbo said.
Though Friday’s matchup will be Virginia’s first official competition of the season, the Cavaliers already had a chance to preliminarily build a foundation for the season Sept. 27 at Navy’s Lejeune Hall in Annapolis, Md. in a scrimmage-style exhibition meet. They also held their annual “Blue vs Orange” intrasquad Sept. 25 in Charlottesville.
Freshman talent made a strong first impression across both exhibitions — setting both the Cavalier men and women up to put up a strong fight against the Gators.
In Annapolis, freshman Sara Curtis and freshman Sylvia Roy debuted in the women’s 200 freestyle relay, contributing competitive splits of 21.97 and 22.56 that show both promise and potential for the lineup that Virginia will put together Friday and later in the season. Other key freshman wins by Lily Gormsen, Madi Mintenko, Maximus Williamson, Thomas Mercer and Grant Murphy underscored the program’s expanding strength across the board.
At the intrasquad, freshman Thomas Heilman broke three meet records in the 150 freestyle, 150 butterfly and 50 butterfly. The Cavalier freshman also took home the win in the first event of the meet, the 200 mixed medley relay, outtouching the junior squad by a little over a second.
Florida’s freshman class has also brought in top talent to supply the Gators with strong relay lineups as well as firepower across some of the individual events. Freshman Grace Rabb secured an individual victory in the 200 individual medley at Florida’s season opener Sept. 26 in Indianapolis. Freshman sprinters for the Gators also showed early promise, with Sylvia Statkevicius and Marvin Johnson contributing to the men’s sprint events and relays.
Aside from freshman talent to watch across both teams, transfers and returners have also held their ground at early exhibition competitions. Graduate transfer Bryn Greenwaldt put up competitive splits of 21.13 and 21.32 across both the 200 freestyle relay in Annapolis and 200 mixed medley relay in Charlottesville’s intrasquad.
Returning Cavalier talent — such as junior and U.S. Olympian Claire Curzan and sophomore relay veteran Anna Moesch — on the women’s side can also support relay lineups. For the men, relay contributors in senior Jack Aikins, sophomore Spencer Nicholas and sophomore David King will also supplement the Cavalier freshmen to compete against valuable Florida sprinters.
On the coaching side, DeSorbo and Florida Coach Anthony Nesty will have a chance to reconnect in Gainesville. The pair coached the men’s and women’s 2024 U.S. Olympic teams in Paris and the 2022 World Championships teams together. The dual this Friday will enable both coaches to showcase what their teams can do with strong freshman and returner classes without key players such as the Walshes, Sims or Weyant.
According to DeSorbo, the relays this season will serve as key indicators of the squad’s ability to defend and grow their dominance. With sights set on once more bringing home all five NCAA titles for the women’s team, the relay debuts Friday will give the Cavaliers an official jumping off point to learn from.
“On the relay front, you know, we won all five last year [at NCAA’s],” Desorbo said. “I think this is a year where we could win all five, or we could win none … I think we’ll be in a position to win all of them, but it’s just going to be a lot closer, and I think that’s fun.”
Aimee Crosbie contributed reporting.
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