In a weekend designed to test depth, nerves and a brand-new format, the Virginia women mostly made the CSCAA Dual Meet Challenge look like business as usual.
The No. 1 Cavaliers rolled to a 3-0 finish in Knoxville, Tenn. and claimed the inaugural women’s Dual Meet Challenge title Sunday afternoon, closing the bracket with a consecutive dismantling of No. 7 Michigan at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center.
Across three meets in as many days, Virginia outscored Arizona State and Michigan twice by a combined 113-27, affirming their position as the favourites to win a sixth consecutive national championship title come March.
Sophomore Anna Moesch was the clear centerpiece for the Cavalier women. The All-American went a perfect four-for-four in her individual races, winning the 100- and 200-yard freestyle in Saturday’s dual against Michigan, then doubling down with the 50- and 100-yard freestyle in the Championship dual Sunday, also against the Wolverines.
Moesch’s 1:40.25 in the 200- and 45.98 in the 100-yard freestyle moved her into the top five all-time performers, joining the likes of Virginia alumni Gretchen Walsh and Kate Douglass, along with household names in swimming such as Katie Ledecky and Missy Franklin. By the end of the weekend, Moesch had also been named the meet’s Most Outstanding Female Performer.
Each individual race across the weekend featured three head-to-head matchups per team, worth one point apiece, with an extra bonus point awarded to the overall winner. Relays counted double, with up to six points available per event. Despite the design’s intention to tighten margins, the Cavalier women promptly stretched them back out.
Virginia’s path to victory started Friday against fourth-seed Arizona State, and the meet was effectively over before the Sun Devils could grasp the new format. The 400-yard medley relay was led off by junior Claire Curzan in a blistering 49.34 backstroke leg, and by the time Moesch touched the wall in a 46.05 anchor leg, Virginia’s “A” team had swept the field by nearly four seconds.
From there, the Cavaliers continued to stack points from head-to-head wins. Senior Aimee Canny opened the individual events with a 1:42.31 in the 200 free, leading a Cavalier 1-2 and pushing the score to 10-0. Junior transfer Melissa Nwalakor followed with a 22.04 victory in the 50 free, and Virginia turned the 400-yard individual medley into a middle-distance showcase — sophomore Katie Grimes, sophomore Leah Hayes and junior captain Cavan Gormsen swept all three matchups and every available point in 4:03.34, 4:04.01 and 4:13.69.
Freshman Madi Mintenko added a 47.94 win in the 100-yard freestyle, and Tess Howley’s 51.44 in the 100-yard backstroke — backed up by sophomore Charlotte Wilson and graduate transfer Bryn Greenwaldt — locked in a 23-7 advantage with an event still to swim. Despite not swimming Moesch and Curzan individually — possibly saving them for stiffer weekend competition against the likes of Michigan junior and Olympian Bella Sims — Virginia ultimately closed out with a decisive 30-10 victory over Arizona State.
But Saturday’s midday dual against No. 7 Michigan was an outright thrashing. Facing the Wolverines for a place in Sunday’s Championship Dual, Virginia won every race, walking off with a 43-1 demolition. Moesch swam her first individual events of the Dual Meet Challenge, dropping season bests in the 100- and 200-yard freestyle, reestablishing her as the fastest in the nation in those events. Freshman sprinter Sara Curtis ripped a strong 21.19 to win the 50-yard freestyle, solidifying her as a key piece in Virginia’s new sans-Walsh identity.
The Cavaliers continued to flaunt their depth across veterans and newcomers. Junior team captain Tess Howley swept the 200-yard backstroke and 200-yard butterfly in a pair of 1:51s, while South African Olympian Canny added wins in both the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:07.50, and the 200-yard individual medley in 1:54.05. Mintenko has been having a breakout first semester in Charlottesville, and continued by winning the 500-yard freestyle in a nationally competitive 4:35.79. A dual that had the potential to be a tense matchup turned into a peerless rout by Virginia.
The women’s only wobble of the weekend came at the very beginning of Sunday’s championship dual against Michigan — and it was largely self-inflicted. Virginia opened on Sunday with a reshuffled 200-yard medley relay lineup, essentially a B-look compared to Saturday’s quartet. Michigan’s relay took advantage, sneaking in for the win and handing the Wolverines an early edge on the scoreboard.
That start proved to be an anomaly rather than a tone-setter. Mintenko immediately yanked momentum back with a statement in the 200-yard freestyle, dropping a lifetime-best 1:41.70 to win and pull Virginia even. In the 100-yard backstroke, Curzan out-touched Michigan star Bella Sims 49.12 to 49.17 — the two fastest times in the NCAA so far this season.
The Wolverines’ senior breaststroker Letitia Sim swept the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke with lifetime best efforts, but Virginia still claimed three of the six available matchups across those races, dampening the effect of Sim’s individual brilliance.
Again, Cavalier depth across the middle distance and stroke events quelled any hopes for a Michigan comeback. Howley held off Michigan’s Hannah Bellard to win the 200-yard butterfly, then Grimes and sophomore teammate Charlotte Wilson nabbed a 1-2 finish in the 200-yard backstroke. In the 500-yard freestyle, Canny coolly ran down Sims, after the Michigan junior blasted the first 50, touching in 4:34.62 — just off her personal best — with teammates Gormsen and sophomore Bailey Hartman stacking more points behind her.
The spring group sealed the deal for Virginia. Moesch backed up her historic Saturday with a 21.52/46.05 double in the 50- and 100-yard free, Curzan added a second win in the 100 fly with a 49.68 and sophomore Leah Hayes followed with a 1:54.37 to lead a 1-2-3 sweep of the 200- yard IM. The Cavaliers closed the meet with a comeback relay win, a 1:24.98 featuring Curtis, Moesch, Curzan and Greenwaldt, which was more than enough to lock in a 40-17 final score and the inaugural CSCAA Dual Meet Challenge crown.
The Cavaliers are comfortably ahead of schedule. Moesch and several of Virginia’s other stars — Curzan, Canny, Hayes, Grimes, Howley and Mintenko — left Knoxville having posted times that would be very credible at a spring championship meet.
The Cavaliers will now break from collegiate competition until the new year, when Penn State visits Charlottesville for Virginia’s senior day Jan. 10. If the Dual Meet Challenge was any indication, the rest of the country will be spending those weeks trying to close a gap that seems to only be widening.
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