As the University’s winter break came to a close, 1,156 dedicated Virginia fans packed the bleachers at the Aquatic and Fitness Center — setting an attendance record — to watch the Cavaliers race the Nittany Lions.
Virginia pulled out all the stops. Swimming fanatic and social media figure Kyle Sockwell — who is also a former Arizona State varsity swimmer — roamed the AFC as a meet-and-greet headliner and on-deck personality. Behind him, World Championship-caliber announcer Kevin Cargill called the races while simultaneously DJ-ing the event. But for program alumni, family and friends, this meet primarily served to celebrate the graduating seniors.
Deafening cheers rattled the brick walls of the University’s Aquatic and Fitness Center as nine Virginia swimming seniors made their way to the pool’s bulkhead for their Senior Day ceremony. Family and friends lined the deck prior to the meet start, bouquets in hand, waiting patiently with teary eyes for hugs, gifts and well-wishes. Alumni clustered by the starting blocks and waved oversized fathead cutouts of the seniors.
When the formal celebrations ended and cheers subsided, the No.1 Virginia women and No. 21 Virginia men wasted no time delivering a parting gift in the second and final home dual meet of the season.
The Cavaliers cruised to dominant victories over both unranked Penn State squads, with the women sweeping all 10 events en route to a 154-61 win and the men taking all but one race to prevail 133-85 — despite projections that predicted the men would win by a mere two points. These scores are all the more impressive considering both Virginia sides start with an automatic 32-point deficit as they are unable to field diving points after cutting the program.
The atmosphere in the AFC was so electric it caused chaos from the first starting buzzer. As the women’s 400-yard medley relay was set to begin, the starter’s whistle was drowned out by roars in the crowd — the opening backstroke legs all flinched or dove in late, and the false start was not called until the first 100 yards had already been swum. Officials moved onto the men’s event before returning to re-swim the women’s relay.
The Virginia ‘A’ team was composed entirely of underclassmen — NCAA qualifiers and sophomores David King and Spencer Nicholas, coupled with the standout freshman duo of Maximus Williamson and Thomas Heilman.
The Nittany Lions ‘A’ team challenged the Cavaliers in every leg, but King ultimately pulled away on the freestyle leg, shattering the AFC pool record in 3:04.05. That time wipes the previous mark set by perennial powerhouse and current men’s No.1 Texas, who stopped the clock at 3:09.47 in 2021.
The women circled back onto the blocks, and the race was certainly worth the wait. Virginia fielded a freshman relay, a sophomore-junior relay and a senior relay to create some friendly internal competition. In true Senior Meet fashion, the senior relay walked away with a statement win — thanks to Carly Novelline, Emma Weber, Aimee Canny and Zoe Skirboll.
The all-senior quartet briefly trailed at the 200-yard point but surged from behind after Canny’s butterfly leg, ultimately touching first in 3:30.51 — over 10 seconds ahead of Penn State ‘A’ contingent — and claiming some well-deserved bragging rights.
After the opening relays concluded, points continued to accumulate in procedural fashion through the individual events. The Cavaliers rattled off win after win, often in sweeping fashion.
Junior Claire Curzan, a Tokyo U.S. Olympian, won both of her contested individual events. She dominated the 100-yard freestyle in 47.16 — over two seconds ahead of the rest of the field — as well as setting a season best in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:43.50. Freshman Sophia Umstead was the only other Cavalier to double up, notching wins in the 200-yard individual medley in 1:56.51 and the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:09.72, each a personal best time.
One of the day’s tightest races featured a senior-freshman international showdown. Senior standout Aimee Canny — who typically specialises in freestyle, breaststroke and medley — tried her hand at the 200-yard butterfly, stepping up against vaunted freshman and Bosnian Olympian Lana Pudar in her signature event. Canny managed to hold on down the stretch to stop the clock at 1:54.49, edging Pudar by just four-tenths of a second. Canny’s triumph epitomized the day’s theme — the seasoned seniors leading the way, with a large swath of talented underclassmen following right on their heels.
Meanwhile, the Cavalier men continued to pour it on against Penn State, winning 9 of 10 events. Freshman phenom Williamson — already part of the record-setting relay — later tore through the 200-yard individual medley in 1:42.44, breaking the AFC pool record in that event as well. Williamson added a victory in the 100-yard freestyle — 42.28 — to complete his own double. King also picked up two wins, taking the 200 free in 1:34.09 and the 200 back in 1:41.33, out-touching senior Jack Aikins in the latter.
In the end, Virginia honoured nine senior student-athletes — Aikins, Canny, Greenwaldt, Matthew Heilman, Sophia Knapp, Carly Novelline, Sebastien Sergile, Zoe Skirboll and Emma Weber in fitting fashion. Weber, a team captain, is an Olympic gold medalist for Team USA after swimming in the prelims of the women’s 4x100 medley relay at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Captain Carly Novelline is an NCAA champion, winning gold as part of Virginia’s 200-yard medley at the 2024 Championships. Canny is a two-time South African Olympian and multi-time ACC Champion and NCAA First Team All American. Sophia Knapp and Zoe Skirboll are multi-time NCAA qualifiers — and all of these women are three-time NCAA team champions.
Greenwaldt, a graduate transfer from Augustana, was also celebrated as a senior after completing her undergraduate studies in three years. She is now pursuing a Masters in Accounting during her senior year and has become a keystone in Virginia’s new sprint contingent.
The men farewell Aikins, a U.S. National Team member and World Championships qualifier for Team USA, as well as captains Matthew Heilman and Sebastien Sergile, with Sergile and Aikins having both competed at the 2025 NCAA Championships.
Although this was the last home dual meet of the year, the Cavaliers’ journey is far from over. For the women, the road to a six-peat lies ahead. For the men, they look to bring a young, talented and expanded contingent to both the conference and NCAA championships. But first, Virginia will travel to Blacksburg Jan. 17 for a rivalry dual against the unranked Virginia Tech squads. The last time the two teams met, the women rolled while the then-No. 17 men suffered a rare loss to the then-No.19 Hokie men — so the Cavaliers will be keen to bring another pair of statement wins back to Charlottesville.
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