The Virginia women’s swimming and diving team simultaneously accomplished something done before and something never done before Saturday night in Tennessee.
In terms of the ‘been there, done that’ part, the Cavaliers continued their recent dominance at the NCAA Championships with their third consecutive National Championship. The 3-peat is something that’s happened five times in women’s college swimming as UVA joined Texas, Stanford, Georgia, and Auburn in that exclusive club. It marked the 32nd overall National Championship for the school.
A 3-peat of national titles has occurred at Virginia before too with the men’s soccer team rolling off four straight from 1991-1994 and the men’s tennis team getting three straight from 2015-2017.
The UVA women’s swimming and diving team, however, became the first women’s program to accomplish the 3-peat feat at the school. The pandemic canceled the 2020 NCAA Championships where the Hoos were favored to capture the title or they could have joined Bruce Arena’s soccer teams as the most accomplished in school history.
Other Cavalier women’s teams that came close to the rare triple? Women’s cross country went back to back in 1981 and 1982. Women’s lacrosse claimed championships in 1991 and 1993 (lost in overtime to Maryland in the Final Four). Women’s rowing got titles in 2010 and 2012 (finished sixth in 2011).
With the 3-peat, the Hoos’ swimming and diving team could be considered the best ever in women’s sports at Virginia. (What do you think? Share your thoughts on the message board.)
In this most recent championship run, the Cavaliers totaled 541.5 points and 11 total wins. They swept all five relay races and added six individual titles. Kate Douglass (200 IM, 100 fly, 200 breast), Gretchen Walsh (100 back, 100 free), and Alex Walsh (400 IM) brought home the individual medals.
Are there any more Walsh sisters? We could use several more.