Swimming and diving teams get limited opportunities to test themselves in dual meets each season. Virginia coach Todd DeSorbo wants to make sure the Hoos face tough competition in those moments and threw his program into the figurative deep end right away.
The Cavaliers started the season on Friday and Saturday at the Aquatics & Fitness Center with top 12 Florida teams (men No. 3, women No. 11) in town before they travel to face top 5 Texas teams (men No. 2, women No. 3) in two weeks. The Wahoos split with the Gators in the season opener with the UVA women rolling to a 180-115 win and the Florida men taking a 189-111 win. (Full Virginia vs. Florida results here.)
“I like to start that way and keep going that way,” DeSorbo said. “In two weeks, we have Texas, which is going to be maybe even tougher – yeah definitely tougher at Texas. We want to compete against teams that are going to challenge us all the time because at the end of the season, their men [at Florida] are top three in the country and we’re going to see them at the end of the season and now our guys know they can go toe to toe with them and our girls know they can compete with them. So it gives them confidence, gives experience being in a big meet setting, and we want to continuously do that so when they get to NCAAs, it’s nothing new.”
The Hoos had been eager for the season to arrive after the long offseason wait plus it was a big weekend for the program overall. The Cavaliers inducted new members into the Virginia Swimming & Diving Hall of Fame on Friday night (Megan Evo Greenwood 2009, Scot Robison 2011, Lauren Perdue Britt 2013, Luke Anderson 2005, Anita O’Quinn 1978), officially raised the women’s 2022 National Championship banner, and held the national title ring ceremony on Saturday night.
Those alumni provided a boisterous atmosphere at the AFC on Saturday.
“I think we’ve all been shaking in our boots a little bit waiting for our first dual meet,” Virginia senior Ella Nelson said. “We’ve been seeing the results of all the other teams rolling in and we know that Florida’s obviously going to bring some great competition. Having our National Championship banner, and the alumni Hall of Fame, and all of our parents and alumni here has made it really, really fun. I think we’ve all been waiting for this weekend for a while.”
The women’s team left little doubt about UVA’s continued strength as a new season begins. The No. 1 ranked Hoos powered their way to wins in 11 of 16 events. That included sweeps in individual events for four of the Cavaliers. Kate Douglass, Reilly Tiltmann, Gretchen Walsh, and Alex Walsh all touched first twice during the meet. The Wahoos also took the top three spots in the 200-yard medley relay and the top four spots in the 100 and 200 breaststroke swims.
Other event winners included Abby Harter in the 200 butterfly and Claire Tuggle in the 500 free. The 400-yard freestyle relay quartet of the Walsh sisters, Douglass, and Maxine Parker closed the meet with a new pool record swim of 3:11.34 in an unscored event. That topped the old mark by three seconds. On the diving side, Charlotte Bowen claimed second place on the 3-meter board (290.70) and Lizzy Kaye was second on the 1-meter board (273.08).
Douglass won the 100 yard breaststroke in :59.27, while Emma Weber (1:00.77), Anna Keating (1:01.12), and Jaycee Yegher (1:01.52) followed to make it a Wahoo romp. Douglass later won the 100 freestyle in :47.49. Parker touched second in :48.49 and Zoe Skirboll came in fourth at :50.10. Tiltmann won the 100 backstroke in :53.18 with teammate Carly Novelline second in :53.93. Tiltmann won the 200 back in 1:56.87 with teammate Ella Bathurst in second at 1:58.09.
Gretchen Walsh, meanwhile, turned some heads with incredibly fast times in her two events. She won the 50 freestyle in :21.40 just ahead of Parker in :22.21. She also set a new pool record with the fastest unsuited (practice suit) time in the history of the 100 butterfly when she uncorked a :50.53. That unseated LSU’s Maggie MacNeil, who had just set the record two weeks ago at :50.84. Virginia’s Lexi Cuomo was second in Saturday’s meet in :54.10, while Sam Baron was fourth in :54.79.
Alex Walsh finished well ahead of field to take the 200 breaststroke in 2:09.89. Keating came home second in 2:12.51 with Yegher in third at 2:13.31 and Weber in fourth at 2:14.11. Walsh also secured the victory in the 200 free as she just outraced Nelson to the wall with times of 1:45.25 and 1:45.81 to go 1-2. That race captured the magic of the women’s team and the Hoos’ afternoon overall because that duo pushed each other to the fast times.
“Funny because Alex and I were both in the 200 free together and we both thought each other was a Florida person so I think we pushed each other to go a little faster there, which was fun,” Nelson said. “Yeah, really happy with those swims.”
With a long season ahead and a tough Texas team waiting just around the corner, the women’s team will refocus after this weekend’s positive results.
“We’ve got to take our results from here, refocus, and get back to it for Texas,” Nelson said. “After that we have our mid-season invite, which is our big chance for a lot of our girls to make their qualifying times for NCAAs so we can kind of put that behind us and focus on our training for the rest of the season. It is a marathon, but take it in little sprints at a time and it’s been so much fun.”
On the men’s side, Virginia saw three swimmers grab individual event wins but there were also several strong showings in other spots.
Noah Nichols led the way with a sweep in the breaststroke events. He won the 100 in :52.23 and the 200 in 1:55.00. Matt King claimed the 100 freestyle in :42.68 and added second place in the 50 free in :19.42. Jack Aikins captured the 200 backstroke in 1:46.06 as part of a strong event for the Hoos. Teammates Sean Conway (1:46.84), Will Cole (1:46.89), and Breeden Haughey (1:49.05) followed in third, fourth, and fifth.
Some of the same swimmers also performed well in the 100 back. Cole (:48.51) and Conway (:48.95) took second and fourth, while Max Edwards (:48.66) came home third. Other solid results for UVA included Kamal Muhammad finishing second in the 200 IM (1:47.49) and Jack Wright placing second in the 200 free (1:36.36). The Virginia 200 medley relay teams finished second and third.
Overall, DeSorbo was pleased with how his teams handled the competition as the rest of the season awaits.
“On the drive in this morning, one of our first meets last year at home was Texas here and I just remember thinking during that meet ‘man we’re really good’ both our men and our women relative to what we have been in the past,” DeSorbo said. “I was hoping I would have those same thoughts today and I did. I think we were really good teams last year – I think both men and women are even better this year. So it’s exciting. Exceeded expectations.”
It seems as if the Fl Men rolled to same extent as the Hoo women. Our women have become a dominant program though and perhaps this result by the men is a step forward.
Yeah, but not quite. The UVa women gave Florida the final 31 points of the swim meet by swimming exhibitions so the final score would not be so lopsided. The “exhibition” 400 free relay by UVa is tops in the nation by over 5 seconds! CAL and Texas are just as strong as Florida so the men’s score against Texas will be similar. But within the meet itself there are some really nice indications that UVa will score very well at the NCAA’s. The women’s meet with Texas will be close given the strengths of each program in certain events. Also, we had many swimmers swimming different events than what they swam at last year’s NCAA championships. Of course, many of UVa’s swimmers can swim other strokes and distances very well. So again, this is training, exploration and fun at this time.