Virginia Women’s Swimming & Diving Nothing But Impressive In 3-Peat

Virginia Cavaliers
Virginia claimed the National Championship for the third straight season. ~ Photo courtesy of Virginia Athletics Media Relations

It was just two years ago that coach Todd Desorbo and the Virginia women’s swimming and diving team captured the first National Championship in program history. On Saturday, the Hoos cemented themselves as a dynasty with a dominant performance en route to a third straight National Championship victory.

UVA’s 541.5 points were bolstered by six individual NCAA Championships and all five relay titles. The Hoos are just the fourth program to ever win all five relays at the NCAAs. They became the first Virginia women’s program to win three straight National Championships in any sport.

“Never in my wildest dreams would’ve thought in just three years we would win, and then in three more years we’d have won three in a row,” DeSorbo told SwimSwam.com. “There’s no way it could have gone any better for us.”

Many familiar names helped lead the way to a three-peat.

For four years now senior Kate Douglass has been one of the most dominant athletes in all of college sports. In what was her final competition with the Cavaliers, she demonstrated this once again by sweeping her three individual races: 200 IM, 100 butterfly, and 200 breaststroke. Douglass set NCAA, American and US Open records in each. That included an eye-popping 1:48.37 in the 200 IM.

She added four relay titles that all set at least one record as well. Douglass was named the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America Women’s Swimmer of the Meet and Women’s Swimmer of the Year. It marked the second straight year that she won three individual medals with record-setting times as well as four relay titles.

When asked about her performance, the Virginia senior responded with a little bit of disbelief.

“I’ve kind of left myself a little speechless,” Douglass told SwimSwam.com. “I was very shocked with last year’s performance and coming into the season I was just like ‘I have no idea how I can be better than that.’ So to just see myself outdo my performance from last year is just really crazy.”

“I told her right after the 200 breaststroke and before the relay ‘Kate I’m just happy to have been a little bit of a piece of this, of what you’ve done over the last couple years,'” DeSorbo said in a SwimSwam interview. “To see what she did last year at this meet and then to actually come back and do better, I don’t know that there’s really words or I don’t know if I can put it into perspective.”

The Walsh sisters played a key role in UVA’s title charge too.

Sophomore Gretchen Walsh won two individual races, the 100 backstroke and 100 freestyle, and finished runner-up in the 50 free. Junior Alex Walsh finished first in the 400 IM and was runner-up in the 200 fly. Despite finishing second, Walsh’s time of 1:50.23 was a Virginia record in the event. The sisters also competed on three relays together that all came in first.

Gretchen Walsh said in a SwimSwam interview that being able to compete alongside Alex “is a once in a lifetime experience for both of us and honestly for everyone to witness as well. … It makes every race just that much sweeter, especially when you’re on a relay with your big sister.”

That included a relay win to close the meet that served as the exclamation point for the Wahoos. The Cavaliers capped off an impressive four days on Saturday night with a win in the 400 free relay that completed the relay sweep. The team, consisting of Douglass, the Walsh sisters, and junior Maxine Parker set an NCAA record with a time of 3:05.84.

“We knew it was going to be a tight race, especially with Stanford, and honestly I was just super motivated to sweep the relays,” Alex Walsh said in a SwimSwam interview. “I think that’s just a huge accomplishment and super awesome, so really it couldn’t have ended any better.”

Parker was part of a long list of other Virginia swimmers to take All-American honors. Ella Nelson, Aimee Canny, Lexi Cuomo, Maddie Donohoe, Abby Harter, Anna Keating, Reilly Tiltmann, and Emma Weber all made their mark in different events. Other Cavaliers set personal best times on the biggest stage too.

Nelson led that group of contributors with a really strong NCAA Championships effort. She finished in the top four of all her individual races with a 2nd only to Alex Walsh in the 400 IM, a 3rd in the 200 breast, and a 4th in a loaded 200 IM field. She also swam the anchor leg of the winner 800 freestyle relay.

It all added up to the 32nd National Championship in school history. The women’s swimming and diving program became just the third team overall to three-peat in Virginia athletics history. Men’s soccer won four national championships between 1991-94 and men’s tennis won three titles between 2015-17. The Hoos will look to make it four straight titles next season. The last team in college women’s swimming and diving to win four straight titles was Stanford between 1992-96.

“For us, this championship means all the work that has been put in this whole season,” Alex Walsh said in a SwimSwam.com interview. “So whether your last meet is the Cav Invite, ACC’s or NC’s, you still get that ring.”

Individual Champions

  • Kate Douglass: 200 IM – 1:48.37, 100 fly – 48.46, 200 breast – 2:01.29 (All are American, NCAA & US Open records)
  • Gretchen Walsh: 100 back – 48.26 (American, NCAA & US Open records), 100 free – 45.61 (Pool record)
  • Alex Walsh: 400 IM – 3:57.24 (UVA & pool record)

Relay Champions

  • 200 medley relay (G. Walsh, A. Walsh, Cuomo, Douglass) – 1:31.51 (American, NCAA & US Open records)
  • 800 free relay (Canny, A. Walsh, Tiltmann, Nelson – 6:49.82 (UVA & pool record)
  • 200 free relay (Douglass, G. Walsh, Cuomo, Parker) – 1:24.51 (Meet record)
  • 400 medley relay (G. Walsh, A. Walsh, Douglass, Canny) – 3:22.39 (Pool record)
  • 400 free relay (Douglass, A. Walsh, Parker, G. Walsh) – 3:05.84 (NCAA record)

All-Americans

  • Canny, Aimee – 800 Free Relay, 200 Free, 400 Med Relay, 100 Free (HM)
  • Cuomo, Lexi – 200 Med Relay, 50 Free, 200 Free Relay, 100 Fly (HM), 100 Free (HM)
  • Donohoe, Madelyn – 500 Free (HM), 1650 Free (HM)
  • Douglass, Kate – 200 Med Relay, 200 IM, 200 Free Relay, 100 Fly, 400 Med Relay, 200 Breast, 400 Free Relay
  • Harter, Abby – 200 Fly
  • Keating, Anna – 200 Breast
  • Nelson, Ella – 800 Free Relay, 200 IM, 400 IM, 200 Breast
  • Parker, Maxine – 200 Free Relay, 200 Free, 400 Free Relay, 50 Free (HM), 100 Free (HM)
  • Tiltmann, Reilly – 800 Free Relay, 200 Back, 100 Back (HM)
  • Walsh, Alex – 200 Med Relay, 800 Free Relay, 200 IM, 400 IM, 400 Med Relay, 200 Fly, 400 Free Relay
  • Walsh, Gretchen – 200 Med Relay, 50 Free, 200 Free Relay, 100 Back, 400 Med Relay, 100 Free, 400 Free Relay
  • Weber, Emma – 100 Breast