Virginia Wins Fifth-Consecutive ACC Women's Swim & Dive Championship
Make that five-straight ACC Championships for Virginia women's swim & dive. The Cavaliers capped another dominant championship meet with four more individual golds and a relay title on the final night of competition and ran away with the 2024 ACC Women's Swimming & Diving Championship at Greensboro Aquatic Center.
Already leading by over 300 points in the team standings entering Saturday, the Cavaliers left no doubt with their performances on Saturday night. Freshman Cavan Gormsen, who already had one ACC title to her name in the 500 free earlier this week, got the night started by winning a second gold medal in the 1650 free, placing first in 16:07.50. Teammates Maddie Donohoe and Sophia Knapp placed fourth and sixth, respectively.
The 200-yard backstroke was a thriller, with Virginia's Reilly Tiltmann using a strong closing 50 yards to come from behind and dethrone defending ACC Champion Kennedy Noble of NC State. Tiltmann finished in 1:50.64 to edge Noble, who touched in 1:50.95.
Gretchen Walsh broke her fifth NCAA record of the week and took down another American record as well in the 100-yard freestyle. Her blistering time of 45.16 shattered Simone Manuel's American record, which had stood since 2017. Fellow Cavalier Jasmine Nocentini finished second in 46.78. After this week, Walsh holds the NCAA records in four different events: 50 free, 100 free, 100 back, and 100 butterfly. Walsh was deservedly named the MVP of the meet.
Virginia dominated the 200-yard breaststroke, as Alex Walsh took home the title in 2:02.24, a time that beat the rest of the field by more than two seconds, and she was joined by four other Cavaliers in the top seven. Ella Nelson took second place, Anna Keating third, Aimee Canny sixth, and Emma Weber seventh.
Virginia capped the night and the meet by completing the sweep of the relay events. UVA's team of Jasmine Nocentini, Gretchen Walsh, Alex Walsh, and Maxine Parker outpaced the field with a time of 3:07.34 to win the 400 free relay title. The Cavaliers have now won 24 of the last 25 relay event titles at the ACC Championships.
In total, the Virginia women won 17 of the possible 18 women's swimming events and all five relays. The Cavaliers finished with 1,637.5 total points, the most by any ACC Champion in history and 492.5 points above the runner-up Louisville.
Gretchen Walsh was named the MVP of the meet after winning three individual titles and swimming as part of four title-winning relay teams, essentially setting an American record every time she got in the pool.
The Virginia men finished fifth with 768.5 points, but Virginia Tech finished third in the men's standings with 960.5 points. As a result, both Virginia and Virginia Tech will get a point in the 2023-2024 Commonwealth Clash, which UVA now leads 6.5-6.0.
Virginia women's swim & dive won its fifth-consecutive ACC Championship and 20th in program history.
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