Virginia Women's Swim & Dive Looks for NCAA Championship Three-Peat

The No. 1-ranked and two-time reigning national champion Virginia women's swim & dive team will look to make it three in a row this week as the Cavaliers compete in the 2023 NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships from Wednesday through Saturday at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center in Knoxville, Tennessee.

17 different Cavaliers have qualified to race at the NCAA Championships, the most of any school, and two more UVA divers also qualified. Those 19 athletes will compete in a combined 42 events this week in Knoxville.

Virginia won its second-straight national title in 2022, claiming 11 events and four out of the five relays along the way, and finished with 551.5 team points, nearly 150 points ahead of the rest of the field.

From that team, UVA returns three swimmers who won individual championships last year. Senior Kate Douglass was named the CSCAA Women's Swimmer of the Year after becoming the first swimmer to ever win three NCAA titles in three different strokes and distances, and Douglass set NCAA and American records in each of those events as well. This year, Douglass has qualified in the 200-yard individual medley, 100-yard butterfly, and 200-yard breaststroke and currently owns the top times in each event.

Junior Alex Walsh also won three individual titles in 2022, and qualified in the 200-yard butterfly, 200-yard individual medley, and 400-yard individual medley for the 2023 NCAAs. Sophomore Gretchen Walsh won an individual NCAA title as a freshman last year and will look to build on that this week as she races in the 100-yard freestyle, 50-yard freestyle, and 100-yard backstroke.

UVA also returns five more First-Team All-Americans from last season's team: seniors Lexi Cuomo, Maddie Donohoe, and Ella Nelson, junior Anna Keating, and sophomore Reilly Tiltmann. Eight Cavalier swimmers have qualified in the maximum of three individual events and four more are competing in two individual events.

Additionally, sophomore Lizzy Kaye turned in a phenomenal performance in the NCAA Zone A Diving Championships last week and earned qualifications in all three diving events: 1-meter, 3-meter, and platform. Senior Jenn Bell will join Kaye in the 1-meter and 3-meter events.

All sessions of the 2023 NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships will be broadcast live on ESPN+. The prelims will begin each day at 10am and the finals will start at 6pm ET.

See the full 2023 NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships schedule and which Cavaliers are swimming in each event below:

Wednesday, March 15th

200-yard medley relay
800-yard freestyle relay

Thursday, March 16th

500-yard freestyle: Maddie Donohoe
200-yard individual medley: Aimee Canny, Kate Douglass, Abby Harter, Ella Nelson, Alex Walsh
50-yard freestyle: Lexi Cuomo, Maxine Parker, Gretchen Walsh
1-meter diving: Jenn Bell, Lizzy Kaye
200-yard freestyle relay

Friday, March 17th

400-yard individual medley: Ella Nelson, Alex Walsh
100-yard butterfly: Lexi Cuomo, Kate Douglass, Abby Harter, Carly Novelline
200-yard freestyle: Aimee Canny, Reilly Tiltmann
100-yard breaststroke: Emma Weber, Jaycee Yegher
100-yard backstroke: Carly Novelline, Reilly Tiltmann, Gretchen Walsh
3-meter diving: Jenn Bell, Lizzy Kaye
400-yard medley relay

Saturday, March 18th

1650-yard freestyle: Maddie Donohoe, Sophia Knapp
200-yard backstroke: Ella Bathurst, Reilly Tiltmann
100-yard freestyle: Aimee Canny, Lexi Cuomo, Maxine Parker, Gretchen Walsh
200-yard breaststroke: Kate Douglass, Anna Keating, Ella Nelson, Emma Weber
200-yard butterfly: Sam Baron, Abby Harter, Alex Walsh
Platform diving: Lizzy Kaye
400-yard freestyle relay

To stay up to date on all Virginia Cavaliers sports news, follow CavaliersNow on social media:

Facebook: @CavaliersNow
Twitter: @CavaliersNowFN