Virginia Women’s Swim & Dive Wins Fourth-Straight National Championship
UVA’s dynasty in the pool continues. Virginia women’s swim & dive won its fourth-consecutive national title, winning 11 event titles and cruising past the rest of the field to become just the third program to ever four-peat in the sport by winning the 2024 NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championship this weekend in Athens, Georgia.
As opposed to the last couple of years, when the Cavaliers arrived on the final day of competition having already all but guaranteed themselves the championship with a large lead in the standings, things weren’t nearly as comfortable this time around, with Virginia leading Texas by just 41.5 points entering Saturday. That changed in the morning prelims, though, as UVA placed seven swimmers in A-finals, including three in the 200 breaststroke and two in the 200 butterfly, essentially clinching the championship before the finals even started.
“We knew we had to be good today, like really good, maybe great,” said UVA head coach Todd DeSorbo on Saturday. “I think it was after the breaststroke this morning, when I was really like okay, we’re good. And then the 200 butterfly. Abby Harder and Tess Howley, when they went top eight, I literally cried. I cried after the 200 breast and the 200 fly. It was just an amazing feeling to have them step up in a really pressure situation. We haven’t been in that situation before. After Friday night, usually we felt pretty good about things. They just came out and really just set the tone this morning right away and put us into a really good position.”
Gretchen Walsh put the finishing touches on one of the greatest individual performances in NCAA Championship history - right there alongside former UVA teammate Kate Douglass - with a blistering swim in the 100-yard freestyle. Every record in the event was shattered by Walsh’s 44.83-second swim, the fastest time ever recorded by a woman and the first sub-45 second swim to be posted in the event.
It was the third American record of the week for Walsh, who also broke the records and won the titles in the 100 butterfly and 50 freestyle. Walsh also swam as part of four relay titles this week, bringing her three-year career total to 18 event titles, six individual and 12 relays. Deservedly, Walsh was named the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America’s DIvision I Women’s Swimmer of the Year.
Alex Walsh joined her sister with three individual NCAA titles at the meet, capped by a dominant showing in the 200 breaststroke, which she won by two full seconds with a time of 2:02.07. Virginia went 1-3 in the event, with Ella Nelson taking third in 2:04.80.
Virginia punctuated the Championships by winning the 400 freestyle relay for the third-consecutive year, as the team of Jasmine Nocentini, Alex Walsh, Gretchen Walsh, and Maxine Parker took first in 3:05.89. UVA trailed Florida at the midway point of the race by about three-tenths of a second, but then Gretchen Walsh delivered one final record-breaking swim and by the time she gave way to Maxine Parker for the anchor, she had given Virginia a near three-second advantage.
With two more individual titles from Gretchen and Alex Walsh, a fourth relay title, and a few other finishes that garnered points for the Cavaliers on the final night, Virginia pulled away for its fourth-straight national championship with a total of 527.5 points, 86.5 points more than the runner-up Texas.
2024 NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships Final Standings
1. Virginia 527.5
2. Texas 441
3. Florida 364
4. Tennessee 277
5. Stanford 250
6. Louisville 212
7. Indiana 206
8. USC 200
9. Ohio State 162
9. NC State 162
“I’m not sure I can put it into words. It’s really hard to digest even that we won,” said DeSorbo. “I told the girls before the session tonight that there are only nine teams, I think, that have ever won one national championship, and we are one of nine. And when you have 70 teams at a national championship, you know, that’s pretty impressive in and of itself. So it’s just wild. I really can’t put words to it. I’m just really proud of them and happy for them. And this one was a lot of fun.”
Gretchen and Alex Walsh both won three individual NCAA titles and four relay titles, while Jasmine Nocentini and Maxine Parker both swam as part of four title-winning relay teams and Nocentini won a title in the 100 breaststroke. 13 Cavalier swimmers earned First-Team All-America selections, while five others were All-America Honorable Mentions.
This championship is the 34th NCAA team title for the Virginia athletics department and it marks just the second time a UVA program has won four in a row. The only other Virginia team to win four-straight NCAA titles was UVA men’s soccer from 1991 to 1994.