Cavaliers Now

Virginia Wins Fifth NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championship in a Row

Matthew Newton|
Virginia Athletics

The dynasty continues. Virginia posted seven podium finishes and won three more titles on the final night of the meet and captured its fifth consecutive NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving National Championship on Saturday night at Weyerhaeuser King Country Aquatics Center in Federal Way, Washington. UVA joined Texas (1984-1988) and Stanford (1992-1996) as the only programs to win five straight national titles in women's swimming & diving and University of Virginia sports teams have now won 35 NCAA national titles all-time.

After not qualifying a finalist for the 1650 free, which was won by Jillian Cox of Texas to push the Longhorns into second place and only 77 points behind Virginia, the Cavaliers put their foot on the gas as Claire Curzan bested Florida's Bella Sims in a head-to-head battle for the second night in a row. On Friday, Curzan won the 100 back over Sims by one one-hundredth of a second. On Saturday, Curzan and Sims put on another thrilling show and Curzan again beat Sims and broke her own NCAA record set at last month's ACC Championships with a blistering time of 1:46.82.

Gretchen Walsh was up next, making her final individual NCAA swim of her legendary collegiate career. Yet again, Walsh broke her own NCAA record in the 100 free, finishing in 44.71 to beat Stanford's Torri Huske (46.01) and Tennessee's Camille Spink, while UVA teammate Anna Moesch just barely missed the podium, taking fourth in 46.94. This was Gretchen Walsh's ninth individual NCAA title of her career and fourth NCAA title in the 100 free.

That gave Virginia a strong 129-point lead over second-place Stanford, which held firm despite the Cavaliers not winning any more individual titles on this night. Aimee Canny placed seventh in the 200 breaststroke, which was won by Stanford's Lucy Bell, and then Emma Sticklen of Texas set an NCAA record to win the 200 butterfly for the third year in a row and deny Alex Walsh, who set a season best of 1:49.80 to finish as the runner-up. Fellow Cavalier Tess Howley set a personal best with a time of 1:51.79 to take fourth place.

After a temporary evacuation of the building during platform diving due to a fire alarm being pulled, the NCAA Championships concluded with the 400 freestyle relay. Virginia's team of Claire Curzan, Anna Moesch, Alex Walsh, and Gretchen Walsh won UVA's fourth relay title of the meet (out of five) by finishing first with a time of 3:06.01, two and a half seconds ahead of second-place Tennessee and less than two tenths of a second behind UVA's own NCAA record in the event, which was set by the Walsh sisters, Maxine Parker, and Kate Douglass back in 2023. Once again, the race was close and Tennessee was actually ahead of Virginia until Gretchen Walsh seized control with her 45.04-second anchor leg, completing her perfect 16 for 16 career record in winning NCAA relay titles.

That brought the meet to an end, with Virginia winning the 2025 NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving National Championship with 544 points, 127 points ahead of second-place Stanford.

NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships Final Team Standings

  1. Virginia – 544
  2. Stanford – 417
  3. Texas – 394
  4. Indiana – 312
  5. Tennessee – 298
  6. Florida – 232
  7. Louisville – 209.5
  8. California – 202.5
  9. Michigan – 196
  10. NC State – 164
  11. USC – 130
  12. Wisconsin – 126
  13. Miami – 75.5
  14. Ohio State – 66
  15. Alabama – 65

Sadly, this marks the end of the college swimming careers of Alex and Gretchen Walsh. Both sisters won nine individual NCAA titles, tied for fourth-most in history. Alex Walsh won 14 relay titles and 23 total NCAA titles and Gretchen Walsh won 16 relay titles and 25 NCAA titles. Alex Walsh is the only swimmer in history to win individual titles in five separate NCAA championships.

All told, Virginia won 10 of the 21 event titles, broke six NCAA records, and had five swimmers win individual NCAA titles and 10 swimmers earn First-Team All-America honors. See a full breakdown of Virginia's title winners and All-America selections below.

Virginia - 2025 NCAA Titles
Gretchen Walsh – 50 Free, 100 Free, 100 Fly, 200 Free Relay, 400 Free Relay, 200 Medley Relay, 400 Medley Relay
Alex Walsh – 100 Breast, 400 Free Relay, 200 Medley Relay, 400 Medley Relay
Maxine Parker – 200 Medley Relay, 200 Free Relay
Claire Curzan – 100 Back, 200 Back, 200 Free Relay, 400 Free Relay, 200 Medley Relay, 400 Medley Relay
Anna Moesch – 200 Free Relay, 400 Free Relay, 400 Medley Relay

Virginia - 2025 First-Team All-Americans
Gretchen Walsh – 50 Free, 100 Free, 100 Fly, 200 Free Relay, 400 Free Relay, 200 Medley Relay, 400 Medley Relay
Alex Walsh – 100 Breast, 200 Fly, 200 IM, 400 Free Relay, 800 Free Relay, 200 Medley Relay, 400 Medley Relay
Maxine Parker – 50 Free, 200 Free Relay, 200 Medley Relay
Claire Curzan – 50 Free, 100 Back, 200 Back, 200 Free Relay, 400 Free Relay, 200 Medley Relay, 400 Medley Relay
Aimee Canny – 200 Breast, 800 Free Relay
Katie Grimes – 400 IM, 500 Free, 800 Free Relay
Anna Moesch – 100 Free, 200 Free, 200 Free Relay, 400 Free Relay, 800 Free Relay, 400 Medley Relay
Leah Hayes – 400 IM
Tess Howley – 200 Fly
Cavan Gormsen – 500 Free

Virginia - 2025 All-America Honorable Mentions
Emma Weber – 100 Breast, 200 Breast
Leah Hayes – 200 IM
Maxine Parker – 100 Free
Charlotte Wilson– 200 Back
Aimee Canny – 200 Free
Lizzy Kaye – 1M Diving
Cavan Gormsen – 1650 Free
Katie Grimes – 1650 Free

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Published
Matt Newton
MATTHEW NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.

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