Virginia Women Punctuate ACC Title With Their 4th NCAA Relay Record This Week

2023 ACC SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

With the ACC title well-in-hand, the Virginia women went into the final relay with the freedom to aggressively chase yet another record in the meet-closing 400 free relay.

Even with relatively-safe exchanges, the Cavaliers swam 3:06.83, breaking their own record of 3:06.91 from last year’s NCAA Championship meet.

The relay was three of the same four legs as last year, albeit in a different order, and won their fourth-straight ACC title in the event. The relay included the top two finishers from the individual event earlier in the night Kate Douglass and Gretchen Walsh, as well as the 6th-place finisher Lexi Cuomo, who is in the midst of a huge breakout meet that saw her drop seven-tenths off her best in this race, among other big swims.

So deep is this Virginia team that they could afford to leave the 7th-place finisher from the individual race, freshman Aimee Canny, off the relay in favor of Alex Walsh, who swam (and won) the 200 breaststroke earlier in the night.

Splits Comparison:

2023 ACC Championships
2022 NCAA Championships
Gretchen Walsh 46.41 46.62 Kate Douglass
Kate Douglass 46.35 46.49 Alex Walsh
Lexi Cuomo 47.00 47.79 Reilly Tiltmann
Alex Walsh 47.07 46.01 Gretchen Walsh
3:06.83 3:06.91

What’s scary here is that there’s tons of room to go. Douglass, who says she won’t swim the 100 free at NCAAs in spite of breaking the ACC Record earlier in the meet, swam 46.35 on a rolling start. She was half-a-second faster on a flat start in the individual race.

Alex Walsh was half-a-second faster on last year’s relay.

At NCAAs, if they all hit together, they could knock a full second off this record. That’s without projecting anybody to do anything that they haven’t already done. That is, on paper, conservative.

Cuomo continued to be the hero here as she has been all week long. She was seven-tenths better than she was in the individual event earlier in the night.

The only NCAA Record that Virginia didn’t break this week was in the 800 free relay:

  • 200 medley relay – 1:31.73 (G. Walsh, A Walsh, Cuomo, Douglass), .10 second improvement
  • 200 free relay – 1:23.87 (Douglass, G. Walsh, Cuomo, A. Walsh), .60 second improvement
  • 400 medley relay – 3:21.80 (G. Walsh, A. Walsh, Douglass, Canny), .54 second improvement
  • 400 free relay – 3:06.83 (G. Walsh, Douglass, Cuomoe, A. Walsh), .08 second improvement.

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Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
1 year ago

UVA needs to work on the W 4 x 200 FR-R.

https://www.usaswimming.org/docs/default-source/timesdocuments/meet-results/juniors-west—final-results.pdf

Event 3 for further clarification.

Bud
1 year ago

Imagine being an All American and swimming on a relay with three mega superstars who make you look mediocre

Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
Reply to  Bud
1 year ago

Lexi Cuomo (47.00) dropped a faster split than Alex Walsh (47.07).

A nice way for Todd DeSorbo to honor the senior.

Last edited 1 year ago by Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
jeff
1 year ago

lmao imagine if MacNeil had joined UVA- 46.05+45.86+45.26+46.49 adds up to a 3:04.66

jeff
Reply to  jeff
1 year ago

idk what happened to my math here but it’s 3:03.65 not 3:04.66. The idea that a 4×100 free relay could average sub 46.0 is disgusting

IMO
1 year ago

An awesome week for UVA. I do feel someone should point out Maggie MacNeil split a full 1.1 seconds faster than Douglass on the relay. Douglass underperformed on this last relay.

Douglast
Reply to  IMO
1 year ago

That’ll be nothing compared to how much she underperforms once we get to the LC season.

Yikes
Reply to  IMO
1 year ago

lol imagine going a 46.3 and it’s called “an underperformance”. I’m sure they’ll write about Maggie’s amazing performance too.

IMO
Reply to  Yikes
1 year ago

It was also significantly slower than she went in the individual event. It was an underperformance for her. She let her team down. They all stepped up and the relay could have been faster.

Last edited 1 year ago by IMO
Yikes
Reply to  IMO
1 year ago

Lol yes an American, NCAA, meet, and conference record is a real disappointment. I’m sure they’re devastated. How spoiled we are that we expect best times every time she swims. Heaven forbid she adds a little time after 6 individual swims and 4 relays at the end of a 5 day meet. Also, the Maggie article is up now so go take your whataboutism energy over there. ✌🏻

Last edited 1 year ago by Yikes
VA Steve
Reply to  Yikes
1 year ago

Pretty simple question: what week would you have rather had?

Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
Reply to  VA Steve
1 year ago

The same Kate Douglass who beat Alex Walsh in the W 200 IM and Lilly King in the W 200 BR at the 2022 Short Course World Swimming Championships.

Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
Reply to  Yikes
1 year ago

You forgot U.S. Open record.

Yikes
Reply to  IMO
1 year ago

Also not sure if you totally missed the table up there, but the Walsh sisters were also a half second off their PRs (G Walsh went a 46.0 from a flat start at NCs and has been almost as fast this season). Your criteria for “stepping up” and “underperforming” are basically the same.

Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
Reply to  IMO
1 year ago
Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
Reply to  Yikes
1 year ago

If underperform is posting the fastest time in the W 4 x 100 FR-R during the 2022-2023 NCAA Season, I seriously don’t know what you expect.

Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
Reply to  Yikes
1 year ago

Kate Douglass has posted personal best times (SCY) in the following events during the 2022-2023 NCAA Season:

100 BK
100 BR
100 FL
100 FR
200 BR
200 IM

Show me another female athlete that has posted six personal best times in six individual events this season.

PancakeLover
Reply to  IMO
1 year ago

How many records does Maggie own?

CADWALLADER GANG
Reply to  IMO
1 year ago

she can underperform on the last day if it brings her team another record plus setting multiple records throughout the week, as a treat

Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
Reply to  IMO
1 year ago

I can’t wait to see UVA smash LSU in the W 4 x 100 FR-R that’s if LSU even reaches the final of the 2023 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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