UVA BLUE VS. ORANGE INTRASQUAD
- September 30, 2023
- SCY (25 yards)
- Aquatic and Fitness Center, Charlottesville, Virginia
- Final Score: Orange 255.5, Blue 245.5
- Full Results
On Saturday, the University of Virginia held an intrasquad meet, where swimmers were split into a “Blue” and an “Orange” team. The Orange team won by ten points, beating Blue 255.5-245.5.
All swimmers suited up for this meet. The meet was streamed by UVA Swim and Dive’s Instagram account, while all race videos for the meet can be found on UVA Swimming’s YouTube channel.
Relay Recap
Although all of the individual events were separated by gender, the two relays contested were co-ed. The meet kicked off with a mixed 200 medley class relay and ended with a mixed 200 free relay.
Mixed 200 Medley Relay:
- Fourth Years, 1:30.27— Brownstead (21.57), Nichols (24.05), A. Walsh (22.62), Parker (22.03)
- Third Years, 1:31.06— Tiltmann (24.90), Connery (24.23), Grimm (21.11), G. Walsh (20.82)
- Second Years, 1:31.36—Cr0ss (23.11), Muhammad (24.34), Curzan (22.19), Canny (21.72)
- Fifth Years, 1:34.35—Douglass (24.13), Tenpas (25.75), Nocentini (23.01), Lamb (21.46)
- First years, 1:34.81— Howley (24.91), Gerloff (25.88), Schalow (23.62), Bellotti (20.40)
The fourth-year team of Matt Brownstead, Noah Nichols, Alex Walsh, and Maxine Parker won the mixed 200 medley relay by nearly a second, clocking a time of 1:30.27. They beat out the meet record time of 1:30.56 set by the second-years last season.
Once again, Gretchen Walsh produced a ridiculous anchor leg, clocking a 20.82 on the third-year relay. Although that time would have beaten all but three swimmers (including herself) at the 2023 NCAA Championships, that time was *not* her fastest relay split of the night.
New UVA transfer Claire Curzan split 22.19 on the second-year relay. That split is the 10th-fastest 50 fly split of all time. Curzan, who spent her freshman season at Stanford, always swam backstroke on medley relays for the Cardinal—so this is our first opportunity seeing what she can throw down on butterfly.
Curzan will not compete in official NCAA meets this season because she entered the transfer portal past the winter sports deadline this year. She is doing a year in residence, which means she is still part of the team and going to classes at UVA but not swimming at official meets.
All-Time Women’s 50 Butterfly Relay Splits (SCY):
- Maggie MacNeil, LSU — 21.85
- Gretchen Walsh, Virginia – 21.91
- Kate Douglass, Virginia – 21.95
- Kelsi Dahlia, Louisville – 21.96
- Kylee Alons, NC State – 21.99
- Alyssa Marsh, Duke – 22.05
- Kelsi Dahlia, Louisville – 22.07
- Lexi Cuomo, Virginia — 22.10
- Olivia Bray, Texas – 22.17
- Claire Curzan, Virginia — 22.19
- Kelsi Dahlia, Louisville – 22.21
- Louise Hansson, USC – 22.23
Graduate transfer Jasmine Nocentini also produced a fast 50 fly time of 23.01, which is not a bad time for someone who does not have a single recorded time in any short course yards butterfly event. Although she’s much better in sprint freestyle and breaststroke, it’s worth noting that this is not the first instance that she has “unlocked” a new stroke—prior to last season, she had never raced a short course 100 breast but then ended up setting an NCAA scoring-worthy time of 58.31 at midseasons.
Sophomore Aimee Canny‘s 21.72 split is also notable, considering that she has never been under 22 seconds on a relay before. Her flat start best sits at 22.31 from the Cavalier Invite last season.
200 Free Relay:
- Blue Team, 1:22.26 — Boyle (20.10), Maddoch (20.09), Curzan (21.36), Douglass (20.71)
- Orange Team, DQ — Brownstead (20.20), Lamb (19.58), A. Walsh (21.32), G. Walsh (20.72)
The Blue Team of junior Connor Boyle, freshman Jack Maddoch, Curzan, and pro Kate Douglass won the 200 free relay hands-down, as the Orange team got DQed. They combined for a time of 1:22.26, beating out the Orange team’s old meet record of 1:22.71 set last year.
This relay was where Walsh’s fastest 50 free split of the day came from (20.72), but Douglass was 0.01 of a second faster, anchoring her relay in 20.71. On the men’s side, the fastest split came from fifth-year August Lamb, who went 19.58.
Women’s Recap
A big highlight on the women’s side of this intrasquad was Kate Douglass‘s 51.97 100 IM, which was the fastest-ever women’s 100 IM. We broke down this swim further in this article.
Douglass also won the 150 fly in a time of 1:22.26 and placed second in the 50 free with a time of 21.38, losing by 0.1 to G. Walsh, who went 21.28 for the win. Both Douglass and Walsh were under Douglass’s meet record time of 21.48 from 2021. Walsh also swam her second-fastest non-championship meet 50 free, with only her unsuited 21.16 from the UVA-Texas dual meet last season being faster.
Tying for third in this race was Nocentini and Parker, who both went 22.36.
G. Walsh won the 50 back in a meet-record time of 23.33, while Curzan placed second in 23.86. The previous meet record was a time of 23.69, set by Walsh last season. Walsh, who holds a best time of 22.65, is the second-fastest women’s 50-yard backstroker ever.
In the 50 fly, it was Walsh who came out on top again, going 22.66.
Curzan won two events of her own, breaking meet records in both of them. First, she clocked a 1:14.76 in the 150 free to beat out Douglass’s old record of 1:14.99 from 2021. Then, she dominated the 150 back, going 1:20.39 to win by three seconds and crushed Paige Madden’s three-year-old record time of 1:22.79. Curzan’s prowess in mid-distance backstroke is not surprising, considering that she is the reigning NCAA Champion in the 200 back.
Nocentini won the 50 breast in meet record fashion, clocking a 26.88 to take down Alexis Wenger‘s mark of 26.97 from 2021. The graduate student, who has been as fast as 25.79 off a relay split before, is making strong case to be UVA’s primary breaststroker on medley relays.
Of course, A. Walsh couldn’t leave this meet without breaking a few meet records as well. She won the 150 breast in a time of 1:32.57, taking down her 2021 meet record of 1:33.45 by nearly a second. In the 300 IM, she touched the wall nearly five seconds before everyone else in a time of 3:00.37, once again taking down her own meet record from 2021 (3:00.37).
Freshman Cavan Gormsen got her first few NCAA swims in at this meet, sweeping the distance free events. In the 600 free, she won by over 11 seconds, clocking a 5:42.56 to break Paige Madden’s meet record time of 5:43.61 from 2020. She also won the 300 free in a time of 2:46.43.
Junior diver Maddy Grosz won the final individual event of the meet, scoring 268.70 points to come out victorious on the three-meter.
Men’s Recap
Nichols was the star of the show on the men’s side, winning the 100 IM (48.83), 150 breast (1:23.73), and 50 breast (24.48). He was the only male swimmer to win more than two events at this meet, and his 150 breast time beat out Keefer Barnum‘s 2020 meet record of 1:23.89.
Other meet records were set by Brownstead and sophomore Kamal Muhammad. Brownstead picked up a record in the 50 back, going 21.66 to beat Max Edwards’ mark of 21.78 from last year. He also went 19.90 to win the 50 free, clocking the only sub-20 flat start swim of the meet.
Muhammad was victorious in the 150 fly (1:15.65), taking down Zach Fong’s five-year-standing meet record time of 1:16.47 by nearly a second. He also tied with junior Tim Connery to win the 50 fly, with both swimmers clocking times of 21.56.
The final double winner and meet record-setter was junior Jack Aikins, who took victories in 150 free (1:08.95) and 150 back (1:14.33). His 150 free-tied Brownstead’s record from 2021. He also went 48.91 in the 100 IM, losing by 0.08 seconds in a narrow race against Nichols.
Other event winners included senior Tanner Hering in the 600 free (5:25.51), junior Scooter Iida in the 300 IM (2:51.60), sophomore Sebastien Sergile in the 300 free (2:34.30), and junior Nicholas Sanders in the three-meter dive (335.0).
Sophomore Anthony Grimm, UVA’s biggest transfer on the men’s side, swam some of his first races as a Cavalier at this meet. Individually, he finished 2nd in the 50 back (22.11), 6th in the 50 free (21.07), and 5th in the 50 fly (22.26).
Do intrasquad meet results count towards anything? Can you actually count a top intrasquad time towards a top ten list?
They get the Joseph Schooling Unofficial Practice Swim Time Awards. UVa Sports Information Office working propaganda overtime on SwimSwam, the DeSorbo flop sweat approach to publicity. UVa coach good, all other college coaches bad. Ridiculous. (And don’t think it goes unnoticed that YanYan visited UVa a short while back and helped herself to a free meal with a UVa assistant swim coach (via her post on X)).
Wow. As if they haven’t backed it all up performing at the NCAA and World level. Maybe the success of others like Stanford and Cal over time inspired a healthy competitive approach that has earned what they’ve accomplished. And maybe their success is inspiring someone else out there to figure out how to compete better themselves.
….what?
1. I briefly stopped by UVA and took a look inside the Aquatics facility when it was empty because my family went on vacation in the DMV area and passed Charlottesville on the way home. (As a swim nerd, how could I not visit the pools of every major swim school I go to?)
2. I ran into Tyler Fenwick at Nationals and talked to him for like two minutes at the media/coach food hospitality section, which is what I’m assuming you’re referring to as the “free meal” (which happened two months before I was in CVille)
I have no idea why you decided to take my tweets made two months apart completely out of context lol.
Criminal
Criminal, no. But depending on when Yanyan stopped by the UVa pool, it could have been a violation (by UVa) of NCAA rules which prohibit a reporter, journalist or other media entity from being present during any on- or off-campus recruiting activity between a coach and a prospective student-athlete. It’s difficult to believe (from a security standpoint) that Yanyan would have been able to visit an “empty” UVa pool without the knowledge of a UVa official, coach or team member.
Damn bruv, why are you so desperate? Been spending too much time on Twitter, trying to connect dots that aren’t there.
A little defensive there, are we bruv?
Yeah man. I’m absolutely being defensive. What’s your point?
When someone’s being offensive, I think being defensive is an appropriate response.
Because the best way to undermine conspiracy theories is with facts:
1) The pool balcony is open to the public during aquatic fitness center hours (remember that most campus pools are not exclusively athletics facilities). The campus is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and so there are tours year round.
2) Official visits began September 1 (NCAA rules). That’s several weeks after Yanyan was on campus, so it could not have possibly been a violation for having a member of the media present during a visit (which still wouldn’t apply in this case, even if it were).
What else you got?
Plus, as recently graduating high school senior, why can’t she be a prospective student? Presumably she had not started at NW yet. Why can’t an incoming freshman check out a University with her family? Going out on a limb here but YanYan is probably has the potential to pursue a graduate degree in a few years. UVA could be an option then, too.
This might be Meehan commenting. Could be his best way to beat UVA
Anyone can literally go and view he pool at the AFC(Aquatic and Fitness Center) from the balcony which is open access when the AFC is open.
It’s pretty cool the way swimming has become a sport which delivers exciting results 12 months a year. (Didn’t used to be this way.) Just when the Asians Games end, UVA comes to the rescue….
Gretchen Walsh should rather swim in the adults’ pool 24/7.
We all know she’s great in the bathtub.
Paris 2024 is in LCM!
Imagine seeing what Douglass did this past summer or your boy Marchand and thinking racing short course is incompatible with LC success.
Its still very fresh that Gretchen Walsh swam 54 lead off relay in Fukuoka 😱
She beat MOC in 2019 World Junior.
She swam like a junior next to elite MOC in Fukuoka.
What works for some swimmers may not work for others
Ok, but she was 53.1 & 56.3 in the 100 FR & FL 3 weeks prior. Her missing a double taper isn’t because she didn’t race LC enough. They race LC a number of times this fall including in finals at the Tennessee Invite. The solution to this isn’t to not race short course at all and miss a month of classes to go the world cups.
Still waiting for a credible explanation from MOC and/or Deano Boxall as to how MOC went from a dislocated kneecap a few weeks out from Worlds, to breaking the longest-standing LCM female record. Recovery of the Century!
Still waiting for a credible explanation from J Alexy and/or Durden as to how complete unknown Jack Alexy immediately won 50-100 free silver in his first global competition.
Surprise of the century!
Jack Alexy went 48.6 as an 18-year-old before he even set foot at Cal? (Just like with Pan Zhanle, just because you didn’t notice them doesn’t mean they came out of nowhere)
So, there’s always explanation for American swimmers, but never given the same standard to foreign swimmers
How typically double standard m
There have been lots of explanations given for foreign swimmers. See: Pan Zhanle.
The likely explanation for MOC is that a certain member of the media exaggerated the severity of the injury.
Nope, MOC claims she was/is still rehabbing the knee even after breaking the WR. Don’t blame it on the media. Some funny business going on there.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-12342201/Mollie-OCallaghan-knee-injury-breaking-oldest-world-record-womens-swimming-World-Aquatics-Championships.html
And Pan Zhanle didn’t win 50-100 silver on his first global meet or second global meet.
Lol
He shoulda tried harder at worlds.
Are you aware that in the USA, 99% or more teams (club, HS, college, pro) train more SCY than LCM for most of the college season – August through March.
LCM availability is not like it is outside the USA.
Tired take. Getting NIL and an education at a top institution means she doesn’t care what you think.
I think it’s spelled Jack Madoch
The SS #2 (by points) UVA girls had a very good day. Hope they can catch Texas.
And Claire Curzan says hello!
🌽
Curzan 48.6 100 free at the FEET? oh, she is so back baby let’s gooooooo 🔥 can’t wait to see her first LCM meet under the new program
Hopefully she can get to the 46.85 at Stanford last year! Special talent.
Just watched the women’s 150 back. Loving how well Curzan accelerates after each breakout!
She survived The Greg Meehan Effect….
You spelled kamals name wrong