Close Races and Fast Times Abound as UVA Women, UNC Men, Win by Wide Margins

North Carolina v. Virginia

• Friday, November 1st, 2024
• Koury Natatorium, Chapel Hill, NC
• SCY
• Dual Meet Format
• Live Results on Meet Mobile as “UNC vs UVA”
• Full Results
• Final Scores
  • Women: UVA 213.5, UNC 85.5
  • Men: UNC 208.5, UVA 91.5

The Virginia Cavaliers headed south to take on the UNC Tar Heels, in an annual battle between two of the historic powerhouses of the ACC. It was a lopsided affair on both sides, with the Virginia women sweeping the swimming events and the UNC men nearly doing so, but there were plenty of great races and nationally-relevant times throughout the day.

Women’s Recap

Fans in attendance were treated to some swift swimming from the get-go, as the Virginia women posted the fastest 200 medley relay in the nation to start the day.

Gretchen Walsh led off in 22.94, Emma Weber split 27.24 on breast, Claire Curzan crushed a 22.02 fly leg, and Anna Moesch anchored in 21.59. That time of 1:33.81 would’ve finished 4th at last year’s NCAA Championships. That mark was two seconds faster than the best time in the nation to start the day, and almost a second faster than the 1:34.72 that Texas swam about 90 minutes later.

From there, Gretchen Walsh continued doing what she does — swimming fastest whenever. She crushed a 20.84 win in the 50 free, tying former teammate Kate Douglass for the 8th-fastest swim ever. Walsh now owns 8 of the top 10 swims of all-time, with Maggie MacNeil and Douglass the only two other swimmers on that list. Read more about Walsh’s swims here.

Walsh was one of three Cavalier women who won two individual events, as the Cavaliers won every swimming event.

Aimee Canny showcased UVA’s uncanny free/breast combo talent, winning the 200 free in 1:44.31, then coming back later in the session to take the 200 breast in 2:07.60. With that latter swim, Canny moves ahead of FSU’s Maddy Huggins (2:07.98) for the top time so far this season. That also puts her within striking range of the 2:07.56/2:07.30 she swam at NCAAs, where she finished 10th in this event. Today, Canny also took 2nd in the 200 IM with a 1:57.02.

UVA’s other double winner was Claire Curzan, who followed up the medley relay win with a backstroke sweep. She won the 100 back in 50.54, finishing nearly two seconds ahead of teammate Charlotte Wilson (52.35, just shy of her personal best) and the 200 back in 1:51.84. Both of those times put her in the top five in the country this season.

As if that wasn’t enough, US Olympian Emma Weber won the 100 breast in 58.77, moving her up to 2nd in the country this season. That race was one of the best battles of the day, as UNC’s Skyler Smith pushed Weber and took 2nd in 59.13, maintaining her #4 ranking nationally this season. Weber and Smith finished 11th and 12th, respectively in this race at last season’s NCAA Championships.

Five other women won individual events for UVA, with all of the winning times ranking among the top 10-12 in the nation this season, depending on other results from this week:

• Sophia Knapp started off the day with a 9:40.25 in the 1000 free, winning by over 5 seconds.
• Cavan Gormsen took 2nd in the 1000 free (9:45.66), but came back to win the 500 free toward the end of the day, posting a 4:40.46.
• After finishing 3rd in the 200 free (1:45.43) and the 200 breast (2:11.64), Leah Hayes beat Canny by nearly a second in the 200 IM, touching in 1:56.22.
• It was a tight battle in the 100 free, where Maxine Parker got her hand on the wall just ahead of teammate Anna Moesch, 48.18 to 48.22.
• Tess Howley has already been 1:52.93 in the 200 fly this season, which was the #2 time in the country coming into today, but her 1:54.73 win tonight is still faster than any time she went last year outside of the NCAA Championships.

UVA closed out the day with a 1:26.25 win in the 200 free relay. Anna Moesch led off in 22.51, Walsh split 20.47, Curzan split 21.50, and Parker anchored in 1:26.24. Pending other results from this weekend, that’s the fastest time in the country by nearly two seconds so far this season.

UNC got off to a rough start when their ‘A’ relay was DQ’d in the medley relay, but got a big boost from diving, where NCAA champion Aranza Vazquez took the 1m with a 347.85 and the 3m in 345.30. Teammate Lanie Gutch finished 2nd in both events.

Georgia Nel added a pair of top-three performances for the Tar Heels, as she took 2nd in the 200 free (1:45.29) and 3rd in the 100 free (48.68). Nel also had the fastest split (22.04) on the UNC 200 free relay, joining with Greer Pattison (22.66 leadoff), Elizabeth Sowards (22.08) and Mackenzie Headley for a 1:29.10 that looks to be the 6th-fastest time in the nation, including Texas’ and Indiana’s times from this morning.

Men’s Recap

We’ll note up front that the UVA men were without their only two returning NCAA scorers, Tim Connery and Noah Nichols. But even that duo’s collective presence may not have made a huge difference, as the Tar Heel men beat the Cavaliers by nearly the same margin that the Virginia women beat UNC.

UNC held a big lead from the get-go, as the Tar Heels went 1-2 in the 200 medley relay to start the day. Walker Davis (21.45) and Xavier Ruiz (23.83) put the UNC ‘A’ relay in the lead early, although with Reid Miller (21.68) and Ben Delmar (23.65), the ‘B’ relay was only 0.05s at the halfway point.

Brad Poelke split 20.11 on fly, and Louis Dramm anchored in 19.13, as the UNC ‘A’ relay touched in 1:24.52. UVA’s ‘A’ relay had the fastest back half, with Spencer Nicholas going 19.92 on fly and Connor Boyle anchoring in 19.05, but even that wasn’t enough to prevent the UNC 1-2 sweep, with the UNC ‘B’ relay finishing in 1:25.02 and UVA in 1:25.38.

From there, UNC would rattle off another seven-straight individual swimming wins.

Brady Begin won the 1000 free in 9:06.94, clocking a new personal best. Next, it look like UVA freshman David King could win the 200 free when he was ahead by half a second with 50 to go, but UNC’s Patrick Hussey unleashed a 23.38 final lap to win 1:34.54 to 1:34.79.

Walker Davis followed up his contribution to the winning medley relay with an individual win in the 100 back, touching out UVA’s Jack Aikins 46.53 to 47.03.

UVA felt Noah Nichols’ absence in the 100 breast, where UNC swept the top three spots, led by Ben Delmar at 52.17, which looks like the 8th-fastest time in the nation this season.

Just like the 200 free, it looked like the 200 fly might go to UVA when Hayden Bellotti held a narrow lead with 50 yards to go. But just like Hussey, Sebastien Lunak kicked on the afterburners for the final lap, outsplitting Bellotti 27.18 to 28.40, and winning 1:42.21 to 1:43.41. That moves to Lunak to #8 in the nation this season and isn’t far off his personal best of 1:41.78 from last season’s ACC Championships. That’s a best time for Bellotti, improving on the 1:44.60 he swam at ACCs.

The final event before the break, the 50 free, was a barnburner, but UNC still came out on top. PJ Foy touched first in 19.84, with UVA’s Connor Boyle and Simon Lins tying at 19.88, and fellow Cavalier Spencer Nicholas touching 4th at 19.98.

Immediately after the break, Louis Dramm beat Boyle in the 100 free in another close race, 43.47 to 43.50.

Jack Aikins finally broke the Tar Heel run with a 1:41.61 victory in the 200 back. UNC freshman JT Schmid took 2nd in 1:42.40, setting a personal best in that event for the second time this season.

That was the sole victory for the Cavaliers. Ben Delmar completed the breaststroke sweep with a 1:53.30 in the 200, winning by over three seconds. In the 500 free, Patrick Hussey once again ran down David King on the final 50, winning 4:21.32 to 4:21.51. Boyd Poelke narrowly beat UVA freshman Spencer Nicholas in the 100 fly, 45.82 to 45.85. Finally, Sebastien Lunak led a UNC 1-4 sweep of the 200 IM in 1:46.19, with those four Tar Heels all finishing under 1:47.

UNC swept the diving events with Carter Loftin winning the 3m with a score of 382.35 and Rodolfo Vazquez winning the 1m (345.53).

The contest concluded with a great race in the 200 free. UNC was in a bit a hole early on after a 20.20 leadoff from Walker Davis, but quick splits from Dramm (18.98), Hussey (19.06) and Foy (18.94) gave UNC the victory, 1:17.18 to 1:17.45. Those look like the #5 and #6 times in the nation this season.