North Carolina v. Virginia
- Friday, November 1st, 2024
- Koury Natatorium, Chapell Hill, NC
- SCY
- Dual Meet Format
- Live Results on Meet Mobile as “UNC vs UVA”
Gretchen Walsh continues to swim fast whenever and wherever.
Today in Chapel Hill, Walsh began her day with a swim that didn’t even make it into the headline — a 22.96 medley relay leadoff. That’s “only” the 11th-fastest performance history and “only” the 2nd-fastest dual meet swim ever, behind only Walsh’s 22.54 from last October’s Virginia vs. Texas meet.
Walsh’s next race this afternoon was the individual 50 free, an event where she’s the fastest woman ever by nearly half a second. Today she finished over a second ahead of the field with a time of 20.84. That’s tied with former teammate Kate Douglass for the 8th-fastest performance in history, and it’s the first time that anyone’s been sub-20.90 outside of a midseason invite or conference/national championship.
All-Time Top Performances, Women’s 50 Free (SCY)
- Gretchen Walsh, Virginia – 20.37 (2024)
- Gretchen Walsh, Virginia – 20.41 (2024)
- Gretchen Walsh, Virginia – 20.57 (2024)
- Gretchen Walsh, Virginia – 20.77 (2024)
- Gretchen Walsh, Virginia – 20.79 (2023)/Maggie MacNeil, LSU – 20.79 (2023)
- –
- Gretchen Walsh, Virginia – 20.83 (2023)
- Kate Douglass, Virginia (2022) – 20.84 / Gretchen Walsh, Virginia (2024) – 20.84
Walsh’s time today isn’t quite the fastest time ever done in the fall semester, though, as her 20.79 from 2023 came at the mid-season Tennessee Invitational.
Walsh kept getting stronger as the session continued, closing out her individual races with a 48.43 in the 100 fly, which ranks as the #4 time in history, officially.**
All-Time Top Performances, Women’s 100 Fly (SCY)
- Gretchen Walsh, Virginia — 47.42 (2024)
- Gretchen Walsh, Virginia — 48.25 (2024)
- Gretchen Walsh, Virginia — 48.26 (2024)
- Gretchen Walsh, Virginia – 48.43 (2024)
- Kate Douglass, Virginia — 48.46 (2023)
Walsh’s 100 fly time today would’ve been the fastest time ever** just nine months ago; her three faster times all came at the ACC or NCAA Championships meets earlier this year.
**Note: Walsh swam 48.30 swimming butterfly while leading off UVA’s 400 free relay at the Tennessee Invite last November. That was unofficially the fastest time ever at that point, but USA Swimming didn’t recognize it as an official butterfly time.
The meet is just about wrapped up, and we’ll have a full recap published later this evening.
That 47.4 100 fly, less than 3 weeks after becoming the fastest woman ever with an insane 48.2, is the greatest SCY swim I have ever seen.
How come Alex hasn’t swum in any of their meets yet?
Also, Curzan’s non-backstroke strokes have looked pretty good thus far.
Probably just being careful working her way back from this: https://swimswam.com/alex-walsh-to-undergo-meniscus-precidure-not-expected-to-impact-ncaa-season/
GW is…. Legen….wait for it…wait for it….dary!
UVA men got absolutely rocked by a not good UNC team. Heilman and Williamson may want to rethink things
I bet they get pretty good once those two arrive. I will admit, though, that it’s surprising that the men’s team hasn’t had more success.
Spencer Nicholas definitely looks promising
I love suited dual meets!
Are we sure she was suited? She goes this fast no matter what.
Haha true didn’t she go like a 20.90 unsuited last year
Crazy to think she would have won the 2023 NCAA showdown with this time from November
Crazy to think Kate Douglass did not even swim the W 100 FL (SCM) at the 2024 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup:
W 200 BR
W 100 IM
W 50 FL
W 200 IM
she was also 48.30 in November last year, although that wasn’t at the Tennessee invitational and thus not a dual meet (
She didn’t swim it at Tennessee last year, and on the 400 medley relay, she swam the backstroke leg. She did, however, swim a 1;41.32 200 free there.
The last time she swam fly individually at the Tennessee Invitational was in Nov 2022 — a 49.89.
Walsh swam 48.30 leading off UVA’s 400 free relay…swimming butterfly. It didn’t officially count as a fly swim though. I’ve updated the article to mention that.
Her 48.30 from the Tennessee invitational was the individual though, She split a 45.18 on the 400 free relay ur talking about
100 Fly was 19 strokes from what I heard from someone who was there. 4-5-5-5. Crazy good if true
More underwater than surface swimming
….which is faster…..
I watched it and that’s exactly what I counted
True
When it comes to the University of Virginia women’s swimming program during the NCAA 2024-2025 Season, Gretchen Walsh is the least of the worries.