The University of Virginia women’s team picked up where they left off in their season-opening exhibition dual meet against Navy over the weekend, showing impressive form to kick off the 2025-26 campaign.
The Cavaliers, who are the five-time defending NCAA champions, lost two of the best swimmers in NCAA history, Gretchen and Alex Walsh, in the offseason, but restocked the cupboards with a strong incoming recruiting class featuring both freshmen and transfers.
The strength of the newcomers was on full display during the team’s road dual with Navy, highlighted by an all-newcomer squad shattering the Lejeune Hall Record in the women’s 200 free relay.
The quartet of Italian freshman Sara Curtis (21.97), Richmond transfer Melissa Nwakalor (21.96), domestic freshman Sylvia Roy (22.56) and Augustana transfer Bryn Greenwaldt (21.13) combined for a blistering time of 1:27.62, going well under the pool record of 1:29.24 set by Princeton in 2023.
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Courtesy of UVA Swimming on YouTube
The 21.97 swim for Curtis, which was her first time racing in short course yards, moved her into 10th all-time in Virginia history in the 50 free, while the 21.13 split for Greenwaldt was notably faster than all three flying splits Virginia had last season at NCAAs en route to winning the title (not including Gretchen Walsh‘s 20.37 lead-off). There were also only two flying splits in the entire NCAA field faster than Greenwaldt’s 21.13.
Curtis comes to Virginia as the Italian Record holder in the women’s 50 free (24.41) in long course meters, while Greenwaldt is the reigning NCAA Division II champion in the event. Nwakalor was the 2025 Atlantic-10 champion in the women’s 50 free, while Roy, who was featured as “Best of the Rest” backstroker in SwimSwam’s girls’ high school class of 2025 rankings, owns a competitive 50 free best time of 22.57.
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