Stanford DQs The 400 Medley Relay, Dealing Huge Blow To Their Battle For 2nd at ACCs

2026 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships

• Dates:
  • Diving: Sunday, February 15–Tuesday, February 17
  • Swimming: Tuesday, February 17–Saturday, February 21
• Location: McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta, GA
• Defending champions: UVA women (6x); Cal men (1x)
• Live Results
• Live Video: ESPN+ ($)
• Schedule of Events (PDF)
• Championship Central
• Pre-Scratch Psych Sheet
• Live Results
• Live Recaps
  • Prelims: Day 4|Day 5|Day 6
  • Finals: Day 1|Day 2|Day 3|Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6
• Teams: Boston College, Cal, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami (women swimming & diving/men diving), NC State, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, SMU, Stanford, Virginia, Virginia Tech

Women’s 400 Medley Relay — Finals

• NCAA Record: 3:19.58, Virginia (Curzan, A. Walsh, G. Walsh, Moesch) — 2025
• ACC Record: 3:19.58, Virginia (Curzan, A. Walsh, G. Walsh, Moesch) — 2025
• ACC Championship Record: 3:19.58, Virginia (Curzan, A. Walsh, G. Walsh, Moesch) — 2025
• Pool Record: 3:26.14, Stanford (Howe, Haase, Hu, Neal) — 2016
• 2026 NCAA ‘A’/’B’ Cuts: 3:30.89/3:32.51

Final: 

1. Virginia (Curtis, Canny, Curzan, Moesch) — 3:20.42
2. NC State (Pelaez, Jefimova, Shackley, Nel) — 3:24.65
3. Louisville (Murray, Gorbenko, Welch, Dennis) — 3:25.16
4. California — 3:27.15
5. Duke — 3:28.64
6. UNC — 3:30.83
7. Notre Dame — 3:32.63
8. Pitt — 3:32.86

DQ: Stanford 

For the past few days, Cal and Stanford have been battling out the race for 2nd behind Virginia at ACCs. After the first day of swimming, Stanford was up 261-207. Then, after day 2, Cal took the lead 454-433. Yesterday, Stanford regained the edge and pulled ahead 662-621. However, coming into the 400 medley relay tonight, the Bears had one-upped the Cardinal yet again, though by the slimmest margin yet: 808.5-798.

Since relays are worth double points, they are by far the most consequential events of the meet—a disqualification can thus a small 10 point gap into a 50+ point deficit.

After Virginia touched in first, it was revealed that Stanford, who had originally placed 2nd, got disqualified in their relay. This allowed NC state to take silver, Louisville to take bronze, and Cal to finish 4th. This is the first major DQ on the women’s side, as on Day 1, there was a flurry of relay DQs for the men—from NC State, UNC, and UVA. 

Torri Huske, the 2026 ACC champion in the 100 fly, recorded a reaction time of -0.06 seconds while swimming the butterfly leg. Her split of 48.86, which was slightly off the time she went in her individual race (48.26), would have been the 2nd fastest of the field, behind Claire Curzan.

Cal thus gains 52 points to Stanford’s 0, and the Bears’ 62.5 points are the largest lead of the meet yet in the battle for 2nd. There are 5 events left of these championships: 1650 free, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, and 400 free relay.

Stanford finished 2nd at ACCs last year, while Cal took 4th.