2024 ACC SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, February 20 to Saturday, February 24, 2023
- Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, North Carolina
- Defending Champions: NC State men / Virginia women
- Full Event Schedule
- Championship Central
- Live Results
- Live Streaming
University of Virginia senior Alex Walsh has surpassed her former collegiate teammate Kate Douglass for the most event titles in conference history.
Douglass, who finished her college career last season, won 25 career ACC titles, and on Saturday night, Walsh won her 26th career title.
While the ACC’s public record books don’t rank all-time event winners, but according to research done by UVa’s sports information department, they were the two winningest swimmers in the conference’s history.
Under current rules, the maximum possible conference championships a swimmer can win in a four year career is 28. While Walsh is entitled to a 5th year of eligibility because of the COVID-19 waivers, most of the Cavaliers’ star swimmers have ceded that opportunity to shift their focus away from college swimming.
Walsh has been a perfect 7-for-7 in her last three ACC seasons, and has won all 16 relays in which she’s raced. The only blemishes on her resume came during her freshman season, when she won the 200 IM, was 3rd in the 200 back, and was 4th in the 100 breast.
Both swimmers got wins across a number of different events. The most noticeable difference between their runs is that Douglass more often swam the leadoff leg of free relays, while Walsh was more commonly off a rolling start.
If Walsh were to come back for a 5th year, she might set a record that would never be broken. Even if she doesn’t come back – with Stanford and Cal joining the ACC next year, the conference becomes even deeper, and going on these kind of dominant runs will become tougher.
But for now, we enjoy a Virginia team that is on as good of a run as any college team we’ve seen in the modern era. That these two could somehow overlap and not interfere with each others’ individual wins (in spite of swimming similar races) shows the incredible depth of this Virginia team.
Alex Walsh‘s Wins
| Event | Time | Leg (if a relay) | |
| 2021 | 800 free relay | 1:43.19 | 2nd |
| 2021 | 200 IM | 1:51.53 | |
| 2021 | 200 free relay | 21.09 | 4th |
| 2021 | 400 medley relay | 51.57 | Backstroke |
| 2021 | 400 free relay | 47.22 | 4th |
| 2022 | 800 free relay | 1:41.63 | 4th |
| 2022 | 200 free relay | 21.38 | 2nd |
| 2022 | 200 IM | 1:52.38 | |
| 2022 | 200 free | 1:42.28 | |
| 2022 | 400 medley relay | 49.59 | Butterfly |
| 2022 | 200 breaststroke | 2:03.02 | |
| 2022 | 400 free relay | 46.72 | 2nd |
| 2023 | 200 medley relay | 26.1 | Breaststroke |
| 2023 | 200 free relay | 21.3 | 4th |
| 2023 | 200 free | 1:41.63 | |
| 2023 | 100 breast | 57.64 | |
| 2023 | 400 medley relay | 57.45 | Breaststroke |
| 2023 | 200 breast | 2:03.68 | |
| 2023 | 400 free relay | 47.07 | 4th |
| 2024 | 800 free relay | 1:41.23 | 2nd |
| 2024 | 200 free relay | 20.82 | 3rd |
| 2024 | 200 IM | 1:51.76 | |
| 2024 | 200 fly | 1:49.16 | |
| 2024 | 400 medley relay | 49.13 | Butterfly |
| 2024 | 200 breast | 2:02.24 | |
| 2024 | 400 free relay | 47.05 | 3rd |
Kate Douglass‘ Wins
| Event | Time | Leg (if a relay) | |
| 2020 | 200 medley relay | 22.33 | butterfly |
| 2020 | 200 IM | 1:51.36 | |
| 2020 | 200 free relay | 21.75 | 1st |
| 2020 | 100 fly | 50.83 | |
| 2020 | 400 free relay | 47.77 | 1st |
| 2021 | 200 medley relay | 20.62 | freestyle |
| 2021 | 200 free relay | 21.5 | 1st |
| 2021 | 100 fly | 49.96 | |
| 2021 | 400 medley relay | 46.66 | 4th |
| 2021 | 100 free | 46.83 | |
| 2021 | 400 free relay | 46.88 | 1st |
| 2022 | 200 free relay | 21.1 | 1st |
| 2022 | 50 free | 21 | |
| 2022 | 200 medley relay | 20.54 | freestyle |
| 2022 | 100 fly | 49.86 | |
| 2022 | 400 medley relay | 46.25 | freestyle |
| 2022 | 100 free | 46.81 | |
| 2022 | 400 free relay | 47.02 | 1st |
| 2023 | 200 medley relay | 20.49 | freestyle |
| 2023 | 200 free relay | 20.95 | 1st |
| 2023 | 200 IM | 1:50.15 | |
| 2023 | 100 fly | 48.84 | |
| 2023 | 400 medley relay | 48.25 | butterfly |
| 2023 | 100 free | 45.86 | |
| 2023 | 400 free relay | 46.35 | 2nd |
Excel has a setting to show all decimal places down to a specified place (such as the hundredth). This will fix the issue where the tenth and hundredth disappear if it’s a 0.
Between herself, her sister, Kate Douglass, and Paige Madden, I think an NCAA title has been won by Alex Walsh or one of her teammates in every single swimming event besides the 100 breast and 200 back during her career at UVA. That’s got to be a record! If she returns next year, Claire Curzan can probably get that 200 back, but the 100 breast will be hard for Walsh or a teammate to get to complete the sweep.
Jasmine Nocentini will be right in the thick of it this year in the 100 BR. As good a chance as anyone.
is NCAA’s also going to be next to impossible to stream live?
Well, it is the sport of swimming, so probably.
But I do hope not!
It’s fine on ESPN+, if you’re willing to pay for it.
For a regular mortal winning a single title would be one of their great career achievements – for many just making the final would be something to dine out on. Then there’s titans like the Walshes and Douglass who can fill a room with their collection – it’s impressive and been a fun gateway into the ncaas for those of us less familiar
same for me! i like following different storylines, especially gwalsh and her bonkers times
American women’s swimming maybe. A Walsh’s absolute best case scenario is a gold in the 2IM and a medal in the 4IM.
In a very best case scenario her yards 200 fly/breast translates to something competitive in long course and she wins a medal in one of those events. But at this point that’s purely speculation.
I think Alex’s best shot is making the 800 free relay. The 200 will be tough with a lot of depth for that second spot. I don’t see anyone beating KD. Nobody beats Grimes in the 4 IM and Weyant always seems to produce when it counts.
Winner of the most ACC Championship titles……..’Winningest’ is not a word, and definitely not a clear or accurate way to describe something.
you can Google what winningest means if you’re confused about it
What defines what a word is? The dictionary? Well, ‘winningest’ is in both the Oxford English dictionary and Merriam-Webster. So it clears that standard.
But more importantly, whether it communicates to an intended audience is more important to whether something ‘is a word.’ You knew how to define winningest, so I think that proves that you clearly understood what it meant. Anybody who is reading about sports in the English language knows what winningest means.
The English language is not rigid. It’s an evolving, open-source language, no matter what your high school English teacher told you.
Save your energy, Braden. The Australians around here seem to have to hang their hat on just constantly bashing you for no good reason other than it makes them feel better about…being Australian? It’s weird, but seems that being pedantic is baked into the culture.
me, an australian: oof
i’m not offended though, don’t worry 🙂
hopefully i don’t come across as rude on this sub, i apologise if i have in the past
Bold to assume hs education
Winningest by number of medals? Winningest by most golds? Winningest by use of placing ‘points’? Who is more Olympic winningest – Ledecky or McKeon (Ledecky more golds / Mckeon more medals)?
Of course it is in the dictionary – every utterance ends up recorded there. But this is in a journal of record, and should be as accurate as possible.
I have been an international journalist- with an Honours and Masters Degree in English and Communication. I can tell you no journal/ newspaper/ magazine/ website or report I have written would ever have accepted the use of the word ‘winningest’. Maybe some of you have more experience or expertise and can show its use in a professional publication?
Does ESPN count?: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39286200/best-nfl-coaches-all-ranked-wins
NPR?:P https://www.npr.org/2024/01/21/1225961755/tara-vanderveer-most-wins-coach-college-basketball-history-ncaa
NCAA?: https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-women/article/2024-01-21/tara-vanderveer-passes-mike-krzyzewski-most-coaching-wins-college-basketball
Sports Illustrated?: https://www.si.com/college/indiana/big-ten/big-ten-basketball-all-time-winningest-coach-at-all-14-schools
New York Times: https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/sports/baseball/102398bba-yanks-review.html
CBS News: https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/brady-could-become-winningest-super-bowl-quarterback-ever-but-montana-is-still-the-best/
Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/kathy-whitworth-winningest-pro-golfer-history-dead-83-2022-12-25/
More Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/sports/nhl/devils-cap-winningest-season-with-victory-over-capitals-2023-04-14/
Associated Press: https://apnews.com/sports/sacramento-kings-san-antonio-spurs-denver-nuggets-gregg-popovich-los-angeles-lakers-b2490918e79585152353052f7ff5428c
Yours are better. I wasn’t sure how to search other than entering “winningest” and the News button and making a determination of which publications were “professional.” I got bored after page 2.
Haha I started with publications that are “professional” and then just typed them in with “winningest” in quotes.
“Winningest” clearly refers only to gold medals. You get a gold medal by WINNING a race. It’s literally in the word. Winningest -> winning most often.
🤡
Homie backed off “isn’t a word” real quick lol.
Ah, I was looking for this comment.
Language is alive. If we use it, it exists.
imagine telling a future employer that you won 26 ACC titles and then they say “no, that is a mickey mouse conference”
Mickey Mouse conference with three top 5 teams at NCAA’s last year and four of the top 10.
I just want to see Gretchen translate into the long pool. We know Alex can.
I don’t think we can call someone with a 53.1 100 free and 56.3 100 fly PBs long course “not being able to translate” to long course, because she certainly can. Don’t conflate struggles at her first international senior meet with “not being able to do” long course. She’ll tell you herself she hasn’t been able to put it together when it counts in LC, but it doesn’t mean she doesn’t have the ability to. She seems very mentally strong lately, so I can see her breakthrough performance (not times) in LC pretty soon.