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
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
- Live Streaming
- Day 4 Prelims Recap
After having the day off on Thursday, Alex Walsh lit the pool on fire in the first heat of Friday morning’s session at the ACC Championships.
Swimming out of Heat 1 in the women’s 200 fly, entered with no time (“NT”) as she hadn’t raced the event this season, Walsh blasted her way to a time of 1:52.05, knocking nearly eight-tenths off the ACC Championship Record of 1:52.81 set by Louisville’s Grace Oglesby in 2019.
Walsh won her heat by more than nine seconds and qualified first into the final by nearly three, tying her preliminary swim from the 2023 NCAAs for her fourth-fastest ever.
Split Comparison
| Oglesby, 2019 | Walsh, 2023 NCAA Prelims | Walsh, 2024 ACC Prelims |
| 25.56 | 25.15 | 25.10 |
| 54.02 (28.46) | 52.78 (27.63) | 53.53 (28.43) |
| 1:22.94 (28.92) | 1:21.78 (29.00) | 1:22.78 (29.25) |
| 1:52.81 (29.87) | 1:52.05 (30.27) | 1:52.05 (29.27) |
The 2022 national champion in the event, Walsh set her best time (and current ACC Record) in the 200 fly at last season’s NCAAs in 1:50.23, though she settled for the runner-up position after being run down by Texas’ Emma Sticklen on the last 50.
As we can see in the splits above, Walsh was aggressive in her NCAA prelim swim last season, a strategy that played out in the final. Given how comfortable she was this morning, and the fact that she came home a full second quicker on the last 50, we could see her get down into the 1:50s tonight.
Not including times produced across other conference meets this morning, Walsh’s prelim swim slots her into 4th in the nation so far this season, with three Texas Longhorns atop the leaderboard.
2023-24 NCAA Rankings, Women’s 200 Fly (SCY)
- Emma Sticklen (Texas), 1:50.31
- Kelly Pash (Texas), 1:51.22
- Olivia Bray (Texas), 1:51.81
- Alex Walsh (Virginia), 1:52.05
- Rachel Klinker (Cal), 1:52.33
Although Walsh could opt to race the 200 breast and win the NCAA title in that event this season with the graduation of former teammate Kate Douglass, another UVA swimmer, Ella Nelson, could win there as well, and it likely makes more sense for the Cavaliers points-wise to have Walsh take a run at the 200 fly crown.
This actually marks the first time Walsh has raced the 200 fly at ACCs. After winning the 200 IM and placing 3rd in the 200 back and 4th in the 100 breast as a freshman, she swept the 200 free, 200 breast and 200 IM in 2022 and then last season went three-for-three in the 200 free, 100 breast and 200 breast.
After scratching all of her entries on Thursday, the 22-year-old senior will race the 200 breast tomorrow in what could be her final individual ACC race. On Wednesday, she won the 200 IM conference title for the third time in 1:51.76, ranking her #1 in the country.
I don’t think it makes more sense point-wise, ’cause in the 200 breast she would be pretty guaranteed top 2 (if not winning) whereas in fly she could easily get 4th or 5th if she’s a bit off (I mean, she could win, too).
I wonder if she’s still planning to swim it at NCAA’s, or if her doing it here is an indication that she may not? Or, did she just need to knock one out to get the NCAA cut?
yes
Historically Alex swims different events at each meet (except the IM), so I wouldn’t be surprised if she does the 2 breast. It’s a likely win where the 2 fly will be tightly contested. That said, she did say last year after losing to Sticklin that she wanted to work on her strategy and try again.
She’s swimming the 200 breast tomorrow at ACC so unless she doubles up one day at NCAA or swims 200 back, she’s gonna repeat 200 fly or 200 breast