Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske Set for 100 Free Showdown on Final Day of ACCs (SCRATCH REPORT)

2025 ACC Swimming and Diving Championships

• February 18-22, 2025
• Greensboro Aquatic Center — Greensboro, North Carolina
• Full Event Schedule (pre-scratch timeline)
• Championship Central
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results
• Live Streaming
• Day 1 Finals Recap
• Day 2 Prelims Recap |Day 2 Finals Recap
• Day 3 Prelims Recap | Day 3 Finals Recap
• Day 4 Prelims Recap

Saturday Prelims Heat Sheet

Saturday Early Heats 1650 Free

Virginia has set up a big head-to-head matchup between Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske for the final day of the 2025 ACC Championships.

With the team title well in hand, Walsh will take on her first individual matchup with Huske, her Olympic teammate. The two generally swim overlapping events at the national and international level, but as Virginia is wont to do, Walsh has entered some “secondary” events this week at ACCs.

Secondary is a relative term for the swimmer with the best 4×100 yard add up time in swimming history.

Walsh swam the 50 free on Wednesday, winning in 20.60, but Huske opted for the 200 IM instead, which she won in 1:51.46.

Then, on Thursday, Huske won the 100 fly in 48.52, but Walsh took the night off. The roles flipped on Friday, with Walsh winning the 100 back in 48.95, whereas Huske swam only the butterfly leg of the 400 medley relay.

Walsh split 47.00 on the butterfly leg of Virginia’s medley, whereas Huske was 48.22 for Stanford.

Now we’ll get to see the two square off in finals, in all likelihood. Gretchen is the #1 seed with a 45.58, while Huske is the #2 seed with a 46.62.

Both swimmers have performed well this week, with Huske going best times in the 50 free (21.04 on a relay leadoff) and 100 fly (48.52), and Walsh going a best time in the 200 free (1:39.34 on a relay leadoff).

While Walsh’s short course times are better than Huske’s, and she is the favorite on paper, Huske’s long course bests in the 100 free are much better, which gives her a swinging chance at the upset.

While the 100 free was Huske’s only possible remaining individual entry, Walsh was entered in the 200 back as the #2 seed on Saturday, but dropped that event to stay under the three individual race maximum.

Walsh’s teammate Katie Grimes also dropped the 200 back, where she would have been the #6 seed, and the 1650 free, where she was the #2 seed, because she has hit her three events for the week.

Her absence leavers the top-seeded Aurora Roghair of Stanford as the heavy favorite in the event.

Grimes, an Olympic medalist, only joined Virginia this semester, and she already has wins in the 500 free, 400 IM under her belt from earlier in the week, plus a 5th place finish in the 200 fly.

Correction: the article previously stated that Grimes still had an individual event left, but she does not.

Louisville’s Paige Hetrick also scratched the 200 back, where she would have been the #9 seed, in favor of the 100 free, where she’s the 30th remaining seed. After a DFS earlier in the week and a tough swim in the 100 back (47th place), it appears that there is some external factor impacting Hetrick’s swims this week. She was an All-American last season.

Other Notable Scratches for Saturday:

• Virginia’s Claire Curzan (#4 seed), Virginia Tech’s Carmen Weiler (#5 seed), and NC State’s Erika Pelaez (#10 seed) all dropped the 100 free to focus on the 200 back. Curzan is the top seed, while Pelaez is the 4th seed and Weiler is the 5th seed. Pelaez came out of high school as one of the top backstrokers and top 100 freestylers in the country, meaning that she will face this choice for four years at both the conference and NCAA levels.
• Stanford’s Caroline Bricker (#4 seed) dropped the 200 breaststroke after already exhausting her three event maximum. She was 2nd in the 200 IM (1:52.97), 2nd in the 400 IM (4:01.40), and 2nd in the 200 fly (1:52.37). In each case, she was runner-up behind an Olympian: Huske, Grimes, and Alex Walsh, respectively.