Kate Douglass Breaks Gretchen Walsh’s Pool Record With 50.47 in 100 Back Prelims

2023 CAVALIER INVITE

• February 3-5, 2023
• UVA Aquatic Center – Charlottesville, VA
• 25 Yards (SCY)
• Live Results: “2023 Cavalier Invitational” on MeetMobile
• Teams: UVA, George Washington, James Madison, Johns Hopkins, UNC-Wilmington, UNC-Chapel Hill, University of Richmond, William & Mary

Let’s try understatement instead of hyperbole: Kate Douglass is pretty decent at a lot of different swimming events. Douglass, fastest women ever in the yards versions of the 50 free and the 200 breast, threw down a new big personal best in the 100 back this morning. Her time of 50.47 in the prelims session on the second day of the annual Cavalier Invite broke the UVA pool record. There was a little confusion over what exactly the the previous record was, but we’ve confirmed that Gretchen Walsh (the 2nd-fastest woman ever in that event) had set it at 50.61 in 2022. Douglass also set a new personal best by well over a second (her previous best was a 51.84), and her swim today moves her up to #3 in the NCAA this season. It also puts her just outside the top 20 all-time in an event in what’s her “worst” stroke, although as an elite IMer, of course, she doesn’t have a weak stroke in the traditional sense.

The 200 free also saw some electric times on the women’s side. South African national Aimee Canny popped a 1:43.90 in what looks to be only her third time ever swimming the event in yards. She’d been 1:46 a couple times last month in dual meets, but this morning’s swim moves her up to #5 nationally this season. With another six weeks to go before NCAAs, she’s now less than half a second away the time it took to make the A-final last year.

UVA freshman Claire Tuggle had a big swim of her own in the 200 free. She posted the second-fastest time of the morning with a 1:44.81. That’s her first personal best in this event in almost five years; her previous best time of 1:44.96 came back in March of 2018, when she was just 13 years-old. Reilly Tiltmann, who won the B-final in this event at NCAAs last year, went 1:45.71 for the 3rd-fastest time, followed by Gretchen Walsh at 1:46.05.

On the men’s side, another quite versatile swimmer, UVA’s Tim Connery, set a new personal best in the 100 breast with a time of 52.95. That knocks about a quarter of a second off of his previous best of 53.19 from late 2019, when he was still in high school. His teammate Noah Nichols who’s currently tied for #4 in the nation with a 51.51, posted the top time of the morning with a 52.21.

Other top seeds:

• UVA’s Sam Baron led the 100 fly prelims with a 52.48, while teammate Max Edwards led the men with a 47.44.
• Neither the men nor the women managed to fill out a full heat of the 400 IM. Four of the five competitors on the women’s side came from William & Mary and Tribe swimmer Kim Jogis led the way with a 4:29.14. UVA’s Sean Conway led a four-man field with a 3:50.36 this morning.
• Jack Aikins posted the top time of the morning in the men’s 200 free with a 1:35.85 as the Cavaliers swept the top 8 spots.
• Ella Nelson, who is part of UVA’s vaunted breast and IM groups, but who swims the 400 IM at championship meets, got under a minute for the first time ever in the 100 breast with a 59.57.
• After setting a pool record in the 50 free last night, Matt Brownstead led the 100 back heats with a 46.97 this morning.