Neither Noah Nichols nor Tim Connery appear on the Virginia men’s swimming roster to start the second semester, and neither is expected to return to the team. SwimSwam has reached out to both for comment.
Nichols, the school record holder in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, most recently competed at the team’s midseason meet, the Tennessee Invitational. There, he swept the breaststroke events and finished fourth in the 200 IM, recording season-bests in all three events. He was also part of the 400 medley relay team that swam 3:02.01, breaking the program record and coming five-tenths from the American record set in 2017.
Connery last raced at the team’s season-opener against Florida, finishing eighth in the short-course meters 100 breaststroke and 100 butterfly.
Nichols was the team’s top scorer at the 2024 NCAA Championships, earning 28 individual points with his fourth-place finish in the 100 breaststroke (50.93) and sixth-place in the 200 breaststroke (1:50.69). Connery scored four points individually at last season’s NCAAs, taking 13th in the 200 IM (1:42.60) after setting a program record of 1:41.70 in prelims. Nichols swam on the medley relays at NCAAs (23.05/50.43), helping the 400 medley relay place 10th. Connery joined Nichols on the medley relays, swimming butterfly (20.93/45.72) on both. He also anchored the 400 freestyle relay to another 10th-place finish (41.93).
Losing two NCAA scorers hurts the Cavaliers, who are looking for a rebound season after finishing 17th at 2024 NCAAs to pick up momentum before a high-powered recruiting class that includes Maximus Williamson and Thomas Heilman arrives on campus in fall 2025. There have been momentum-builders for Virginia, particularly from freshmen Spencer Nicholas and David King. Losing their top breaststroker is a setback for Virginia
However, losing their top breaststroker is a setback for the Cavaliers. Nichols owned the team’s fastest 100 and 200 breaststroke so far this season with his 51.32/1:52.96 from the Tennessee Invitational. Without him on the roster, Jay Gerloff takes over as the team’s fastest 100 breaststroker this season with a 53.40 and Matthew Heilman’s 1:55.98 is their fastest 200 breaststroke.
Nichols’ Personal Bests
- 100 breaststroke: 50.82 (UVA record)
- 200 breaststroke: 1:50.69 (UVA record)
- 200 IM: 1:43.45
Connery’s Personal Bests
- 200 freestyle: 1:34.01
- 100 backstroke: 46.14
- 100 butterfly: 45.21
- 200 IM: 1:41.70 (UVA record)
The comments here feel myopic, DeSorbo got the UVA job after doing a great job at NC State, particularly with the men. A lot of people just want to plug anything and everything into a preconceived narrative no matter what
Noah did post a story for their senior meet, so perhaps they’ll wrap things up there.
Tim Connery has been a puzzling situation even prior to this.
Wonder if Todd had figured out Tim and Noah are no longer on the team. He tends to forget he has a men’s team.
What’s up with Aiden Hayes at NC State…. That’s an AA none of us have heard anything about this year
Will see what we can find out.
Yeah, Arsenio bustos and Quintin McCarty didn’t swim at their mid szn invite either. hopefully they come back for championships
Bustos is taking a redshirt year (https://www.instagram.com/p/DDYJis1uHs4/?igsh=djNzb3JkaWZlNmts)
Good catch.
Hayes posted a picture with a cast.
Hayes mentioned a lot of hospital visits in his recap post for 2024, so perhaps just taking a semester out for rest?(https://www.instagram.com/p/DEdKrd7v5OR/?igsh=MWttaWNzY3NmMnRvaA==)
Waiting for the news to break that they’ve enrolled at IU, Texas, or Cal for the spring semester
Ha. From talking to some folks…I don’t have anything on the record, but I get the feeling that they’re done.
But I mean…..
Caspar was done…
Connery going back to Texas would be hilarious though.
Caspar moved to the Netherlands to train for the Olympics.
I think these guys are done with swimming done, not so much done with college swimming done. But…you never know!
Why does UVa swimming get singled out and have an article about this? How many swimmers dropped out of all the other NCAA programs combined? I’m sure it’s more than these 2.
There are more articles about UVa than any other swimming school, weird!
If you notice All-Americans disappearing from other teams mid-season, definitely let us know.
It seems like you may have missed these articles about other impact swimmers leaving programs mid season, here are a few links so you can catch up:
–Aaron Shackell, Texas
–Luke Whitlock, Florida
–Macguire McDuff, Florida
Sophie also did an article about mid-season additions, including a Virginia swimmer, but also including swimmers from lots of other teams. You can read more about that at this link.
While we certainly hear “SwimSwam shows favoritism by covering school XYZ more than school ABC,” almost relentlessly, and understand that this sort of myopia is part of… Read more »
Sorry for all the complaining but I guess it’s what I like to do. Sorry Sophie. Just please be sure to come back with the ending of this story on Nichols and Connery.
Sometimes we don’t get to find out the end of the story and we don’t need to.
DeSorbo’s coaching is top notch whether you are a male or female.
And then you woke up
Wow. 14-5. One of Andrew’s best ever up/down rating for a SwimSwam comment! LOL
Who are you kidding?