This past Saturday the Virginia Cavaliers took a quick break from short course racing before the spring semester and held a suited LCM practice time trial. Taking part in the time trial were many of UVA’s top swimmers, including 200 IM Olympic medalists Kate Douglass and Alex Walsh, as well as 400 IM Olympic silver medalist Emma Weyant. According to the results obtained by SwimSwam, there were plenty of highlights.
Junior superstar and Tokyo 2020 Bronze medalist in the 200 IM Kate Douglass threw down in the 100 fly, posting a 58.28 with an opening split of 27.4. Douglass’ lifetime best sits at 56.56 from last summer’s USA Swimming Olympic Trials Wave II, where she finished in third behind current Stanford freshman Torri Huske and high school senior and Stanford commit Claire Curzan.
In her second swim of the time trial, Douglass swam a new lifetime best in the 200 breast, touching in 2:26.02. Her official lifetime best comes from her senior year in high school at the Charlotte UltraSwim, where she hit a 2:28.00. The event choice for the time trial is notable, as Douglass currently holds the fastest time in the NCAA in the SCY 200 breast, though elected to swim the 100 free at last year’s NCAA Championships instead. With a focus on the 200 breast here, perhaps UVA is hinting at an event change for Douglass this March.
The Walsh sisters also displayed some speed on Saturday, with freshman Gretchen posting a 56.4 in the 100 free, including a quick 26.6 opening split. Gretchen also swam a 26.2 in the 50 fly and a 28.17 in the 50 back. Gretchen’s lifetime best in the 100 free stands at 53.74 from her gold medal performance at the 2019 World Junior Championships, which took place after her sophomore year of high school.
Her older sister Alex, a sophomore who won the silver medal in the 200 IM last summer in Tokyo, swam a 1:00.3 in the 100 fly and a 2:00.8 in the 200 free. Both swims were close to her lifetime bests of 59.58, which was done last fall at the Richmond site of the US Open and 2:00.61, which came in her senior year of high school.
On the men’s side, sophomore Alabama transfer Matt King flashed some speed in the 50 fly and the 50 free, clocking in at 24.56 in the fly and 22.6 in the free. The 50 free result is especially notable, as his lifetime best sits at 22.55 from last summer’s Wave II Olympic Trials where he finished 20th. The result bodes well for King, who was well off of his lifetime SCY bests at UVA’s midseason meet, the Tennessee Invite in November.
Other notable results
- Tokyo 2020 400 IM silver medalist Emma Weyant raced the 100 and 200 free posting a 58.6 in the 100 and 2:01.91 in the 200.
- Senior All American Alexis Wenger posted a 1:10.66 in the 100 breast, the faster than any official 100 breast result that she has had since 2015. She also swam a 31.54 in the 50 breast
- Senior All American Justin Grender posted a 2:06.0 200 back, 3.5 seconds off of his lifetime best from the 2019 Summer Nationals.
Virginia’s next meet will come this Saturday as they visit in-state ACC rival Virginia Tech.
Also I’m not trying to sound rude in any shape or form, but her 55.9 100 FR at trials was a bit odd. She seemed to be doing really good leading up to a certain month and then she just started going backwards. Her in season dual meets were good, but missing the in season meet was a bit strange. I hope she is in good form come NCAA’s, but to say that something probably isn’t wrong would be ignoring the elephant in the room.
Gretchen Walsh freshman year seems a bit rough. Not expecting much in March. Next year I’m sure will be better.
I saw somewhere that she’s had some health issues? Not sure what that means exactly.
I don’t have any info. Obviously she missed a key meet for whatever reason. Freshman year is really tough on these kids. I say keep expectations low and be pleasantly surprised if they can throw down at the end. I still think she will score but idk if she is going 21 low/46 this year.
She missed the team’s mid-season invite with what was called “health problems.” Nobody has been able to confirm what that means, though rumors are circulating as they always do.
Let’s not forget that she was (arguably) the most impressive swimmer in the NCAA this Fall prior to the invites. 23.3/51.1 unsuited backstrokes, 48.0 100 free, 20.9 relay splits. I think she will be just fine in March and beyond.
Were these real times or Desorbo times?
Tbh those times seem pretty pedestrian for UVA in-season standards, which makes me think we’re in store for a great March!
I feel like Gretchen’s best chance in making the Worlds Team this year will be in the 50 Back. She seems to have lost a lot of endurance over the last year (55.9 in the 100 at trials, having been 53.7 in 2019). She does however have raw speed (24.64 in the 50 Free this year). Her backstroke is really coming together and I think she has a great shot in making the team in the 50, especially because of how oriented her stroke and and speed is.
I thought they did two fastest in the 100 not an individual trail for the 50s?
@Idkman – Winner of 50 auto qualifies to race it at worlds, winner of 100 gets second spot in the 50 for worlds. If the winner of the 50 and 100 is the same, second qualifier in the 100 gets the second 50 nod.
Glad to see Matt King throw down a good time. Hope he continues his success at NCAAs.
Full results?
It’s tough to swim in long course in the midst of the college season. Easier to go from the big pool to the bathtub aka the short pool.
Woah Bobo, haven’t seen you in a while. I feel like it’s always hard to transition from one to the other. Coming off of long course season, I’d always need a week or two to adjust to double the amount of underwaters. Either way, the times they threw down are impressive, especially Douglass’s 200 breast
I believe they train long course a few times per week for most of the season, but racing is certainly different