2026 UVA Last Chance Meet
- February 28-March 1, 2026
- Charlottesville, Virginia
- Short Course Yards (25 yards), NCAA Last Chance Meet
- Results on Meet Mobile: “Cavalier Last Chance Meet 2006”
- Full Meet Results PDF
Most of the Virginia men’s top swimmers appeared to train through the ACC Championships last week with an eye on the NCAA Championships, but one of those swimmers may have flown a little too close to the sun.
Sophomore Spencer Nicholas, one of the team’s bright spots last season, emerged from the ACC Championships without an obvious individual NCAA invite time. He swam season bests at that meet in both the 100 fly (45.68) and 200 IM (1:44.10), and had a mid-season best of 45.75 from the CSCAA Dual Meet Challenge mid-season, none of which were particularly close to earning a spot in Atlanta. That caused considerable consternation among the hoi polloi of swim fans.
But a last-ditch effort at the Cavalier Last Chance Meet over the weekend likely secured a return trip to the national championship meet.
He posted a season best time of 44.86 in the 100 fly, which jumps him up to 21st in the NCAA this season. While not a guarantee thanks to the new Auto Qualifier system, that should be enough to get him in.
Then, for good measure, he added a new personal best in the 100 back of 45.32. That’s not an inviteable time on its own, but a positive sign headed toward NCAAs.
A number of Virginia swimmers had big performances at the Last Chance Meet – some who needed them, some who didn’t.
Jack Aikins, a member of the US team for the World Championships last summer, swam a 1:39.00 in the 200 back. He was ranked 3rd in the world last year in the 200 back in long course, but is generally not known as a great short course swimmer. He has swum the two fastest 200 yard times of his career in his last two meets, however, including 1:39.54 at ACCs. That swim moves him up to 10th in the NCAA this season.
Virginia junior Hayden Bellotti jumped up to 21st nationally in the 200 fly after swimming a 1:40.47. That took half-a-second off his 1:41.02 from ACCs, which was his previous personal best and unlikely to qualify
Melissa Nwakalor, a transfer from Richmond who wasn’t on the ACC Championships team for Virginia, swam 21.82 in the 50 free. That’s just .03 seconds off her season best from the pre-conference Cavalier Invite. While Virginia is likely to max out their 18-swimmer cap for NCAAs, Nawakalor has a shot at being under the invite time even without being on the Cavaliers’ conference team.
Noah Powers swam 43.65 in a 100 free time trial, which is his season best.
NC State’s Gavin Keogh also made a run at NCAA qualifying, posting a 1:41.13 in the 200 back – which is just shy of his 1:40.80 from ACCs.
Psych sheets for the women’s meet will be posted by noon Eastern on Wednesday, March 4, while the men’s sheets will be posted by noon on Wednesday, March 11.
Jokes of times!
Snot.
Alternate story… Swimmer X from Y University bumped out of NCAAs by a questionable Virginia time trial. Seriously, you should write a story listing all the swimmers who were bumped out of the meet from these frequent and sketchy “last chance” time trials.
Funny how this energy didn’t show up in any of the posts about the UGA, Louisville, and Cal last chance meets…
You must’ve not read the comments, all these last chance meets are complete BS and it shouldn’t be allowed. Wasn’t all the hype about making dual meets matter? They literally don’t matter when you can qualify in a made up non competition. The leaders of college swimming are a joke.
Ditch or last chance meets have always been a part of swimming. You are not owed a spot in a championship meet, you have to earn it. Don’t like it, then swim faster.
How can they be a joke if you are obviously not laughing?
Nwakalor’s 21.79 / 47.85 times from the Cav Invite would have both scored individually at NCAAs last year. There’s a good chance she gets added to the NCAA roster in place of another swimmer who might have had better scoring potential at ACCs.
Nwakalor got the nod. Katie Christopherson was on the ACC team but didn’t get a good enough time to get invited to NCAAs.
I don’t believe Virginia had to narrow the roster to 18 until today. Lana Pudar could have been considered. After others dropped the 200 fly, she would have been seeded 22. But she seems to be the last woman out and likely the only other Cavalier who could have been invited.
Lawson Ficken also looks like she would have qualified in the 100 fly. Love them or hate them, UVA is loaded. I do not believe there is another women’s team leaving swimmers home that are below the anticipated cut lines.
When do you think we can expect a pre-cut psych sheet?
Isnt it at the bottom of the article?
Damn. You’re right — reading *is* fundamental.
You had me doubting the article 😂
Now I am laughing.
I think the article is talking about the psych sheet with invites and alternates. That matches the date and time in the Prechampionships Manual. I believe the pre-selection psych sheet should be out by tomorrow. Last year it dropped on Tuesday.
It’s out now: https://websiteprodcoresa.blob.core.windows.net/sitefinity/docs/default-source/timesdocuments/ncaa/2025-2026-div.-i/2026-pre-selection-entry-list.pdf
I think the picture of the person diving off the blocks in a UNC cap is… probably not Spencer Nicholas?
AND it appears to be a relay – not even an individual event. you would think we would have context-relevant photos? 🙂
You think swimswam had the budget to send someone to your made up time trial? The world doesn’t revolve around uva as much as the Fenwick hype train would make you believe
I doubt SwimSwam needed to be at the meet to find a picture of the guy swimming fly… confirmed by the fact that they updated the picture.
“made up”. You keep using that word and I don’t think you know what it means. You also think its appropriate to use a picture of UNC athletes at a meet they didn’t compete at? You’re a bozo.
Bitter. Bitter. Bitter. Real swimming fans should not be bitter.
This is cool to see. Good for him
And bummer for whoever is getting bumped for him…
They should just add more spots to NCAAs!
Can we get B Finals too?
END LAST CHANCE MEETS – right?
You know as well as anyone Braden that any look at the current participation numbers would lead to less spots, they aren’t adding more.
(That’s the joke)
Missed the sarcasm! My bad! It’s concerning cause some of the leaders and decision makers in the sport don’t understand this fact!
Yeah…everyone’s solution always seems to be “add more swimmers!!!” but that isn’t what’s going to happen.
They aren’t leaders. If they were they’d know.