Note: Opinions in this article don’t reflect the views of SwimSwam as a whole.
I’m going to blunt for a moment: When I think about the first half of the 2020s in terms of college swimming, the first thing that comes to mind are the Virginia women.
Yes, Arizona State’s Bob Bowman-led rise to the top (and the Texas transition) was remarkable, and Leon Marchand put up one of the best collegiate seasons of all-time in 2023. Maggie MacNeil had a great run at Michigan and LSU. But no other group had a more consistent presence than the now five-time NCAA champions on the women’s side, headlined by its “Big Three” of Alex Walsh, Gretchen Walsh and Kate Douglass.
From 2021 to 2025, the Walsh sisters and Douglass combined for a total of 41 NCAA titles, 23 individual NCAA titles across nine different events and NCAA records across 12 races. At two different NCAA Championships, at least two out of three members of this trio swept their individual races — Alex Walsh and Douglass pulled it off in 2022, while Alex and Gretchen Walsh did so in 2024.
These three swimmers were all top two-ranked recruits in their respective high school classes, coming into college with high expectations. Not only did they meet those expectations, but they absolutely smashed them out of the ballpark.
All of three them bought into a national title-less Virginia under first-time college head coach Todd DeSorbo and spearheaded its transformation into a dynasty. Throughout their careers, they helped turn typically humdrum dual meets into showcases of “How fast can you be in a practice suit?” and every championship meet was a record or sweep watch. At a certain point, it wasn’t about whether they could win, it was about how far they could take the barriers of the sport.
Alex Walsh and Kate Douglass (via Matt Riley/UVA Athletics)
Douglass came first. The 2020 NCAA season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so we never got to see her perform at the NCAA Championships in her first collegiate season — though she was the top seed in the 200 IM. In 2021, she captured her first NCAA title in the 50 free and placed second in the 100 fly and 100 free to MacNeil, who would end up as the only swimmer to ever defeat her at an NCAA championship meet. But her junior season in 2022, fresh off a surprise 2021 Olympic medal-winning run, was when she really took off.
At the 2022 NCAA championships, Douglass won titles in the 50 free, 100 fly and 200 breast, setting NCAA records in the 50 free and 200 breast. It was that meet when she cemented her potential as an all-time great in college swimming — commentator Rowdy Gaines drew “G.O.A.T” in bright yellow marker on the screen after she won the 200 breast (he would later do the same for Gretchen Walsh). But Douglass outdid herself in her senior season, winning the 200 IM, 100 fly and 200 breast NCAA record fashion at the 2023 NCAA championships, becoming the first female swimmer since Natalie Coughlin in 2002 to go three-for-three in NCAA titles and records.
Douglass opted not to take her fifth year in 2024, finishing her NCAA career as arguably the best female collegiate swimmer in two decades. It didn’t take long for Douglass’s dominance to be reflected in her teammate though, as Gretchen Walsh grabbed the torch she passed on and started a wildfire.
As Walsh alluded to in a post-race interview Friday night, the start of her collegiate career wasn’t easy. In 2022, she was a former teenage prodigy who couldn’t get the monkey off her back at international qualification meets. Virginia was where she found her stride. She won her first NCAA title as a freshman in the 100 free while taking second in the 50 free and 100 back. During her sophomore season, she lost just two individual races and won titles in the 100 free and 100 back, obliterating the NCAA record in the 100 back.
By Walsh’s junior season, she was changing the notion of what was possible in women’s swimming. She became the first woman under 45 seconds in the 100 free, the first under 48 in the 100 fly and the first under the magical 20-second barrier on a 50 free relay split. At the 2024 NCAA Championships, she put up a perfect three-for-three, winning and setting NCAA records in the 50 free, 100 fly and 100 free. She bettered that performance a year later, breaking 47 in the 100 fly, resetting her 100 free record and tying her 50 free record.
Amid all the records of Douglass and Gretchen Walsh was Alex Walsh, who could have been the best swimmer on almost any other Division I team but was overshadowed by her out-of-this-world teammates at Virginia. However, she has a legacy of her own, too. As the only one of the trio who utilized a fifth year, Alex Walsh was part of all five Virginia championship teams and won NCAA titles in all five relays. She was great at all four strokes and had range from the sprints to the mid-distance events, often racing the 400 IM and the 200 free relay at the same competition.
Walsh once held NCAA records in the 200 IM and 200 fly. She could be put in a litany of events and succeed, being an NCAA champion in the 200 IM, 400 IM, 100 breast, 200 breast and 200 fly (she also raced the 200 free at NCAAs and won an ACC title in race). Across 15 different individual races at NCAAs, she never finished worse than fifth place and went three-for-three in titles twice. No matter what event she was swimming, she could always be relied upon to score 50+ points and show up on the relays.
It wasn’t just the records, the wins or the titles. This Virginia trio made versatility a norm, throwing event specialization out the window. Douglass raced a different event lineup at each of her NCAA championship meets, and her ability to swim sprint freestyle and the 200 breast became a core part of her identity. Alex Walsh could probably score in every NCAA event aside from maybe the 1650 free. Gretchen Walsh didn’t expand into mid-distance events as often as the other two, but when she did, Missy Franklin’s 200 free NCAA record would be on life support.
The Walsh sisters and Douglass were so good at so many events to the point where their ACC and NCAA Championship event lineups were never a given, always subject to endless debate.
Kate Douglass‘ Best Times (SCY):
- 50 free: 20.84 (former NCAA record)
- 100 free: 45.86
- 200 free: 1:44.51
- 100 back: 50.47
- 100 breast: 58.14
- 200 breast: 2:01.29 (NCAA record)
- 100 fly: 48.46 (former NCAA record)
- 200 IM: 1:48.37 (NCAA record)
Alex Walsh‘s Best Times (SCY):
- 100 free: 48.56
- 200 free: 1:41.63
- 500 free: 4:38.34
- 200 back: 1:50.18
- 100 breast: 56.49
- 200 breast: 2:02.07
- 100 fly: 50.00
- 200 fly: 1:49.16 (former NCAA record)
- 200 IM: 1:49.20 (former NCAA record holder)
- 400 IM: 3:55.97
Gretchen Walsh‘s Best Times (SCY):
- 50 free: 20.34 (NCAA record)
- 100 free: 44.71 (NCAA record)
- 200 free: 1:39.34
- 100 back: 48.10 (NCAA record)
- 200 back: 1:48.18
- 100 breast: 56.86
- 100 fly: 46.97 (NCAA record)
- 200 IM: 1:52.97
Gretchen Walsh and Alex Walsh (photo: Jack Spitser)
And when Gretchen Walsh, donning her black-and-gold Roman numeral “V” cap, touched the wall to win the 400 free relay and fifth straight NCAA championship for Virginia on Sunday, the Walsh-Walsh-Douglass era came to a close after five dominant seasons. It was the end of a run like no other.
Of course, Virginia had a litany of other stars during their era of dominance, including national champions Paige Madden, Jasmine Nocentini and Claire Curzan. Curzan, as well as younger swimmers like Anna Moesch and Katie Grimes, will continue to maintain the Cavaliers’ status as national contenders. But the success of the team’s “Big Three” was always at the front and center of it all.
Legends come and go, and records are meant to be broken. One day, there will be other women who rise to the occasion and outdo what the Walsh sisters and Douglass accomplished. But their imprint in the history books and the memories of their accomplishments will never be erased. Moments like when “46” popped up on the scoreboard after Gretchen Walsh‘s 100 fly, when a MeetMobile notification revealed that Douglass broke the 200 breast NCAA record at a last chance meet on a random Sunday night, or when Alex Walsh raced the 500 free for the first time in her life and posted a nation-leading time will remain forever.
Even if the Virginia trio gets surpassed one day, we’ll realize in the upcoming NCAA Championships how much their greatness was taken for granted, because oftentimes the impact of legends isn’t fully realized until they’re gone. But as Sandlot conveyed, heroes get remembered, but legends never die.
Call them the Million Dollar Mermaids!
Great article, Yanyan
So much respect and admiration for this trio. Watching them has hands down made following college swimming more FUN. Versatility, wild times, and ability to drop fast times mid season in practice suits…all things the sport has needed to grow its fan base. We will miss you!
The Virginia trio provided far greater relay value than the Stanford trio of Eastin, Ledecky, Manuel.
I think these 3 competing for the full 4/5 years gives them the nod over the Ledecky/Manuel/Eastin and Evan’s/Sanders/Thompson era Stanford teams.
The relay versatility too, Manuel was obviously on all the relays she could be, but Ledecky was on 3/8 of the relays in her 2 years and Eastin was on 7/16 of them. Alex was on 19/20 possible relays (only the 3 freestyle ones her freshman year) and Gretchen/Kate were never left off a relay. Alex is the closest thing to a weak link among the 3 and she’s swam field leading 100 fly, 100 breast, and 50 breast splits as well as going sub 21/47 on freestyle legs
more specifically, it’s not just that they were good enough to be on every relay, it’s that they were able to do that while plugging up the team’s weak spots at the same time. There was zero issue with UVA being able to use swimmers like Cuomo, Wenger, Nocentini, Curzan etc to their fullest extent on relays because Todd could just move these 3 around as needed (not to take away from Nocentini and Curzan themselves being elite options on multiple legs too)
Nocentini is the #2 sprint breaststroker in history and Wenger went :56 flat start — they were superstars in their own right. But you’re correct that the versatility around them made for some amazing relays.
I wish I could attach a picture but instead I will just direct everyone to Alex Walsh’s swimcloud specialty chart…
https://www.swimcloud.com/swimmer/356529/
I wish I could attach a picture but instead I will just direct everyone to Alex Walsh’s swimcloud specialty chart…
https://www.swimcloud.com/swimmer/356529/
I’m so lucky to have gone to UVA and been a swimming enthusiast in the same era as these ladies ⚔️🧡💙
I’ve loved cheering them on as Hoos, especially when they throw down mind-boggling times. I’ll miss watching them in the NCAA, but I’m ready to see them tear up the international stage and hopefully the World Cup stops!