2022 ACC SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- When: Tuesday, February 15th to Saturday, February 19th Prelims 10:00am | Finals 6:00 pm (Tuesday 11:00am/4:30pm)
- Where: McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta Georgia (Eastern Time Zone)
- Defending Champions
- Streaming: ACC Network
- Championship Central: Here
- Detailed Timeline: Here
- Psych Sheets: Here
- Live Results
- Saturday Finals Heat Sheets
WOMEN’S 400 FREE RELAY – TIMED FINALS
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut – 3:14.50
- NCAA ‘B’ Cut – 3:16.35
Meet Record – 3:09.45, Virginia – 3:09.45Conference Record – 3:09.45, Virginia – 3:09.45
Top 3:
- Virginia – 3:08.22
- NC State – 3:10.27
- Louisville – 3:10.89
UVA completed their sweep of the women’s relays at this year’s ACC Championships, and doing so in record fashion. The Cavaliers shattered the ACC meet and conference records with their performance tonight, both of which stood at 3:09.45 from the 2018 ACC Champs.
Kate Douglass, Alex Walsh, Reilly Tiltmann, and Gretchen Walsh teamed up to establish the fastest time in the NCAA this season. Here is a breakdown of UVA splits tonight, versus the NCAA record splits and American Record splits.
| Split | UVA – 2022 ACC Champs, New ACC Record | Stanford – 2017 NCAA Champs, American Record | California – 2019 NCAA Champs, NCAA Record |
| Swimmer #1 | Kate Douglass – 47.02 | Simone Manuel – 46.02 | Izzy Ivey – 47.79 |
| Swimmer #2 | Alex Walsh – 46.72 | Katie Ledecky – 47.59 | Katie McLaughlin – 46.62 |
| Swimmer #3 | Reilly Tiltmann – 48.13 | Janet Hu – 47.63 | Amy Bilquist – 46.62 |
| Swimmer #4 | Gretchen Walsh – 46.35 | Lia Neal – 46.37 | Abbey Weitzeil – 46.07 |
| Final Time | 3:08.22 | 3:07.61 | 3:06.96 |
However, the real story here isn’t the records UVA did break tonight, but rather the records we could see them break next month at the NCAA Championships.
Kate Douglass led the team off in 47.02, a time which is well off her personal best of 46.30, which she swam at NCAAs last year. If Douglass had just swum her best time tonight, UVA would have finished in 3:07.50, dipping under the American Record. That American Record notably is held by a Stanford team that features Simone Manuel, an Olympic Gold medalist 100 freestyler, and Lia Neal, a 2x Olympic medalist on the 4×100 free relay, plus Katie Ledecky.
The quartet also sits within striking distance of the NCAA record, which was set back in 2019.
UVA’s super safe three relay exchanges added up to 1.28 seconds. With just average relay exchanges they are right on the American record.
Alex Walsh 46.7 relay split just after a 2.03 in the 200 breast!
I follow her development since I’ve watched her swim for the first time at the Tom Dolan Invitational in 2011 or 2012. She was mainly a backstroker at that time. Since then she has added a tremendous breaststroke. And her fly and free have improved a lot in the last 2 years. Like her overall endurance too. If she keeps working hard then I don’t see what could prevent her from winning the 200 IM gold in Paris in 2024. And why not in the next few years threatening the crazy fast world record held by Katinka Hosszu?
Secretly I’d like too see her train… Read more »
“I follow her development since I’ve watched her swim for the first time at the Tom Dolan Invitational in 2011 or 2012.”
🤔
I’m curious to know why they chose Tiltmann over Cuomo. Not that Tiltmann was a bad choice but…I’m just curious.
Cuomo “only” went 48.7 tonight individually. Tiltmann’s been swimming strong. I think if you’ve got the championships sown up, it makes sense to see what someone like Tiltmann can do on the relay.
is the cal 3:06 not the american record??? all 4 relays members are americans….
Nope. Abbey Weitzeil had her elbow wrapped, so the swim wasn’t approved under USA Swimming rules. Was legal under NCAA rules, but not USA Swimming rules, so can’t count as an American Record.
https://swimswam.com/2019-w-ncaas-cal-takes-down-400-free-relay-ncaa-record/
Thanks for clearing that up! I always wondered why that was. Or I just forgot when all that happened 3 years ago. Lol
Per searching the following database, it was eventually recognized as the American Record:
https://www.usaswimming.org/times/data-hub/record-progressions
Also in a news release after NCAAs in 2019, the 3:06.96 was mentioned as an AR:
https://www.usaswimming.org/news/2019/03/24/stanford-wins-third-consecutive-title-in-record-setting-final-day-at-ncaa-championships
A little inside baseball, but knowing the state of those databases…I wouldn’t take it as fact.
But I will reach out to USA Swimming to get a definitive answer. If they are recognizing it, then they have to rewrite the rule book, because the wrap not being allowed is the rule applied at every other USA Swimming meet/observed meet.