Virginia Women Defend Title, Breaks Tie with 17th ACC Title

2021 ACC WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS

On Saturday, the Virginia Cavalier women successfully defended their 2020 ACC team title, earning their 17th ACC Women’s Swimming & Diving Championship title in program history. This is now the most in conference history. The UVA women previously won titles in 1990, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2020.

All-Time ACC Conference Women’s Swimming & Diving Team Championships, By Team:

  • Virginia – 17
  • North Carolina – 16
  • Clemson – 4
  • NC State – 4
  • Florida State – 1
  • Maryland -1

This is also UVA’s 3rd ACC title under head coach Todd DeSorbo, following 2018 and 2020. DeSorbo now is the ACC coach with the 3rd-most titles, tying with UVA’s Augie Busch and Clemson’s Bob Boettner. Last year, DeSorbo became the 7th coach in the 42-years of ACC women’s swimming & diving history to win multiple titles.

All-Time ACC Conference Women’s Swimming & Diving Team Championships, By Coach:

  • Frank Comfort, UNC – 16
  • Mark Bernardino, UVA – 11
  • Todd DeSorbo, UVA – 3
  • Augie Busch, UVA – 3
  • Bob Boettner, Clemson – 3
  • Don Easterling, NC State – 2
  • Braden Holloway, NC State – 2
  • Bruce Marichonda, Clemson – 1
  • Jim Wenhold, Maryland – 1

The UVA women had a lights out performance at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. First, the Cavalier women swept all five relays, a very difficult feat to achieve. The last time UVA accomplished that feat was back-t0-back in 2009 and 2010. Then, UVA rallied up 8 individual ACC titles over the course of the meet. This year’s meet MVP, senior Paige Madden, was the only swimmer in the pool to go 3-for-3 in her events, sweeping the 200/500/1650 free events. This is Madden’s 2nd-consecutive year going 3-for-3 at ACCs in the distance free events.

2021 ACC Meet MVPs

Behind Madden’s 96-point event sweep was sophomore Kate Douglass, who racked in 92 points with her 200 IM runner-up finish and 100 fly/100 free ACC titles. Freshman Alex Walsh and sophomore Ella Nelson had the third-most individual points overall for the Cavaliers. Walsh first won the 200 IM, then placed 4th in the 100 breast and 3rd in the 200 back. Nelson first picked up 4th place in the 200 IM, then won the 400 IM title, followed by a 3rd-place podium finish in the 200 breast. UVA’s 8th individual title came from junior Jessica Nava in the 200 fly. Nava scored 57 points over the weekend.

Douglass, Walsh, and Nelson led a strong underclassmen pack at this meet. Sophomore Lexi Cuomo picked up two runner-up finishes in the 50 free and 100 fly and 4th place in the 100 free, totaling 82 points. Freshmen Reilly Tiltmann (73) and Abby Harter (72) had strong showings as well alongside sophomore Maddie Donohoe (69) and freshman Anna Keating (63).

After placing 9th in the 100 fly, Tiltmann turned around and was runner-up in the 100 back followed by a 5th-place finish in the 200 back. Harter pulled out two 8th-place finishes in the 200 IM and 100 fly before hitting a second-place finish in the 200 fly behind Nava. Donohoe had placed 4th in the 500 free and followed up with a 3rd-place finish in the 1650 free. Keating was also a strong breaststroke presence, placing 6th in the 100 breast and 4th in the 200 breast.

Final Team Scores

  1. UVA, 1486
  2. NC State, 1317
  3. Louisville, 1,006.50
  4. Virginia Tech, 832
  5. Notre Dame, 716
  6. Duke, 647
  7. Florida State, 551
  8. UNC, 516.50
  9. Georgia Tech, 498
  10. Miami, 375
  11. Pittsburgh, 360
  12. Boston College, 177

All 2021 UVA Scorers

Stats complied by Andrew Mering.

YEAR POINTS EVENT PLACE TIME POWER EVENT PLACE TIME POWER EVENT PLACE TIME POWER
Madden, Paige SR 96 500 Free 1 4:33.25 842 200 Free 1 1:42.61 840 1650 Free 1 15:45.45 761
Douglass, Kate SO 92 200 IM 2 1:51.97 904 100 Fly 1 49.96 916 100 Free 1 46.83 903
Walsh, Alex FR 85 200 IM 1 1:51.53 923 100 Breast 4 58.28 835 200 Back 3 1:51.12 789
Nelson, Ella SO 85 200 IM 4 1:55.32 782 400 IM 1 4:02.62 812 200 Breast 3 2:05.91 822
Cuomo, Lexi SO 82 50 Free 2 21.99 789 100 Fly 2 50.65 855 100 Free 4 48.52 738
Tiltmann, Reilly FR 73 100 Fly 9 51.88 761 100 Back 2 51.5 773 200 Back 5 1:52.53 747
Harter, Abby FR 72 200 IM 8 1:57.05 727 100 Fly 8 52.12 745 200 Fly 2 1:54.93 756
Donohoe, Maddie SO 69 500 Free 4 4:44.33 678 200 Free 11 1:47.63 632 1650 Free 3 16:10.32 661
Valls, Kyla SR 66 50 Free 12 22.53 691 200 Free 2 1:44.63 750 100 Free 7 49.37 668
Keating, Anna FR 63 200 IM 14 1:59.53 653 100 Breast 6 58.81 799 200 Breast 4 2:07.52 777
Gmelich, Caroline SR 62 50 Free 14 22.66 668 100 Fly 6 51.94 757 100 Back 5 51.96 744
Wenger, Alexis JR 58 50 Free 18 22.56 686 100 Breast 2 57.6 885 200 Breast 7 2:08.93 740
Nava, Jessica JR 57 100 Fly 5 51.82 766 200 Fly 1 1:54.49 771
Menkhaus, Julia JR 46 500 Free 15 4:47.56 634 200 Free 10 1:47.59 634 200 Fly 10 1:56.44 706
Porter, Jocelyn SR 41 3 mtr Diving 6 303.15 1 mtr Diving 26 238.4 Platform Diving 10 235.35
Bell, Jennifer SO 28 3 mtr Diving 17 262.3 1 mtr Diving 10 271.45 Platform Diving 23 190.4
Schaedler, Quinn FR 27 200 Free 8 1:47.30 645 100 Free 20 49.99 618
Collins, Ella SO 19 200 Free 12 1:47.74 628 200 Fly 21 2:00.01 591
Bowen, Charlotte SO 16 3 mtr Diving 21 249.6 1 mtr Diving 17 257.05 Platform Diving 22 194.55
Wilson, Sophia FR 15 200 IM 24 2:02.83 549 400 IM 18 4:18.04 571 200 Back 18 1:59.32 557
Kulp, Caroline SO 14 200 Fly 13 1:58.28 647

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WahooWah
3 years ago

I’m a UVA fan but I’d love to see Clemson S&D back in the ACC. I remember when they had a team.

ACC fan
3 years ago

Looks like UVA will qualify 14 Swimmers to NCAAs. Divers TBD.

Swammer11
3 years ago

Is it accurate that UVA has the top time in all freestyle events (individual and relay) currently?

Admin
Reply to  Swammer11
3 years ago

It is not. Alabama has the top 400 free relay.

The 1000 free is probably also not true. While lots of mile splits don’t make it in to the database, Kristen Stege was 4 seconds ahead of Paige Madden at the 1000 (9:31 vs. 9:35), so Stege probably has the best 1000. Averee Preble’s 9:40 is the top official swim in the database.

Huh
Reply to  Braden Keith
3 years ago

UVA was 0.14 seconds faster than BAMA was at SECs.

Admin
Reply to  Huh
3 years ago

Weird, for some reason looks like that 400 free relay result for UVa hasn’t been uploaded to the official database.

You are of course correct though.

Ol' Longhorn
3 years ago

You gotta love how SwimSwam promotes all the scorers and not just the stars. Also, Andrew Mering apparently has a lot of free time on his hands.

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  Andrew Mering
3 years ago

You Da Man.

Marklewis
3 years ago

Kate Douglass had three power scores over 900. Probably going to final in all her events at the NCAA meet.

Alex Walsh’s 200 IM was the top score at 923.

PFA
3 years ago

Not sure when swimswam will mention this but unrelated Cody Simpson threw down an impressive 53.85 in the 100 fly and nabbed the OT cut in the 100 free.

Samesame
Reply to  PFA
3 years ago

A few uneducated in the Aussie media keep saying he’s going to make the Olympic team this year.

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  PFA
3 years ago

Cool, drops another 4 seconds then gives Dressel a race.

Dougismyhero
3 years ago

John Morse should be getting paid as an assistant salary on the side. He supplies UVA with those girls.

Un-Squash the Beef
3 years ago

Ross Dant: “Fine, I’ll do it myself.”

About Nick Pecoraro

Nick Pecoraro

Nick has had the passion for swimming since his first dive in the water in middle school, immediately falling for breaststroke. Nick had expanded to IM events in his late teens, helping foster a short, but memorable NCAA Div III swim experience at Calvin University. While working on his B.A. …

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