Walsh Pops Quick Fly Split, Claire Curzan Makes UVA Debut, as Virginia Hosts Navy

Virginia vs. Navy

• Saturday, September 28th, 2024
• AFC Pool, Charlottesville, VA
• Dual Meet Format
• SCY
• Full Results

The US Naval Academy and University of Virginia swim teams kicked off the fall dual meet schedule this morning in Charlottesville. After a joint practice Friday, the two teams squared off today in what could be called an off-distance combined intrasquad meet, as each team split their squads into two: Blue and Orange for Virginia and Blue and Gold for Navy.

Virginia’s split squads swept the competition for both the men and the women, with the UVA Orange team claiming the overall title.

The meet began with a mixed 200 medley relay. Virginia opted to swim this event as a class competition, rather than by the normal intrasquad teams, and the seniors won with a time of 1:28.50. Tim Connery led off with a 21.75, fifth-year Noah Nichols split a quick 23.35 on breast, Gretchen Walsh threw down a 21.65 on fly, and Maxine Parker anchored in 21.75.

That split by Walsh looks to be the 2nd-fastest ever, behind only her 21.50 from a January dual meet. Walsh appears to be picking back right where she left off last season, where she rewrote the record books on multiple occasions in fly, back, and free.

Video courtesy of UVA Swimming

Teammate Claire Curzan made her official UVA debut in this event, splitting 22.29 on the fly leg for the junior team, while Anna Moesch had the fastest female anchor leg with a 21.52 for the freshmen.

The meet ended with a mixed 200 free relay, for which UVA stuck to the Blue/Orange intrasquad teams. The Virginia Orange won with a 1:22.65, highlighted by a 20.73 anchor leg from Walsh.

Women’s Meet

Scores:

1. UVA Orange – 441
2. UVA Blue – 387
3. Navy Gold – 212
4. Navy Blue – 203

Gretchen Walsh (UVA Orange) and Claire Curzan (UVA Blue) led the women with three individual victories each. Walsh, the fastest woman ever in both the SCY and LCM versions of the 100 fly, swept the butterfly events with a 22.68 in the 50 fly and a 1:20.31 in the 150 fly. To provide some perspective, she went out in 23.51/27.57, hitting the 100 mark at 51.08, a time which nearly would’ve made the A-final at last season’s NCAA championships, before closing in 29.23. She also won the 100 IM in 52.63, a time which appears to be the 4th-fastest performance ever.

Women’s 100 IM, Top Performances*:

1. Kate Douglass — 51.97 (2023)
2. Gretchen Walsh — 52.09 (2022)
3. Kate Douglass — 52.48 (2020)
4. Gretchen Walsh — 52.63 (2024)
5. Kate Douglass — 52.73 (2022)
6. Kate Douglass — 53.01 (2022)
7. Katie Meili — 53.02 (2014)
8. Alex Walsh — 53.08 (2021)
9. Alex Walsh — 53.23 (2023)
10. Gretchen Walsh — 53.54 (2021)

*verifying times for an event not typically raced at official meets is difficult, so if you know of a swim we missed, please let us know in the comments.

Video courtesy of UVA Swimming

Curzan, who transferred from Stanford a year ago and red-shirted last season, also won three individual events. She got going with a 1:15.34 in the 150 freestyle, leading a Cavalier sweep of the top eight spots. Next, she took the 50 back in 24.01, exactly three-quarters of a second shy of her best from the 2023 NCAA Championships. She closed out her individual events with a 1:21.47 win in the 150 back.

Aimee Canny helped the UVA Orange team to victory with a 1:33.48 win in the 150 breast and a 2:46.87 in the 300 free. In the latter event, she split 26.33 on the final 50 to pass her Orange teammate Cavan Gormsen, who led for most of the race and finished 2nd in 2:47.35. Gormsen had won the 600 free earlier in the session with a time of 5:47.35.

Zoe Skirboll won the 50 breast for Orange in 27.92, followed by Olympian Emma Weber, who took 2nd in 28.43. Weber also finished 6th in the 300 IM (3:17.12) and 8th in the 150 breast (1:39.88).

The UVA women brought in the top-ranked recruiting class in the nation this year, and freshmen Leah Hayes and Anna Moesch each picked up wins, with Hayes winning the 300 IM in 3:02.54 and Moesch taking the 50 free with a 22.41 to Maxine Parker‘s 22.45 in an exciting race.

The two teams split the diving results, as Jessica Buntman, representing UVA’s Orange team won with a score of 249.00 on the 1m, and Navy (Gold)’s Kim MacKenzie won the 3m with a 275.40. Since UVA opted to exhibition the 1m, MacKenzie also officially won the 1m with a score of 240.60, helping the Navy Gold team to a win over their intrasquad rivals.

On the swimming side, the Navy women, who are the defending Patriot League champs, managed to push the Cavaliers in a few events, especially the stroke 50s. In the 50 breast, Sydney Bare (Blue) took 4th with a 29.08. Catherine Weaverling (Blue) touched 4th in the 50 fly with a 24.76, just 0.16s away from 2nd. Weaverling also had the fastest 200 free relay split for the Navy women with a 23.25 anchor leg.

Men

Scores:

1. UVA Blue – 363
2. UVA Orange – 318
3. Navy Blue – 282
4. Navy Gold – 230

It was a closer affair on the men’s side, but both UVA teams still finished squarely on top.

The Navy men won the first individual event of the session in a battle of top-ranked freshmen. David King, the #8 recruit in the Class of 2024, led early for UVA Orange, but Dean Jones (a 2024 honorable mention) moved into first by the 150. He maintained a narrow lead until King knocked out a 26.99 split to move into 1st with 150 yards to go. Jones split 25.08 on the final 50 to touch first, 5:23.71 to 5:23.78, and pick up 20 points for the Navy Gold team.

The Cavaliers swept the rest of the swimming events, as Jack Aikins and Spencer Nicholas each took three events.

Aikins, who redshirted last year to focus on international competition, got going by holding off UVA Blue teammate Hayden Bellotti in the 150 free, 1:09.75 to 1:09.91. Aikins won the 150 back by nearly a second (1:14.14), and then beat Noah Nichols (Orange) 48.61 to 48.68 in the 100 IM.

Nichols swept the breaststroke events with a 24.46 in the 50 breast and a 1:24.46 in the 150 breast. Nichols, a fifth-year, finished in the top six in both breaststroke events at NCAAs last year, and his return is big for UVA, who didn’t have any swimmers in the discipline at NCAAs.

Nicholas, who we ranked as the #6 recruit in the Class of 2024, made his presence immediately known with a trio of victories for UVA Blue. He opened with a 21.79 in the 50 back, took the 150 fly in 1:16.56, and finished with a 20.82 in the 50 fly.

Matt Styczen (Orange) won the 300 IM in 2:49.86, while Connor Boyle took the 50 free in 20.14 for the UVA Blue team.

Jones and King squared off again towards the end of the session in the 300 freestyle. This time, King led from beginning to end, and won by over two seconds, touching with a 2:32.83.

Navy’s Blue team got 40 points from diver Blake Shaw, who officially swept the diving events with scores of 307.65 (1m) and 285.63 (3m). UVA’s Nicholas Sanders actually had the highest points in the 3m with a score of 317.92, but the Cavalier divers exhibitioned that event.