Madden Finishes Second In 500 Freestyle to Lead Virginia At The NCAA Championships
Results (Finals) | Results (Prelims)
AUSTIN, Texas.- Sophomore Paige Madden (Mobile, Ala.) led the Virginia women’s swimming and diving team at the NCAA Championships on Thursday (March 21) at the Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
Madden finished as the NCAA runner-up in the 500-yard freestyle. She dropped over five seconds off her entry time of 4:38.13, swimming a time of 4:35.65 during the preliminary race before dropping 2.67 seconds in the finals to finish with a time of 4:32.98.
Madden’s time of 4:32.98 also ranks second in UVA history and is the third-fastest swim in the NCAA this season. Madden earned her first individual All-America honor with the performance.
Also competing in the top heat of the finals, the 400-yard medley relay team of redshirt junior Megan Moroney (Deerfield Beach, Fla.), freshman Alexis Wenger (Detroit, Mich.), junior Morgan Hill (Olney, Md.) and sophomore Kyla Valls (Miami, Fla.) captured an eighth-place finish in the event to earn All-America honors. The four Cavalier swimmers recorded a time of 3:30.01.
Virginia had two additional individuals advance to the finals as sophomore Abby Richter (Henderson, Nev.) and Hill qualified for the consolation finals in events. Richter finished fourth in the consolation finals and 12th overall in the 200-yard individual medley, recording a time of 1:56.01. Hill placed fifth in the consolation heat for the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.09. She finished 13th overall. Both Richter and Hill earned honorable mention All-America honors in their respective events.
Virginia is in 10th place after two days of competition with 66 points. Stanford leads the field with 173.5 points, while California ranks second with 173 points. Michigan is in third place with 129 points.
“Great performances by our women, getting finals swims in all three (individual) events tonight,” head coach Todd DeSorbo said. “That’s something we weren’t able to accomplish last year, so it’s a nice improvement. Paige Madden had a breakout swim, finishing second and dropping almost six seconds off her lifetime best. It’s great to see the dedication and discipline paying off for her. Abby (Richter) and Morgan (Hill) also had great swims tonight, scoring points. It was fun to have the relay score in the top eight this year as well. A huge improvement over not scoring at all last year. I’m looking forward to another great day tomorrow.”
The Cavaliers will return to action tomorrow at 10 a.m., competing in the preliminary races for the 400-yard individual medley, 100-yard butterfly, 200-yard freestyle, 100-yard breaststroke, 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard medley relay. Senior Kylie Towbin (New Canaan, Conn.) will compete on the 3m board at 12:30 p.m.