Virginia Finishes 10th At NCAA Championships
AUSTIN, Texas- Redshirt senior Brendan Casey (Santa Monica, Calif.) and senior Zach Fong (Moorestown, N.J.) led the Virginia men’s swimming and diving team on the final day of the NCAA Championships on Saturday (March 30) at the Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
The Cavaliers concluded the NCAA Championships with a 10th-place finish and 106 points. The team finish is the best for the Cavaliers since the program placed eighth in 2011 in Minneapolis, Minn.
California won the national title with 560 points, while Texas finished second with 475 points and Indiana placed third with 385.5 points.
Virginia had two swimmers earn a podium finish on the final day of competition.
Fong recorded a fifth-place finish and All-America honors in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:40.28. He earned All-America honors in the event for the second time in his career after recording honorable mention All-America honors last season with a 12th-place finish.
In addition to his race in the finals, Fong topped his school record in the 200-yard butterfly during the preliminary race. He swam a time of 1:40.18 to tie for the third-fastest time of the morning.
Casey captured his third individual All-America honor, and second first-team All-America honor, of the meet with a fifth-place finish in the 1650-yard freestyle. The distance swimmer finished with a time of 14:38.42. Casey is the first Cavalier since 2011 to earn All-America honors in the mile.
“It was another great day with several All-America performances to cap off a historic NCAA Championships for our men,” head swimming and diving coach Todd DeSorbo said. “Brendan Casey has been a leader all year for our men and he ends his collegiate career on a high note. Zach Fong (ended his career on a high note) as well with a school record and an All-America performance tonight in the 200 fly. I couldn’t be prouder of these guys and what they’ve accomplished in just two short seasons. Going from not scoring at NCAAs two years ago to 29th last year and 10th this year. I’d be surprised if any other team in the history of the NCAA has gone from not scoring points at NCAAs to being top 10 in just two seasons. We will miss our seniors next year, but we are excited for the base they have built for the future of our program.”
The Cavaliers concluded the meet with 11 swims earning All-America honors and scoring points for the team during the meet. Six different swimmers captured All-America honors in individual events, with Casey recording the accolade in three different individual events. Virginia also earned All-America honors in three relay events.