Virginia Cavaliers Official Athletic Site
Open Search
Swimming & Diving
. Swimming & Diving

Virginia Wins Third Straight NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championship

Photo Gallery

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Virginia women’s swimming & diving team became the fifth program to win three consecutive NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships on Saturday night at the Allan Jones Aquatic Center.

UVA joins Texas, Stanford, Georgia and Auburn as three-peat Champions. The Cavaliers totaled 541.5 points with 11 total wins, sweeping all five relay races and adding six individual NCAA Championships. UVA becomes just the fourth program to win all five relays at the NCAAs. The 11 wins matches UVA’s 11 from 2022. The last time a team won three-straight NCAA Champions was Stanford’s 2017-2019 team with multiple-time champions Katie Ledecky, Simone Manuel and Ella Eastin.

The win is UVA’s third overall for the women’s swimming & diving program and 32nd NCAA team title won by a UVA program. Texas finished second with

Senior Kate Douglass led Virginia with three individual wins, winning the 200-yard IM, 100-yard butterfly and 200-yard breaststroke, all in NCAA, American and US Open record times. Douglass has seven individual NCAA Championships in her career, sweeping all three events in 2022 and 2023. She closed out her NCAA career with a 2:01.29 to win the 200-yard breast on Saturday.

Sophomore Gretchen Walsh won her second NCAA title of the meet and defended her 100-yard freestyle win from 2022. Walsh finished in a time of 45.61, about .80 seconds ahead of the field and just hundredths of a second off of Simone Manuel’s NCAA record of 45.56.

Junior Alex Walsh was leading the entire race in the 200-yard butterfly but was just out-touched at the wall by Emma Sticklen of Texas. Walsh set a UVA record with her time of 1:50.23 to finish second in the event. She finished the week with a NCAA title in the 400-yard IM and runner-up finishes in the 200-yard IM and 200 fly.

UVA’s relay team of Douglass, A. Walsh, junior Maxine Parker and G. Walsh, respectively, closed out the meet with an American, NCAA and US Open record time of 3:05.84.

ALL-AMERICANS

  • Sophomore Reilly Tiltmann finished sixth in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:50.84.
  • Senior Ella Nelson earned her third top-three finish of the meet, winning bronze in the 200-yard breaststroke in a personal-best time of 2:04.33 and the third-fastest time in school history.
  • Junior Anna Keating rounded out the trio of Cavaliers in the 200-yard breaststroke, finishing seventh in a personal-best 2:06.73.
  • Junior Abby Harter finished seventh in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:53.56. Harter swam a personal-best 1:53.28 in prelims.
  • Junior Maxine Parker finished 10th in the 100 free with a time of 47.72 after swimming the third-fastest time in UVA history of 47.42 in prelims. Freshman Aimee Canny was 14th with a 48.10 and senior Lexi Cuomo finished 16th in 48.31.
  • Senior Maddie Donohoe finished 11th in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 15:56.83 to earn honorable mention All-America honors.

IN PRELIMS

  • Freshman Carly Novelline swam a personal-best time of 1:54.34 to finish 35th in the 200-yard backstroke. Sophomore Ella Bathurst finished 42nd in 1:55.22.
  • Graduate student Jaycee Yegher swam a season-best time of 2:09.23 in the 200-yard breaststroke to finish 22nd and Emma Weber was 40th with a time of 2:11.76.
  • Junior Sam Baron swam a 1:58.19 to finish 45th in the 200-yard butterfly.
  • Sophomore Lizzy Kaye placed 46th on the platform with a score of 196.00.
  • Freshman Sophia Knapp finished 37th in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 16:27.55.

TOTAL INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONS
Kate Douglass: 200 IM, 100 fly, 200 breast
Gretchen Walsh: 100 back, 100 free
Alex Walsh: 400 IM

RELAY CHAMPIONSHIPS
200 medley relay (G. Walsh, A. Walsh, Cuomo, Douglass)
800 free relay (Canny, A. Walsh, Tiltmann, Nelson
200 free relay (Douglass, G. Walsh, Cuomo, Parker)
400 medley relay (G. Walsh, A. Walsh, Douglass, Canny)
400 free relay (Douglass, A. Walsh, Parker, G. Walsh)

TOTAL TOP 8 FINISHES
Douglass: 200 IM (1st), 100 fly (1st), 200 breast (1st)
Alex Walsh: 200 IM (3rd), 400 IM (1st), 200 fly (2nd)
Ella Nelson: 200 IM (4th), 400 IM (2nd), 200 breast (3rd)
Gretchen Walsh: 50 free (2nd), 100 back (1st), 100 free (1st)
Lexi Cuomo: 50 free (8th)
Aimee Canny: 200 free (3rd)
Maxine Parker: 200 free (5th)
Emma Weber: 100 breast (8th)
Reilly Tiltmann: 200 back (6th)
Anna Keating: 200 breast (7th)
Abby Harter: 200 fly (7th)

HONORABLE MENTION AA
Maddie Donohoe: 500 free (10th), 1650 free (11th)
Maxine Parker: 50 free (14th), 100 free (10th)
Lexi Cuomo: 100 fly (14th), 100 free (16th)
Reilly Tiltmann: 100 back (12th)
Aimee Canny: 100 free (14th)

Related Stories