Captains Named for 2024-25 Season
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia swimming and diving head coach Todd DeSorbo announced the program’s team captains for the 2024-25 season today (May 7). The six swimmers who will handle captain duties are Ella Bathurst (Tampa, Fla.), Emma Weber (Denver, Colo.), Gretchen Walsh (Nashville, Tenn.), Jack Aikins (Atlanta, Ga.), Peter Thompson (Billings, Mont.) and Matthew Heilman (Crozet, Va.). Aikins, Bathurst and Thompson are serving for the second consecutive season.
Bathurst was an All-ACC performer in the 400 individual medley in 2024 and earned all-conference honors in 2022 on the 800 free relay team that won the title that season. She was a member of the All-ACC Academic Team in 2023 and 2024.
Weber earned honorable mention All-America honors in the 100 breast and 200 breast at the 2024 NCAA Championships. She repeated as the ACC champion in the 100 breast this season. She was a member of the All-ACC Academic Team in 2023 and 2024.
Walsh was named the 2024 Honda Award winner for swimming & diving and was the swimmer of the year for the ACC and the Collegiate Swimming & Diving Coaches Association. She won seven NCAA titles in 2024 to help UVA to fourth consecutive NCAA team title. At the NCAA meet she set American, US Open & NCAA records in the 50 free (20.37), 100 fly (47.42) and 100 free (44.83). Walsh also picked up first-team Academic All-America honors this year from the Collegiate Sports Communicators.
Aikins will return to competition for Virginia in 2024-25 after taking off the 2023-24 campaign to focus on amateur competition and the Olympic trials. In both 2022 and 2023 he earned All-ACC honors in the 200 backstroke. He has also picked up All-America honors in the 200 free relay, 400 free relay, 400 medley relay and 800 free relay during his career.
Thompson will be in his fourth year competing for the Cavaliers. He qualified for the 2024 ACC Championships in the 200 free, 500 free and 1650 free.
Heilman is a two-time All-ACC Academic honor roll member who was a district Academic All-American in 2023-24. He competed at the 2024 ACC Championships in the 200 breast, 200 IM and 400 IM events.