Moesch's Star Rising in Swim World

By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — For Anna Moesch, 2025 brought unforgettable highs, but there were also lows. In a meeting early last semester with Todd DeSorbo, her head coach at the University of Virginia, Moesch shared her disappointment over not making the United States national swim team for 2025-26.

Moesch, who as a freshman last winter helped UVA win its fifth straight NCAA women’s team title, represented the U.S. last summer in two freestyle relays at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore. But she narrowly missed earning a spot on the U.S. national team, which was announced in September and recognized the top six performers in each individual event over the previous year.

“When she came in and we had our preseason meeting to discuss the season and her goals, she gave me one goal,” DeSorbo said this week, “and that goal was to never not make the U.S. national team again, never be seventh again. And as soon as she said that, I knew she was about to take another step forward, because it’s all a mental thing. And then we just started seeing it in practice. She’s just kind of taken everything to a whole ‘nother level.”

In November, Moesch was named the top women’s swimmer at the inaugural College Swimming Coaches Association of America Dual Meet in Nashville, Tenn., where the Wahoos won the title in convincing fashion. Her times in the 100- and 200-yard freestyle put her in elite company. Moesch now ranks fourth all-time in the 200 (1:40.25), ahead of the legendary Katie Ledecky, among others, and fifth all-time in the 100 (45.98).

“I think it's inspiring more than anything,” Moesch said, “just to know that I can be on the same list as these incredible people. It just motivates me. For the rest of the season, the rest of my college career, I'm just really excited, honestly.”

🏆 𝐅𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐎𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐫 🏆
Congratulations to Anna Moesch on being named the Female Most Outstanding Performer of the meet #WAHOOWA #GoHoos pic.twitter.com/CJSBDX2cWm

— Virginia Swimming and Dive (@UVASwimDive) November 23, 2025

At the World Aquatics Championships, her U.S. teammates included former UVA greats Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh and Alex Walsh, as well as Ledecky. “That was my first senior level international meet,” said Moesch, who earned two silver medals, “and I think being around that kind of talent and speed for like a month straight really just made me realize how cool the sport is and how much I want to accomplish in the sport.”

In Singapore, DeSorbo said, Moesch found herself “at a level with Gretchen and Kate and Alex and Katie Ledecky and all these other people. So that was her first taste of that, and I think that experience really allowed her to grow from a confidence perspective and allowed her to believe a little more in herself.”

Born and raised in New Jersey—she grew up in Green Brook, about 25 miles northeast of Princeton—Moesch started swimming when she was around 7, in part because her older sister, Marlise, excelled in the sport. Marlise would go on to swim at Yale, from which she graduated in 2022.

“I honestly kind of followed everything she did,” Anna recalled. “I kind of tried every sport and kind of hated them all, and so my last resort was to try swimming, because she did it, and I stuck with it.”

It soon became apparent that Moesch had immense promise in swimming, and she was considered an elite recruit by the time she committed to UVA early in her junior year at Watchung Hills Regional High School. Moesch, who expects to major in economics or statistics, liked what the University offered academically, and the success of the women’s swim program was another strong selling point.

As a freshman, her teammates included the Walsh sisters, two of the most-decorated swimmers in NCAA history.

“I was so excited to get there and just train with them,” Moesch said. “And I knew I was going to be around Gretchen a lot especially, because we swim very, very similar events. And it was, I think, better than I could have ever expected, because they’re both so fun. I just genuinely love being around them as people all the time, but it’s also so motivating watching how they work so hard in and out of the pool. There was so much I was able to learn from them last year.”

At the NCAA meet, Moesch helped the Hoos win three relays—200 free, 400 free and 400 medley—and also earned All-America honors in the 100 free, 200 free and 800 free relay.

She felt some nerves heading into her first NCAAs, Moesch said, “but I knew I had been training all season for it and I was excited. I believed in myself and believed in my teammates and knew that it was going to be good. It was just really, really awesome, a great first experience, and I think having that background as a first-year gave me a lot of confidence and motivation going into this year.”

Before arriving at UVA in 2024, Moesch marveled at the accomplishments of the women’s program. “Now being on the inside, it’s still just as inspiring, seeing everyone do such amazing things and work so hard every single day. I'm just really grateful to be a part of what we have going right now.”

Moesch, who lives with teammates Emma Redman and Charlotte Wilson, has fallen hard for UVA. “I love the academics. I love the campus. I love even just walking on the streets on a Saturday,” she said. “I think even if I wasn't a swimmer, I would want to come here, because I just love the school in general.”

DeSorbo expected big things from Moesch as a Cavalier, “but I didn’t know it would come this quickly for her,” he said. “Her swims at Tennessee, I had no idea those were coming. It’s performances like that they get you most excited, because you kind of know it’s in there; you just don’t necessarily know when it’s going to come out.”

After a holiday break, Moesch and her teammates returned to Grounds late last month and resumed training at the Aquatics and Fitness Center. In Senior Day dual meets that start Saturday at noon, the UVA men and women host Penn State at the AFC.

In the latest CSCAA men’s poll, Virginia is No. 21. On the women’s side, UVA is in its customary spot at No. 1.

The Walshes are gone, but the women’s program remains loaded with talent, and the Hoos have extra motivation this season.

“Interestingly enough, I think they have a little bit of a chip on their shoulder,” DeSorbo said. “There’s no aggression or negativity towards Alex and Gretchen—obviously, we’d love to have them on the team still—but a lot of people on the outside are like, ‘Can Virginia still be at the top without them, and can they perform as well without them?’ ”

The Cavaliers’ coaching staff “hoped the graduation of the Walshes would actually provide an opportunity for other people to step up and take a bigger role and contribute more than they might have been able to do otherwise,” DeSorbo said. “The hope was that we would have somebody who would step up and do that. Fortunately, we’ve had more than just one. We’ve had several, Anna being one of those. I think it’s just given her a great opportunity to grow into a bigger role and shine a little bit more now that the spotlight is not on Gretchen and Alex.”

No women’s program has ever won six consecutive NCAA team titles. In March, the Cavaliers will look to accomplish that feat in Atlanta.

“I think the dedication of our team this year is stronger than it's ever been,” Moesch said, “just because we want to show everybody how we are still here. I think that we all have a goal in mind towards the end of the season and we all are so dedicated towards it and we all work so hard towards it every single day. We all just share one common goal.”