Thanks to dominating wins in five swimming events on the final night of competition at the ACC Championships, the Virginia women's program won its fifth consecutive conference title and broke the league's all-time championship scoring record in the process.
The title was the 20th in the history of the Cavalier program. The UVA women's team finished the tournament with 1,637.5 points, surpassing the 1,615 mark set by the North Carolina State men's team in the 2023 championship game.
The UVa women's team, which won five gold medals on Saturday, won a total of 17 events at the championships held over five days in Greensboro, North Carolina. The highlight of Saturday was Gretchen Walsh's new NCAA, American and U.S. Open records in the 100 freestyle. Her Walsh winning time of 45.16 became the fourth NCAA record she set during the ACC Championships. Walsh also set new standards for her in the 50 free (20.57), 100 fly (48.25) and 200 free relay (1:23.63).
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Walsh was named the ACC's Most Valuable Swimmer. During her competition, she won a total of seven gold medals, increasing her career total to her sixteen. She will next compete at her NCAA Championships as the holder or participant of her eight NCAA records: 100 free, 50 free, 100 back, and 100. fly, 200 free relay, 400 free relay, 200 medley relay, 400 medley relay.
The Virginia women's swimming and diving team won the ACC Championship for the fifth straight year.
Jamie Holt, UVA Athletics
His younger sister, Alex Walsh, also won an individual gold medal and a relay championship, increasing her ACC gold medal count to 26, the most ever by a Cavalier player, and surpassing former UVa standout Kate Douglas' previous record of 25. exceeded.
Alex Walsh's individual win came in the 200m breaststroke, where he led the Hoos to a sweep of the podium with a meet and pool record time of 2:02.24. This was also her personal best in an event she had not swum until this season's ACC meet. Ella Nelson took second place with a personal best time of 2:04.29, and Anna Keating took third place (2:07.97).
Other individual goal medalists for UVa include Cavan Gormsen, who won the 1,650 freestyle with a time of 16:07.50. In the 200 backstroke, Riley Tiltman also came from behind on the final lap to win the gold medal with a time of 1:51.77.
In the 100 freestyle, Jasmine Nocentini won the silver medal (46.78 points). Nocentini was part of UVa's winning 400 free relay team that capped off the Cavaliers' performance. Virginia won by almost three seconds with a time of 3:07.34. This was the program's 24th relay win in the last 25 games contested in the ACC Championship meet.
The Cavalier men's team placed fifth in the ACC tournament. Highlights from their final night of swimming included Matt Brownstead taking 5th place in the 100 freestyle (41.85) and Noah Nichols (1:53.06) and Max Iida (1:53.49) taking 5th each in the 200 freestyle. and 6th place. Breaststroke.
UVa's men's 400 free relay team, consisting of Brownstead, Connor Boyle, August Lamb and Tim Connelly, placed fourth (2:49.64), the fifth-best finish in program history.
Earlier in the meet, Noah Nichols finished with a time of 50.89 seconds to win the Cavaliers' 100 breaststroke title.
