NCAA Women’s Championships, Day 3 Finals: Virginia Caps Off Dominant Night With Second-Fastest 400 Medley Relay Ever
Three individual winners from Friday evening teamed up to put on a show of dominance in the 400 medley relay, the sort of performance college swimming fans have come to expect from the University of Virginia at the NCAA Championships. The Cavaliers have now captured the 400 medley relay title in four consecutive seasons, all with sisters Alex Walsh and Gretchen Walsh on the squad while newcomers Claire Curzan and Anna Moesch handled the bookend legs.
Fresh off her 100 back win an hour-and-a-half earlier, Curzan faced a rematch with Florida’s Bella Sims on the opening leg. This time, the Virginia leadoff swimmer could not hold off her counterpart, coming in nine hundredths behind (49.54 to 49.63), but then the Walsh sisters went to work. Alex clocked 56.37 on the breaststroke leg, almost a second quicker than anyone else in history, before Gretchen went 47.35 on fly. By comparison, the next-best split belonged to Stanford’s Torri Huske at 48.71.
Moesch has been thrown into the fire alongside Virginia’s Olympians, and the freshman has now gone last in all three of the team’s relay wins. A split of 46.85 was sufficient to help Virginia to the wall in 3:30.20, beating the field by 4.79 seconds. The team was just behind the American and NCAA records of 3:19.58 set by the same foursome at last month’s ACC Championships, but they did eclipse the meet record of 3:21.01 set by the Walsh sisters, Jasmine Nocentini and Maxine Parker last season.
Another 40 points gives Virginia 383 points for the competition, 89 points clear of any other team and very much on track for consecutive national title No. 5. While Virginia’s point total through Wednesday was greater than in any of the team’s previous triumphs, this time the team is slightly behind the 386.5 points scored at this point in the 2022 meet but still slightly ahead of the totals from 2023 and 2024.
The race for second place went to Tennessee, with Lady Vols anchor Camille Spink splitting 46.45 to come from almost a second behind and pass Florida for second place. Josephine Fuller, Mona McSharry and Sara Stotler handled the first three legs on a team that finished in 3:24.99. Florida took third in 3:25.18 with Sims, Anita Bottazzo, Olivia Peoples and Micayla Cronk.
Miranda Grana finished off a huge night in which she placed fourth in the 100 fly and third in the 100 back by helping Indiana to a fourth-place result here, with the team finishing in 3:25.83. Meanwhile, Texas and Stanford were squaring off in lanes six and seven, and the Longhorns narrowly won the battle for fifth place, 3:26.11 to 3:26.34. That reduced Stanford’s edge over Texas for second place in the team competition to four points (292 to 288), with the Longhorns batting back from a rough Thursday with solid swims Friday combined with a 1-7-10 finish in 3-meter diving.
The Cavaliers, Cardinal and Longhorns will almost surely walk away with the team trophies at the end of Saturday night, but fourth place could come down to the wire between Indiana (209) and Tennessee (195), with Florida (177) and Louisville (160.5) also in contention.
Event 14 Women 400 Yard Medley Relay
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NCAA: N 3:19.58 2/21/2025 Virginia
C Curzan, A Walsh, G Walsh, A Moesch
Meet: M 3:20.20 3/21/2025 Virginia
C Curzan, A Walsh, G Walsh, A Moesch
American: A 3:19.58 2/21/2025 Virginia
C Curzan, A Walsh, G Walsh, A Moesch
US Open: O 3:19.58 2/21/2025 Virginia
C Curzan, A Walsh, G Walsh, A Moesch
School Seed Finals Points
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1 Virginia 3:19.58 3:20.20M 40
1) Curzan, Claire JR 2) r:0.31 Walsh, Alex 5Y
3) r:0.11 Walsh, Gretchen SR 4) r:0.11 Moesch, Anna FR
r:+0.67 23.88 49.63 (49.63)
1:15.73 (26.10) 1:46.00 (56.37)
2:07.46 (21.46) 2:33.35 (47.35)
2:55.70 (22.35) 3:20.20 (46.85)
2 Tennessee 3:25.18 3:24.99 34
1) Fuller, Josephine SR 2) r:0.34 McSharry, Mona 5Y
3) r:0.11 Stotler, Sara SR 4) r:0.35 Spink, Camille SO
r:+0.65 24.43 50.21 (50.21)
1:16.76 (26.55) 1:47.53 (57.32)
2:10.75 (23.22) 2:38.54 (51.01)
3:00.31 (21.77) 3:24.99 (46.45)
3 Florida 3:24.78 3:25.18 32
1) Sims, Bella SO 2) r:0.06 Bottazzo, Anita FR
3) r:0.26 Peoples, Olivia SR 4) r:0.36 Cronk, Micayla SR
r:+0.57 24.18 49.54 (49.54)
1:16.00 (26.46) 1:46.90 (57.36)
2:09.93 (23.03) 2:37.55 (50.65)
2:59.96 (22.41) 3:25.18 (47.63)
4 Indiana 3:26.64 3:25.83 30
1) Dewitt, Mya JR 2) r:0.04 Crawford, Brearna SR
3) r:0.12 Grana, Miranda SO 4) r:0.32 Paegle, Kristina JR
r:+0.54 24.51 50.79 (50.79)
1:17.50 (26.71) 1:48.87 (58.08)
2:11.93 (23.06) 2:38.49 (49.62)
3:00.88 (22.39) 3:25.83 (47.34)
5 Texas 3:25.49 3:26.11 28
1) Bray, Olivia 5Y 2) r:0.18 Enge, Piper FR
3) r:0.23 Sticklen, Emma 5Y 4) r:0.19 Nesty, Lillian FR
r:+0.70 24.65 51.62 (51.62)
1:18.49 (26.87) 1:49.88 (58.26)
2:12.34 (22.46) 2:39.05 (49.17)
3:01.45 (22.40) 3:26.11 (47.06)
6 Stanford 3:26.98 3:26.34 26
1) Parkhe, Annika FR 2) r:0.19 Thomas, Lucy SO
3) r:0.26 Huske, Torri JR 4) r:0.25 Nordmann, Lillie SR
r:+0.65 24.92 52.38 (52.38)
1:18.93 (26.55) 1:50.40 (58.02)
2:12.62 (22.22) 2:39.11 (48.71)
3:01.81 (22.70) 3:26.34 (47.23)
7 USC 3:28.85 3:26.82 24
1) Famous, Caroline 5Y 2) r:0.17 Dobler, Kaitlyn 5Y
3) r:0.25 Sasseville, Gigi SR 4) r:0.14 Abraham, Minna SO
r:+0.70 24.56 51.22 (51.22)
1:17.92 (26.70) 1:48.89 (57.67)
2:12.08 (23.19) 2:40.28 (51.39)
3:02.25 (21.97) 3:26.82 (46.54)
8 Louisville 3:28.82 3:27.76 22
1) Murray, Camille FR 2) r:0.45 Cheatwood, Mia JR
3) r:0.22 Welch, Ella JR 4) r:0.19 Dennis, Julia JR
r:+0.71 24.37 51.65 (51.65)
1:19.42 (27.77) 1:50.94 (59.29)
2:14.11 (23.17) 2:41.37 (50.43)
3:03.04 (21.67) 3:27.76 (46.39)
Women - Team Rankings - Through Event 14 1. Virginia 383 2. Stanford 292 3. Texas 288 4. Indiana 209 5. Tennessee 195 6. Florida 177 7. Louisville 160.5 8. California 139.5 9. Michigan 121 10. NC State 114 11. Wisconsin 93 12. Southern California 90 13. Miami (Fl) 75.5 14. UNC 50 15. Arizona St 41.5 16. Alabama 41 17. Georgia 38 18. Ohio St 37 19. Kansas 25 19. Purdue 25 21. Pittsburgh 21 22. Arizona 20 23. Duke 18 24. Virginia Tech 17 25. South Carolina 15 25. Siu 15 25. Lsu 15 25. Cincinnati 15 29. Houston 13 30. Brigham Young 12 31. Texas A&M 11 32. Auburn 6 32. Princeton 6 34. Arkansas 4 35. Minnesota 2 35. Florida St 2 35. Akron 2 38. Washington St. 1
